Z.O.N.A: Origin News

[p]Changes and Improvements:[/p]

• [p]Fixed an issue in the dialogue with the guide to the Dawn base. If the player refused to go with him right away and chose to depart later, the follow-up dialogue would not appear due to a bug, preventing further story progression. Special thanks to user simatrus for reporting this issue![/p]

[h3]🎃 Halloween has begun in the Zone![/h3][p][/p][p]A time when even the bravest stalkers avoid the old locations… They say that at night, something awakens on the abandoned bases, and a strange Scarecrow once again seeks those daring enough to help him save Halloween.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][h2]New Features[/h2]

• [p]Added a new location — Ghost Base. Many players will recognize it from the first part of the game.[/p]
• [p]Added a quest that unlocks the Ghost Base location. It can be taken from Brodyaga at the Freedom Stalkers Base after completing the mission to search for the helicopter in Pripyat.[/p]
• [p]Added a new monster found on the Ghost Base location.[/p]
• [p]Added a new Halloween quest, available from the Scarecrow at the Freedom Stalkers Base :)[/p]
• [p]Added a new Halloween artifact — “Pumpkin of Darkness”, which can only be found in one of the raid locations after receiving the quest from the Scarecrow.[/p]
• [p]Added a new Halloween artifact — “Bloody Pumpkin”, which can only be found in one of the raid locations after receiving the quest from the Scarecrow.[/p]
• [p]Added a new Halloween artifact — “Golden Pumpkin”, which can only be found in one of the raid locations after receiving the quest from the Scarecrow.[/p]
• [p]Added the ability to adjust controller position along the X and Y axes in the main menu settings. This is especially useful for players using Pico headsets to align hand position or fine-tune the wrist angle.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][h2]Changes and Improvements[/h2]

• [p]Fixed a rare issue where it was impossible to restart a dialogue without changing location.[/p]
• [p]Fixed a bug on the “Perimeter-2 Tunnels” level, where the code hint in one of the PDAs changed after death and reloading.[/p]
• [p]Removed AM / PM indicators from the PDA clock — it now displays in-game time in a 24-hour format.[/p]
• [p]Minor adjustments on the raid location “Military Town.”[/p]
• [p]Increased the amount of guaranteed loot on the raid location “Abandoned Village.”[/p]
• [p]The leaderboard now records the current financial result at the moment of selling items on the Black Market, instead of the maximum value.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Important[/h3][p]Due to changes in the progress tracking system, the leaderboard has been reset.[/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[h3]Changes and Improvements:[/h3][p][/p]

• [p]Improved the player’s PDA on the belt — phantom touches have been fixed.[/p]
• [p]The PDA now responds only to the index finger instead of the whole hand, making navigation easier.[/p]
• [p]At the Freedom Stalkers’ Base, lightning on the surface no longer illuminates indoor areas through the ceiling and walls when the player is inside the shelter.[/p]
• [p]Lightning sounds at the Freedom Stalkers’ Base are now muffled when you’re inside the shelter.[/p]
• [p]Minor adjustments made to models on the Pripyat level.[/p]
• [p]Adjustments made to the AI-Life system on the Pripyat level.[/p]
• [p]Two secret stashes have been added in Pripyat — only the most persistent will find them.[/p]
• [p]Various improvements on the Outpost location.[/p]
• [p]Various improvements on the Industrial Zone location.[/p]
• [p]Increased the chance of finding artifacts on some locations.[/p]
• [p]Slightly increased the brightness of the headlamp.[/p]
• [p]Added the ability on Vive controllers to switch fire modes and view item descriptions using the Menu Button.
  Unfortunately, I don’t own these controllers, so I kindly ask owners to report whether it works correctly.[/p]
• [p]Fixed the description of the sniper rifle 17 “Ghost” on the Black Market — previously, it had the same name as its older brother, 27 “Ghost.”[/p]

[h3]New Features:[/h3]

• [p]Added a full day–night cycle system. You can now visit locations in the morning, daytime, evening, or at night.[/p]
• [p]Real-time has been replaced with in-game time. As before, one in-game minute equals one real minute — there is no accelerated time system.[/p]
• [p]Added the ability to sleep at the bases of the Free Stalkers and Dawn factions. Sleeping slightly restores your health but also increases your hunger level.[/p]
• [p]Traveling between locations now takes in-game time. For example, a trip to the raid location Military Town takes 2 in-game hours. The transition still happens instantly — but the time on your PDA and tablet will adjust accordingly.[/p]
• [p]Location markers on the map now display the in-game travel time required to reach them. For example, if you depart for Pripyat at 18:00, you’ll arrive there around 1:00 AM. Keep this in mind when planning your raids at different times of day.[/p]
• [p]Added a new artifact — “Children’s Joy.” It can be found only in the raid location Military Town, exclusively at night, and only one artifact per raid. This is the first artifact that can be discovered without a detector.[/p]
• [p]Added new loot — a toy “Children’s Pyramid.” It can be found in some raids and story locations.[/p]
• [p]Added new loot — a toy “Pyramid.” Also found in some raids and story locations.[/p]
• [p]When starting a new game, players will now see a confirmation screen for the initial control setup. This should help those who prefer not to search through the main menu.[/p]

[p][/p][h3]Changes and Improvements:[/h3]

• [p]Increased the amount of guaranteed loot in the raid location Military Town — making it one of the most profitable areas for new players.[/p]
• [p]Increased the chance of finding artifacts across all locations.[/p]
• [p]Backpacks of defeated faction fighters can now contain not only magazines with more ammo but also grenades.[/p]
• [p]Increased the volume of weapon drop sounds. Heavy firearms now produce a louder and more noticeable sound when dropped outside of a slot.[/p]
• [p]Increased the volume of pistol drop sounds — helping players notice when they’ve lost a weapon.[/p]
• [p]Increased bullet speed and travel distance for the Night Hawk pistol.[/p]
• [p]Increased bullet speed and travel distance for the Desert Eagle pistol.[/p]
• [p]Increased bullet speed and travel distance for the Glock 19zo pistol.[/p]
• [p]Increased bullet speed and travel distance for the PL-14 pistol.[/p]
• [p]Increased bullet speed and travel distance for the PM (Makarov Pistol).[/p]
• [p]Minor updates made to the game’s main menu.[/p]
• [p]Optimized several textures on raid locations.[/p]

[p][/p][p][/p][p][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][dynamiclink][/dynamiclink][/p]

[h3]Changes and Improvements:[/h3]

• [p]Fixed a critical security vulnerability (CVE-2025-59489) in the Unity engine.[/p]
• [p]Performed additional optimization work on the Pripyat level.[/p]
• [p]Minor improvements to OpenXR.[/p]

[p]P.S. The dynamic day and night cycle system is already in development — soon, the Zone will live in its own rhythm.[/p]