May's REANIMATION+ (0.4.1) Update Preview
Responders - the next update to No More Room in Hell 2 is coming soon!
Our first ever Free Weekend (April 17-21) saw thousands of new players venture into Pottsville, Lewiston and Power Plant and we’ve been thrilled at the overall reception of the huge REANIMATION Update (0.4.0).
Next up around the corner is yet another monthly update for the game. After April’s big update and its two hotfixes, we are calling the May update simply Reanimation+ (0.4.1) and it’s just a few weeks away.
Compared to April, the May update will be smaller in terms of content and features, so we can better focus on balance, bug fixes, and help to stabilize the game ahead of much larger monthly updates to come.
[h2]Bug-fix & Stability Focus[/h2]
Reanimation+ will include well over 100 bug fixes across a variety of game areas, making it one of our biggest fixing passes yet.
The 0.4.0 update and its hotfixes did include over 90 bug fixes, but as many new features (and two maps!) went live with the April update, so too did more bugs arrive to fix.
[h2]New weapon: Rochester X12 Super Shotgun[/h2]
The 12-gauge red devil, a fan favourite from NMRiH1, is back to blast the living daylights out of the undead. This semi-auto shotgun has a 5 round magazine and can use the following attachments: long gun flashlight, holo sight and combat optic.
[h2]New weapon: Gruber Mini Ranch Rifle[/h2]
A ranch rifle that has proven more than adequate for putting down pests of the undead variety, this semi-auto rifle uses 5.56mm ammo with a 10 round magazine. It can attach the rifle suppressor, long gun flashlight, holo sight, combat optic and hunting scope.
[h2]Many New Skills[/h2]
This update will include a large number of new character skills, plus the upgraded versions of each. This will considerably increase the size of the skill pool available to responders.
Some of examples of new skills:
“Resident Genes” - Heal whenever using pills
“Lucky Pathogen” - Take less damage while infected
“Doorbreaker” - Kicks deal more damage to doors and barricades
Expect many more skills too, along with all of their Ultimate upgraded variants.
A major balance pass is also coming with this update to all existing skills, which will make a big difference to how you choose to equip your responder’s skillset!
[h2]Difficulty Balancing[/h2]
We know that players want to feel like the odds are stacked against them, and to be fully immersed in the grounded, tense setting with challenging difficulty to match that fantasy. You want to feel like desperate survivors - like real people who are dealing with an active zombie apocalypse emergency.
Some overwhelming feedback from the playerbase after 0.4.0 was that this immersion was broken when zombie spawns felt illogical and overly aggressive.
For May’s 0.4.1 update we are aiming to balance zombie spawns to create better pacing in intensity and less sense of cheap deaths. These changes will only target Classic difficulty, not Hard or Nightmare.
We’re taking a careful approach to all of this so as not to drastically reduce the difficulty on Classic - this is still a game where feeling overwhelmed and fighting against the odds is core to the experience.
Not everything will be addressed or perfect for the May patch. We’re trying to make careful changes now so that we can work our way to the right game feel with community feedback. Sometimes changes won’t feel quite right, and that’s ok: iterating on balance and trying things out - then hearing what players think - is part of the purpose of our early access period.
[h2]Melee Balancing[/h2]
The REANIMATION Update came with some major changes to melee in the form of an entirely new combat system. This system has a lot of moving parts and we expect it to take a bit of time before everything feels just right. Melee combat balancing is also deeply tied into zombie spawn balancing, which means we’ll approach any changes carefully.
We’re aware of the feedback players have shared that some melee actions don’t always intuitively result in the realistic damage/interrupt/stagger results they’re expecting, as well as a clear “meta” emerging with the use of certain weapons and certain melee techniques.
While slight melee balance changes can be expected for the 0.4.1 update, we’ll be looking to continue to work on this with each update going forward with the help of community feedback to nail the right feel.
[h2]Progression and Loadout rewards[/h2]
We know that right now the rewards for surviving and extracting in some of the maps feel insufficient and we are looking to address this in Reanimation+ (0.4.1). We also know that players feel that Loadout credit (match-earned credit) costs are too high for items, and that not enough items are available to purchase, which we’re also looking to address in the next update.
[h2]Unfairly losing a permadeath character[/h2]
We know that a number of players are complaining about crashes, disconnections and/or in game bugs that make them lose their character. We’re aiming to prioritize stability while considering methods to smooth out how punishing it is to unfairly lose a character.
[h2]Improved Optimization and Performance[/h2]
Since early access launch last October there have been ongoing efforts to improve the game’s performance on a wider spread of hardware. The Free Weekend and feedback from players on the game’s optimization performance has accelerated these efforts, and we expect this to continue to be an ongoing process as we continue to smooth out performance.
[h2]More maps and content[/h2]
With the April update, we fulfilled the start of our pledge to introduce more urban settings into the game - with Lewiston and Pottsville giving players the opportunity to explore tighter, more claustrophobic classic zombie settings. We’re going to continue to deliver on your hopes for more town and city settings into the future.
With three maps now in the game, we know things are on the right track - and also know that players are always eager for more locations to explore. Naturally, we’re hard at work on the next maps for the game already and are excited to share more details in the future. And players won’t have to wait as long for the 4th map as they did for maps 2 and 3.
[h2]Onboarding new players[/h2]
While No More Room in Hell 2 is meant to be a challenging and intense survival experience, we’re aware (especially after the Free Weekend) that the current early access game does a poor job of teaching players its mechanics and strategies to survive. We’re therefore looking into much better ways of onboarding players in future updates.
[h2]We know you you still want to ‘Play it your way’[/h2]
We are still monitoring everyone’s feedback on having more agency over how to play and enjoy the game the way they like to, such as: making it easier to play with friends (we’ve since added private lobbies with custom options) and having more accessible options to leave a match without being punished (which we’re hoping to bring to players in the near future).
Our team is continuing to work on content, features and improvements all around for the game. Stay tuned for further roadmap updates as development progress during Early Access continues!
We thank our playerbase for continuing to report issues and encourage further reporting through nmrih2.com/support, in-game through the menu, or in our Discord.
Our first ever Free Weekend (April 17-21) saw thousands of new players venture into Pottsville, Lewiston and Power Plant and we’ve been thrilled at the overall reception of the huge REANIMATION Update (0.4.0).
Next up around the corner is yet another monthly update for the game. After April’s big update and its two hotfixes, we are calling the May update simply Reanimation+ (0.4.1) and it’s just a few weeks away.
Compared to April, the May update will be smaller in terms of content and features, so we can better focus on balance, bug fixes, and help to stabilize the game ahead of much larger monthly updates to come.
May REANIMATION+ 0.4.1 update highlights
[h2]Bug-fix & Stability Focus[/h2]
Reanimation+ will include well over 100 bug fixes across a variety of game areas, making it one of our biggest fixing passes yet.
The 0.4.0 update and its hotfixes did include over 90 bug fixes, but as many new features (and two maps!) went live with the April update, so too did more bugs arrive to fix.
[h2]New weapon: Rochester X12 Super Shotgun[/h2]
The 12-gauge red devil, a fan favourite from NMRiH1, is back to blast the living daylights out of the undead. This semi-auto shotgun has a 5 round magazine and can use the following attachments: long gun flashlight, holo sight and combat optic.
[h2]New weapon: Gruber Mini Ranch Rifle[/h2]
A ranch rifle that has proven more than adequate for putting down pests of the undead variety, this semi-auto rifle uses 5.56mm ammo with a 10 round magazine. It can attach the rifle suppressor, long gun flashlight, holo sight, combat optic and hunting scope.
[h2]Many New Skills[/h2]
This update will include a large number of new character skills, plus the upgraded versions of each. This will considerably increase the size of the skill pool available to responders.
Some of examples of new skills:
“Resident Genes” - Heal whenever using pills
“Lucky Pathogen” - Take less damage while infected
“Doorbreaker” - Kicks deal more damage to doors and barricades
Expect many more skills too, along with all of their Ultimate upgraded variants.
A major balance pass is also coming with this update to all existing skills, which will make a big difference to how you choose to equip your responder’s skillset!
Top issues we’re addressing next and into the future
[h2]Difficulty Balancing[/h2]
We know that players want to feel like the odds are stacked against them, and to be fully immersed in the grounded, tense setting with challenging difficulty to match that fantasy. You want to feel like desperate survivors - like real people who are dealing with an active zombie apocalypse emergency.
Some overwhelming feedback from the playerbase after 0.4.0 was that this immersion was broken when zombie spawns felt illogical and overly aggressive.
For May’s 0.4.1 update we are aiming to balance zombie spawns to create better pacing in intensity and less sense of cheap deaths. These changes will only target Classic difficulty, not Hard or Nightmare.
We’re taking a careful approach to all of this so as not to drastically reduce the difficulty on Classic - this is still a game where feeling overwhelmed and fighting against the odds is core to the experience.
Not everything will be addressed or perfect for the May patch. We’re trying to make careful changes now so that we can work our way to the right game feel with community feedback. Sometimes changes won’t feel quite right, and that’s ok: iterating on balance and trying things out - then hearing what players think - is part of the purpose of our early access period.
[h2]Melee Balancing[/h2]
The REANIMATION Update came with some major changes to melee in the form of an entirely new combat system. This system has a lot of moving parts and we expect it to take a bit of time before everything feels just right. Melee combat balancing is also deeply tied into zombie spawn balancing, which means we’ll approach any changes carefully.
We’re aware of the feedback players have shared that some melee actions don’t always intuitively result in the realistic damage/interrupt/stagger results they’re expecting, as well as a clear “meta” emerging with the use of certain weapons and certain melee techniques.
While slight melee balance changes can be expected for the 0.4.1 update, we’ll be looking to continue to work on this with each update going forward with the help of community feedback to nail the right feel.
[h2]Progression and Loadout rewards[/h2]
We know that right now the rewards for surviving and extracting in some of the maps feel insufficient and we are looking to address this in Reanimation+ (0.4.1). We also know that players feel that Loadout credit (match-earned credit) costs are too high for items, and that not enough items are available to purchase, which we’re also looking to address in the next update.
[h2]Unfairly losing a permadeath character[/h2]
We know that a number of players are complaining about crashes, disconnections and/or in game bugs that make them lose their character. We’re aiming to prioritize stability while considering methods to smooth out how punishing it is to unfairly lose a character.
[h2]Improved Optimization and Performance[/h2]
Since early access launch last October there have been ongoing efforts to improve the game’s performance on a wider spread of hardware. The Free Weekend and feedback from players on the game’s optimization performance has accelerated these efforts, and we expect this to continue to be an ongoing process as we continue to smooth out performance.
[h2]More maps and content[/h2]
With the April update, we fulfilled the start of our pledge to introduce more urban settings into the game - with Lewiston and Pottsville giving players the opportunity to explore tighter, more claustrophobic classic zombie settings. We’re going to continue to deliver on your hopes for more town and city settings into the future.
With three maps now in the game, we know things are on the right track - and also know that players are always eager for more locations to explore. Naturally, we’re hard at work on the next maps for the game already and are excited to share more details in the future. And players won’t have to wait as long for the 4th map as they did for maps 2 and 3.
[h2]Onboarding new players[/h2]
While No More Room in Hell 2 is meant to be a challenging and intense survival experience, we’re aware (especially after the Free Weekend) that the current early access game does a poor job of teaching players its mechanics and strategies to survive. We’re therefore looking into much better ways of onboarding players in future updates.
[h2]We know you you still want to ‘Play it your way’[/h2]
We are still monitoring everyone’s feedback on having more agency over how to play and enjoy the game the way they like to, such as: making it easier to play with friends (we’ve since added private lobbies with custom options) and having more accessible options to leave a match without being punished (which we’re hoping to bring to players in the near future).
Our team is continuing to work on content, features and improvements all around for the game. Stay tuned for further roadmap updates as development progress during Early Access continues!
We thank our playerbase for continuing to report issues and encourage further reporting through nmrih2.com/support, in-game through the menu, or in our Discord.
Fog stirs around your feet as you creep slowly towards the town limits. A morning silence broken only by the moans of zombies greet you as you make your way to the first neighbourhood, before the crackle of your radio alerts you to a call from the CRC - you are here to verify the reports of civilians sheltering in Pottsville, and if true, figure out the next steps to save them. 
Calling all Responders! The CRC has been called in to assist in Lewiston, Maine. The local CRC Team leader, Waldo, asked us to come out his way to lend a hand. Like many in the CRC, he didn’t expect to have to step up for a zombie uprising, and is feeling a little… overwhelmed, so we’ll be sending you in, but you’ll have to find your own way out - by boat or by train. 
