BIG news for No More Room in Hell 2 - 1.0 coming in the first half of 2026
[p]Hello Responders,[/p][p]As a studio we have made the decision to prolong our Early Access window past our one year Early Access release anniversary, and we couldn’t be more excited! Looking at the state of the game, community feedback, and our aspirations for the title, we’ve come to realize that October of this year won’t give us the time we need to launch the 1.0 version of the game that we envision. We still have a mountain of work that we want to fit into the game before 1.0 launch, which we’re now targeting for the first half of 2026.[/p][p]Moving forward production and updates will look slightly different. Up to this point we’ve pushed to get big bulk features into the game as fast as possible in an effort to give players a “fuller” experience. The game is getting closer to 1.0 feature complete (we’re not there yet, more on that below!) and we’re now really looking to fine tune a lot of individual pieces within the game, and make the experience just right. Our new difficulty system is a great example of the type of changes we’re looking to make, and the levers we’re hoping to give our development team. Players should still expect monthly updates right up to 1.0 launch. Over the next few months you’ll experience a lot of changes to the game, and they won’t always hit the mark on the first pass. Our goals and expectations for the 1.0 version of the game are extremely high, and getting it right might take some experimentation.[/p][p]As we continue our development of No More Room in Hell 2 in Early Access and move ever closer to 1.0, we want to confirm to the community that child zombies will not be present in the final product. Our top priority is the long-term success and growth of No More Room in Hell 2, and including child zombies would jeopardize that. Whether it’s losing opportunities to be featured in major game showcases, being unable to sell the game in certain regions, risking platform availability, or alienating prospective players, the risks are far too high for a game still finding its footing. We understand that some fans may be disappointed by this news, but we want to assure everyone that we're committed to portraying a gritty and grounded zombie apocalypse—and we're incredibly excited about what the future holds.[/p][p][/p][h3]Core Gameplay Experience:[/h3][p]Since our Early Access launch in 2024 we’ve put a lot of work into getting the core gameplay of our original game mode to its most challenging and fun place, and the game has seen giant changes since its genesis iteration.[/p][p][/p][p]Zombie Spawning[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]We’re still hunting for the gold-standard of zombie spawning in No More Room in Hell 2. Our maps are very open and each is different, which makes creating the perfect zombie spawning system difficult. We took a big pass during August’s Spawn update, but we know there’s a lot of work left to do.[/p][p][/p][p]Difficulty Balancing[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]Difficulty balancing also saw a giant change with difficulty preference & difficulty 2.0 in Spawn. The changes feel promising, but moreso act as tools to help us further refine our difficulty tiers. Players should expect more changes to difficulty balancing in the coming months. We feel that zombie spawning and proper difficulty balancing are the most important keys to unlocking the full potential of No More Room in Hell 2 before our 1.0 launch[/p][p][/p][p]Progression[/p][previewyoutube][/previewyoutube][p][/p][p]Progression in No More Room in Hell 2 is another aspect of the game which needs a fair bit of love, along with the economy system that accompanies it. Players should feel an added desire to play round after round of No More Room in Hell 2 because of short (perk system, permadeath), medium (more on this in the future), and long (nightmare levels) forms of progression, and all of these are currently not hitting the mark. Our economy system also lacks balance that allows us to properly reward players for their play while giving them ways to appropriately spend those credits, so players are currently stockpiling a lot of credits, and that removes a lot of the fun. When 1.0 launches and our new systems are properly in place we intend to perform a wipe of accounts, but also find meaningful ways to reward players for their time spent in Early Access and their earned nightmare levels.[/p][p][/p][p]We feel strongly that nailing these 3 initiatives will be the biggest driver for our long term success.[/p][p][/p][h3]Game Health:[/h3][p]Setting our sights on a 1.0 launch also requires that we take a much deeper look into the health of No More Room in Hell 2. The last 10 months of updates have really transformed the quality of players' experience, but we know that glaring issues still remain. In the next 3 months we will have 2 “health” specific patches, and we expect to have more as we move closer and closer to launch.[/p][p][/p][p]Optimization[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]The current in-game building (left) has 250+ individual meshes. Through the use of our automated process we’re able to compress the same building (right) to just over 53 meshes, an 81% reduction![/p][p]
Game health starts with optimization, the technical art of finding innovative ways to make our game run at its absolute best on as many PC configurations as possible. Our major focus up to this point has been getting the game close to “feature complete” but at times that has come at the cost of optimization. This work will raise players' FPS and lower frame drops. Moving forward, features will enter the game at a slightly slower pace, giving our team more time to optimize players' experience.[/p][p][/p][p]Bug Fixes[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]This adjusted timeline will also give our QA team more time to tackle some of the nastier bugs that have been prevalent in players' gameplay experience. New features eat up a lot of our team's time, and new maps, gameplay tools, and quality of life improvements usually need some extra polish when first introduced to the game. Gradually weapon animations, in-game interactions, progression feedback, our existing maps, and more should see a large reduction in technical issues, delivering a much more polished experience.[/p][p][/p][h3]New Key Features:[/h3][p][/p][p]We also feel like the game’s a few key features away from being a “complete” 1.0 title, and we’d be doing ourselves a disservice in launching 1.0 without them.[/p][p][/p][p]Game Mode #2[/p][p]![]()
Very early work in progress image.[/p][p][/p][p]Another big change that will be coming to No More Room in Hell 2 before our 1.0 launch is a second game mode. We want to give players a new faster paced way to play No More Room in Hell 2 that pays homage to a specific game mode in the first game. We don’t have a solid hold on a due date for our second game mode, but we expect it to come near the end of 2025/start of 2026, and before 1.0 launch.[/p][p][/p][p]New Maps[/p][p]![]()
[/p][p]We’re also excited to take this time to add more maps to our library! We know that maps are our strongest tool to add replayability to the game, and further showcase the active apocalypse that envelops our survivors. While we’re still figuring out the number of maps that we can ship before 1.0 (along with our designers and artists working on a second game mode) players should expect more than 1.[/p][p][/p][p]This is not an expansive list of everything new coming before 1.0 launch, and we have a lot more planned & in production. Stay tuned in the following months and find out even more of what’s to come for No More Room in Hell 2![/p][p][/p][p]If you want to join the conversation, hop into our Discord, leave feedback in-game, or visit[/p][p]NMRIH2.com/support[/p][p][/p][p]Hello Responders,[/p][p]Yesterday, we published our update confirming that No More Room in Hell 2 will be staying in Early Access until the first half of 2026. That post also included news about one of our toughest decisions yet: Zombie kids will not be part of the 1.0 launch.[/p][p]Since then, the community has raised a lot of valid questions. This post is meant to offer more clarity and insight into our thinking.[/p][p]Here’s a first wave of Q&A responses. We’ve distilled recurring community concerns into a few big-picture questions.[/p][p][/p][h3]Q: Zombie kids were important to me in the first game. Why would you take that away?[/h3][p]A: We know how important this element is to many players, especially those who’ve been with us since No More Room in Hell 1. It’s not something we cut lightly.[/p][p]There are many reasons for this decision (detailed in the blog), but they all come back to one thing: giving NMRIH2 the best chance at long-term survival. Early Access launch was rough, and since then, the team has worked incredibly hard to improve the game, and we’re proud of how far it’s come. [/p][p]The reality is, including zombie children would block us from major opportunities, including showcases, platform approvals, and even regional availability. In the short term, it might generate buzz. But in the mid and long term, it puts the entire game at risk.[/p][p]The original No More Room in Hell was built by a passionate, volunteer-driven team who weren’t bound by commercial constraints. Today, No More Room in Hell 2 is being developed in a different world, one where we need the game to grow, survive, and thrive. [/p][p][/p][h3]Q: Could the decision be revisited post-1.0 if community response is overwhelmingly in favor of child zombies returning?[/h3][p]A: We want to be honest with you: The decision is final. The risks are too significant at this stage of development, and we’re fully committed to delivering the best possible experience within those constraints.
We’ve seen player feedback about how child zombies contributed to gameplay, things like line of sight, tension, and target variety. While we don’t have anything to share at this time, these are elements the dev team has spent time thinking about.[/p][p][/p][h3]Q: I’ve put a lot of time into this game. Why would you wipe my earned progression?[/h3][p]A: We get it, nobody wants to feel like their time was wasted. That’s why we want to be clear: this isn’t about erasing progress, it’s about resetting a system that has outgrown its original design. Since launch, we’ve layered in systems like Nightmare Levels, Loadouts, skill rerolls, and upgrades. These features were added over time without a unified foundation, and now they need to work together. To deliver a more meaningful and rewarding progression system at 1.0, we need to rebuild with all these moving parts aligned. For players who’ve already min-maxed their builds, we want to give you something new to chase, a reason to keep pushing after you’ve perfected your character.[/p][p]Right now, the progression and economy systems aren’t balanced. Nightmare tokens were meant to be rare, but high-skill players are swimming in them. Same with credits, some players have hundreds of thousands. That kind of inflation makes meaningful rewards almost impossible.[/p][p]We need progression to feel challenging, rewarding, and worth investing in, and right now, it doesn’t. Fixing that means overhauling systems in a way that, unfortunately, makes account wipes necessary.[/p][p]We’re not just wiping the slate clean. Players who’ve joined us during Early Access will be recognized and rewarded. We’re still finalizing the details, but those rewards will roll out alongside the launch of 1.0. If you’ve been here, it’ll matter, and we’ll have more to share as we get closer.[/p][p][/p][h3]Q: Are we still getting monthly updates, or is content slowing down?[/h3][p]A: Yes, monthly updates will continue, but you’ll notice some of them are more focused on game health than new content.[/p][p]Expect a few patches that prioritize optimization, polish, and bug fixes. These updates give our programmers more time to improve performance and allow QA to address issues beyond just critical bugs.[/p][p]The next update will be one of these “health” patches, and we’ll share more soon on what’s included and what’s next.[/p][p][/p][h3]Q: Is the dev team still actively reading and reacting to Discord and Steam feedback threads?[/h3][p]A: 100%. Our team reads everything, especially in the hours and days after major updates or announcements. You may not always get a reply, but your feedback is constantly being gathered, discussed internally, and shaping what comes next. We're not going quiet. We're right here with you.[/p][p][/p][h3]Q: What milestones should the community look for between now and 1.0?[/h3][p]A: Here’s a few of the big ones we’re working toward:[/p]
Game health starts with optimization, the technical art of finding innovative ways to make our game run at its absolute best on as many PC configurations as possible. Our major focus up to this point has been getting the game close to “feature complete” but at times that has come at the cost of optimization. This work will raise players' FPS and lower frame drops. Moving forward, features will enter the game at a slightly slower pace, giving our team more time to optimize players' experience.[/p][p][/p][p]Bug Fixes[/p][p]
We’ve seen player feedback about how child zombies contributed to gameplay, things like line of sight, tension, and target variety. While we don’t have anything to share at this time, these are elements the dev team has spent time thinking about.[/p][p][/p][h3]Q: I’ve put a lot of time into this game. Why would you wipe my earned progression?[/h3][p]A: We get it, nobody wants to feel like their time was wasted. That’s why we want to be clear: this isn’t about erasing progress, it’s about resetting a system that has outgrown its original design. Since launch, we’ve layered in systems like Nightmare Levels, Loadouts, skill rerolls, and upgrades. These features were added over time without a unified foundation, and now they need to work together. To deliver a more meaningful and rewarding progression system at 1.0, we need to rebuild with all these moving parts aligned. For players who’ve already min-maxed their builds, we want to give you something new to chase, a reason to keep pushing after you’ve perfected your character.[/p][p]Right now, the progression and economy systems aren’t balanced. Nightmare tokens were meant to be rare, but high-skill players are swimming in them. Same with credits, some players have hundreds of thousands. That kind of inflation makes meaningful rewards almost impossible.[/p][p]We need progression to feel challenging, rewarding, and worth investing in, and right now, it doesn’t. Fixing that means overhauling systems in a way that, unfortunately, makes account wipes necessary.[/p][p]We’re not just wiping the slate clean. Players who’ve joined us during Early Access will be recognized and rewarded. We’re still finalizing the details, but those rewards will roll out alongside the launch of 1.0. If you’ve been here, it’ll matter, and we’ll have more to share as we get closer.[/p][p][/p][h3]Q: Are we still getting monthly updates, or is content slowing down?[/h3][p]A: Yes, monthly updates will continue, but you’ll notice some of them are more focused on game health than new content.[/p][p]Expect a few patches that prioritize optimization, polish, and bug fixes. These updates give our programmers more time to improve performance and allow QA to address issues beyond just critical bugs.[/p][p]The next update will be one of these “health” patches, and we’ll share more soon on what’s included and what’s next.[/p][p][/p][h3]Q: Is the dev team still actively reading and reacting to Discord and Steam feedback threads?[/h3][p]A: 100%. Our team reads everything, especially in the hours and days after major updates or announcements. You may not always get a reply, but your feedback is constantly being gathered, discussed internally, and shaping what comes next. We're not going quiet. We're right here with you.[/p][p][/p][h3]Q: What milestones should the community look for between now and 1.0?[/h3][p]A: Here’s a few of the big ones we’re working toward:[/p]
- [p]Second game mode (ETA late 2025 / early 2026)[/p]
- [p]More maps (goal: expand replayability pre-1.0)[/p]
- [p]Overhauled progression and perk systems[/p]
- [p]Two health-focused patches addressing optimization and bug debt[/p]
- [p]Finalized economy rework and account wipe prep
We’ll keep the community updated with regular posts and patch notes as we move through each of these.
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