April's REANIMATION Update is Out Now!
Welcome to REANIMATION (Update 0.4.0), our largest content update since Early Access launch!
New maps, new combat, new zombies, new inventory - it’s all here in our April Reanimation Update. We’re excited for all the changes coming in, and without further ado, let’s dive into REANIMATION!
Reanimation Cinematic Trailer:
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Update Overview Trailer:
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[h2]New Maps[/h2]
We’re excited to debut Pottsville and Lewiston; new, tighter, more urban maps that will create heart-pounding moments as players check around every corner to make sure they do not get trapped in an inescapable alley with zombies closing in.
[h3]Pottsville[/h3]
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. Pottsville is a rural small town where Responders will be looking to rescue civilians. You’ll start at the outskirts and explore the neighbourhoods, following leads from the CRC through the streets and alleys that could lead you to the Pottsville Bank, where some survivors attempted to access parts of the bank usually more secured; or to City Hall, where we’re sure the mayor and their staff must have made it out…
Responders will spawn separately into the Pottsville map and should eventually make their way to the formerly bustling downtown square, now empty save for the living dead that have no interest in the decorations or landscaping. Find your way to the community center, and learn the fate of Pottsville’s population along the way.
Randomized houses with different locations for your objectives brings new exploration with each playthrough of Pottsville, along with the introduction of a new minigame - Responders will need to align the radio to the correct wavelength.
[h3]Lewiston[/h3]
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. Lewiston is our surprise third map, as revealed during our Reanimation Announcement on April 8th!
We are thrilled to bring you to Maine, with 2 new types of extractions, randomized stores to explore, and a sunset over the small town giving everything, even the dead, a glow-up. Spawn together with up to 4 other Responders, try to find the rest of your group, and explore Lewiston. Make sure to check if you have overdue books at the Library, or if there are supplies left at the Pawn Shop. Keep an eye on the gathering shadows, watching for any movement in the autumn sunset.
Matchmaking Note - we’ll be adjusting the prevalence of how often each map appears, without the need for game updates to do so. Currently we’ll be weighting the matchmaking percentages more towards letting players experience the two new maps Lewiston and Pottsville more than Power Plant. As always we will listen to community feedback to inform us. Let us know which map is your favourite!
[h2]Character Roster[/h2]
Players will have 3 character slots, and can select 3 different Responders to fill them. Each can have their own loadouts, character levels, and skills. You’ll be able to decide the difficulty of the match you want to play by selecting the Responder with the character level to match.
Clicking a filled slot will make that character active. Clicking an empty slot will bring up a character selection pop-up. Once a player starts matchmaking, character selection is locked.
Set up your favorite character build and loadout, and keep them ready for your sessions.
[h2]Character Reroll[/h2]
Players will be able to spend match-earned credits to reroll the character selection when creating a new Responder. This will reroll all 3 of the options available.
We’re open to hearing feedback about the amount of credits spent for the reroll, and can adjust this without needing to patch the game, so please share that feedback with us regularly in the Discord!
[h2]Radial Inventory[/h2]
The memorable NMRiH1-style Radial Inventory is back!
This weight-based style of inventory is easier to use dynamically in combat.
Weights are reflected in the size of each "slice" of the quadrant of the radial inventory. So, a 2 handed sledgehammer or wooden planks will take up a great deal of more "weight space” than a kitchen knife does. The earlier inventory in NMRIH2 was not weight-based but simply had a limited number of slots, regardless of the weight of things you were carrying.
You can set up a quick slot by highlighting over an item and pressing a number key (1-9).
Instead of the number of items counting against your inventory, all items will have a weight value that will affect your inventory. This is still being tuned, so please be sure to give feedback, either through our in-game menu or in our Discord.
[h2]Combat 2.0[/h2]
We’ve talked about Combat 2.0 on our Livestream [Insert Link], and we are excited to get it into the hands of our Responders. How you combine your attacks and actions with those of other Responders will be more rewarding, and, we hope, lead to more cooperation between players.
Combat 2.0 will feature:
- Directional Melee - Left or Right attacks with a melee weapon depending on the left or right input..
- Strong Attacks - if you repeat the input, the 2nd attack will be stronger. For example, if you repeat a left left attack, the 2nd attack will be the stronger one.
- Charged Attacks - hold your attack. It will hold the animation, and when you release it, you will deal a massive blow. There will be a difference between a Slashing attack, and a Bludgeoning attack. Try out the different attacks, and let us know which you decide to use.
- Kick and Shove - both will have a different use in your attacks. Kick, performed by holding the "shove" key, will be an extension of your combo to move zombies. Use it alongside your fellow Responders' attacks to direct and knock down zombies. Shove is usually to be combined with your other attacks to create a combo.
As part of Combat 2.0, weapons have gotten a rebalancing. Slashing and Bludgeoning style weapons will have different purposes. Body shots and headshots will have a different response, depending on the weapons.
Stamina has been rebalanced, and your ‘out-of-stamina’ state will be harsher - Responders will deal less damage and less impact when dealing blows.
Let us know of your experience with Combat 2.0 in the Discord!
[h2]Zombie Variants[/h2]
There are new zombies coming in with the new maps, including Riot Police and Construction Zombies.
We advise Responders to approach with caution and strategy, as both have helmets protecting them from headshots. Riot Police will have body armor to protect them from firearms, and some may also have a shield, protecting their body from attacks, so use your directional melee to deal damage.
You can also run into zombie police officers and even zombie chefs - who are looking to make you their next finely prepared meal.
Along with the new zombie types, there we have made improvements to the Shambler type such as the ability to walk around, summon zombies to help them after a few screams, and release a gas cloud that will increase the infection rate of a zombie in the cloud - plus, the cloud also has a chance to infect players itself. We have also added new styles to the Runner type of zombies. Our ‘Red Eyes’ zombies have also gotten an adjustment. No longer will they have red eyes coming out of the darkness - they’ll have an ‘eyeshine’ to them instead. More dead-like. They also can take damage regularly, instead of relying exclusively on headshots. The CRC does recommend still aiming for them first however - a ‘Prime’ state alters the zombies it affects, giving them more health and higher damage.
[h2]Notable Additions:[/h2]
- New Weapons:
- Cleaver
- Quick and sharp, one-handed bladed weapon
- Cleaver
- Tree Trimmer
- Two-handed bladed weapon
- Extended reach, great for removing limbs
- Two-handed bladed weapon
- New Scopes
- Hunting Scope - Long range rifle scope
- Combat Optic - military grade, medium range holographic sight
- Hunting Scope - Long range rifle scope
- Performance Fixes
- Lighting Optimization
- Improved Hit Reaction Animations
- In-Game Early Access Roadmap
- Loading Screen Tips (with some community suggestions!)
- Improved Loot Spawning
- Spawning of items is more dynamic, less predictable
- Matchmaking with Multiple Maps
- Map selector available on Private Matches
- A skill pool that will display all available skills that could be randomly generated for the player at their current level
- New audio mixing options and sliders
- Added support for DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation
- Zombie spawning improvements
- A new spawning system that should improve zombie density and scarcity for better gameplay pacing
[h2]Balance[/h2]
- Difficulty tweaks
[h2]Bug Fixes[/h2]
- [h3]Animations[/h3]
- Zombie animation will not retrigger when in a knocked down state
- Zombie Runner will move more smoothly while investigating
- Pushing zombies during climbing animation will cause the proper falling animation
- Shooting firearms while sprinting will have a proper first shot animation
- Disconnect panels will trigger lever animation when interacted with
- Zombie animation will not retrigger when in a knocked down state
- [h3]Appearance[/h3]
- Rocks with moss will not appear pixelated
- Ground textures will appear more detailed and take less time to stream in when the player is moving
- Player hand will no longer disappear when crouching with all firearms
- Rocks with moss will not appear pixelated
- [h3]Audio[/h3]
- Added Power Plant Finale music during the final objectives
- Rebar shove metal SFX will play correctly
- Auto VO will not trigger twice for fuse panel objectives
- Roje female VO wheel lines will be louder when triggered in battle state
- Ammo collection VO has been turned up for Roje male and female
- Player downed UX audio is louder
- Radio VO will trigger after extraction for success, partial, or failure
- Radio VO will trigger when all Responders die
- Radio VO lines will no longer reference mission success when the mission was failed
- Locked wire fence gates will play rattle SFX when interacted with
- Fixed cases where music would not trigger depending on load-in order of responders
- Improved Melee Impact Sounds
- Fixed an issue where sounds (particularly zombies) would be inconsistently occluded when there is a wall between them and the player
- Added meta pickup sounds to objective items
- Improved presence of audio jumpscares
- Fixed an issue where reverb was not always applying consistently in interior spaces
- Sources inside a reverb space will now have reverb applied correctly for the listener irrespective of the listener’s location
- Slightly increased shambler shriek distance
- Shamblers now have 2 warm-up shrieks before the third more intense shriek
- Fix for cases when meleeing or shooting a zombie through an opening would be missing sounds
- Added Power Plant Finale music during the final objectives
- [h3]Environment[/h3]
- Barricades will no longer float on windows
- Small shrubs to the south of Hospital POI no longer have player collision
- Player is no longer able to be attacked through stash room doors
- Floating wire will be absent near Farmhouse
- Placeholder door removed from Substation
- Player will no longer be able to enter a one-way area and get stuck at Substation
- Player will no longer be able to bypass Substation entrance and softlock self inside Power Plant
- Players will no longer be blocked in at the space between fuel tanks at the Substation Entrance
- Floating cones no longer present near Ranger Station
- Floating loot no longer present at Field Hospital washrooms
- Floating items on the road between sawmill, radio station and ranger station have been pushed back down and will stop floating
- Small metal piece clipping through Sluice Gate control monitor removed
- Barricades will no longer float on windows
- [h3]Gameplay[/h3]
- Bar - Wiring minigame can no longer be completed and Stash accessed without doing any prior objectives
- Fixed explosives occasionally not dealing damage to players. They should be consistent now and deal full damage to the throwing player and reduced damage to other players
- Improved weapon spreads for all firearms
- Reworked melee trace functionality to be more reliable
- Increased grenade throw speed by 100%
- Bladed weapons and blunt weapons have been rebalanced to deal more damage to world objects such as barricades and doors. Bladed weapons are more efficient at breaking barricades and wood doors. Blunt weapons are more efficient at breaking metal doors
- Bar - Wiring minigame can no longer be completed and Stash accessed without doing any prior objectives
- Localization
- Description of Skilled Medic Expert has been corrected
- [h3]Server/Client[/h3]
- Resolved a variety of crashes
- Resolved a situation where the interactable state could become desynced between clients and servers
- Deployed new client module (on 3/31) to improve Easy Anti-Cheat compatibility, which should help to resolve crashes
- Resolved a variety of crashes
- [h3]UI[/h3]
- MP5 Magazine had clipping bullets and has been adjusted
- Nightmare levels will be set properly in the scoreboard
- "Firearms" loadout category is properly renamed
- Stamina bar and Interaction prompt visibility settings are no longer locked on Nightmare mode
- The typo in "Needs Condenser" has been fixed
- Revive Syringe Description is now accurate
- Destroying a door after opening it no longer disables the interaction UI
- Shoving without any weapon equipped will no longer trigger the Heavy Attack hint prompt to show up
- New character will show up immediately in the character tab when quitting to main menu
- Opening the inventory while moving will no longer cause a player position jitter
- MP5 Magazine had clipping bullets and has been adjusted
- [h3]User Experience[/h3]
- Player movement will continue when the mouse stops focusing an inventory item
- Alarm box will turn green and replicate for players who do not interact with it after being disabled
- Switching to flashlight while holding 2 handed weapons will replicate to other clients.
- Truck near field hospital now has an interaction
- Player movement will continue when the mouse stops focusing an inventory item
- [h3]Weapons[/h3]
- Rochester 1873 will animate when dropped
- Scope attachments no longer clip into screen when shooting with the 590A1 Shotgun
- Rifle suppressor on the Rochester 1873 in will no longer move when shooting
- Holographic sight will not pop from vision when shooting with the Rochester 1873
- Fire rate on m1911 Handgun fixed; it should be comparable to m9a1 fire speed now
- Attachments on spawned weapons now have glint
- Weapon will not clip into the bed at Lookout Tower stash room
- Deprecated UI no longer appears when picking up the M7A1 rifle or MP5 for the first time
- Weapons will not pop out and become misaligned in 3pp animation when switching weapons
- Rochester 1873 will animate when dropped
- [h3]Zombies[/h3]
- Zombies will not suddenly rise again/’pop up’ if shot on the ground before dying
- Zombies will have no difficulties in navigating through a rooftop area at Stacker Reclaimer - watch your backs Responders
- Flame particle effect is accurate when shambler is on fire
- Runners will move normally during start and stop roam states and not slide on invisible ice
- Player zombies will not repeat their attack VO in quick succession
- Zombies bodies will not twitch or pop up after dying - if they are still twitching or popping up, do better at double tapping.
- Shamblers will now react and scream when noticing a Responder. Try to not be noticed.
- Zombies long sleeve mesh will not twist when transitioning into idle animation
- Zombies will only attack barricaded doors if provoked. The CRC suggests not provoking them.
- Zombies will not suddenly rise again/’pop up’ if shot on the ground before dying
[h2]Known Major Issues[/h2]
Note: as this is Early Access, our title is in active development and bugs are to be expected. We have listed some known issues that we expect many players to encounter, however:
- Rarely, players may encounter a black screen on launch. Follow these steps to try to resolve this problem.
- In Spectator mode, when changing player perspective, parts of the map will be slow to fully load in
- In Spectator mode, incorrect first-person character animations may occasionally be seen, such as a looped hand wave motion.
- In Spectator mode, players may see inconsistent movement / warping from other players
- Lewiston - Responder may spawn A-posing until the flashlight and weapons load in
- Doors may appear to be broken but not allow the player through when kicked down or destroyed by zombies, which can typically be fixed by kicking again
- Sometimes the death takeover screen will take up to 20 or 30 seconds to clear and transition to Spectator mode
- Zombies sometimes don't make noise until they attack or get hit
- Rarely, Responders’ haircuts may stretch out
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
