All Quiet in the Trenches News

The next major update 0.9 (Gas Update) is just around the corner! In the last Dev Diary before the release, we want to introduce you to some exciting new features.

Scenarios: Variety and Challenge

Internally, we refer to a scenario as a special event in the game that is triggered randomly under certain circumstances. It differs from normal events in the game mainly by the fact that scenarios have a longer-term impact on the game and bring new challenges, additional tasks or even their own levels. Furthermore, only one scenario can be active at a time.

A well-known example of a scenario is home leave, which was already integrated into the game. With the new update, there will be five such scenarios.

Game start: Get into the sandbox faster

The grand offensive at the beginning of the game has been removed and replaced with two separate scenarios that can now occur randomly during the course of the game. This means that after the trench phase and the subsequent retreat in battle, you are thrown directly into the ‘sandbox’, i.e. the next level is randomly selected.

For those who still remember this battle: it is now possible to win it.

More detailed rations display

We have made a change to the supply UI. Rations are now displayed as a separate attribute with a numerical display indicating how many turns the selected ration will last. This replaces the previous supply attribute. The number of available grenades is now also displayed as a number rather than a level symbol.



Skirmish mini-events in the trench phase

To bring more action and unpredictability to the trench phase, we have added over 20 mini events. A soldier from the troop can inform the Unteroffizier during the turn that, for example, a brief gunfight has cost ammunition or that a French troop has secretly entered the trench at night and stolen supplies.


The outcome of such events depends, among other things, on how much equipment is available.

What else?

As always, we've made further small changes and numerous balancing adjustments to make the game more enjoyable. By the way: Steel helmets have been in the game for years, but will now be visible after the 1916 home leave!

For our upcoming Gas Update, we plan to extend the game time by another in-game year. This also means that you will experience another year with the soldiers through your diary entries – for better or for worse. A total of over 40 new diary entries are planned for the Gas Update.

Personal stories of the soldiers

Each soldier in your squad already has stories tailored specifically to them and their character development. We have added more stories for all soldiers, which primarily deal with personal topics related to that soldier, their background and motives.

Stories about the gas war

In addition, there are stories that deal specifically with the gas war and its consequences. They are intended to show how the gas war was experienced from the personal perspective of an individual soldier, how its effects were felt and what difficult decisions this new form of warfare entailed.

Historical stories

More historical stories are planned to be included that shall establish a connection to specific events of the time as experienced by soldiers on the front lines and place the soldiers' own experiences in a historical context.

Various other topics

Additional stories on a wide variety of topics are planned to be added to the game. These are stories that deal with the personalities, moods or other attributes of the soldiers, or that focus on specific unusual game situations.

A current screenshot of our ticket system.

Hello everyone,

We are excited to officially announce that the next major update for All Quiet in the Trenches will be the Gas Update (Version 0.9) and will be released on 19 May 2025!

Version 0.9 will be our biggest update yet. It extends the game to early 1917 and brings new features, content and improvements to the game. We plan to release 2-3 more Dev Diaries before the release date.

There will also be an Open Beta available to everyone in a Steam beta branch roughly one week before the official release. Please note:

• Not all game content may be included in the beta
  
• No official patch notes will be published for the beta
  
• We cannot guarantee that save files from the beta will work in the release version
  
• Feedback and bug reports in Discord, on Steam or via email are very important to us and expressly welcome, but depending on the number of reports, we may not be able to respond to everyone
  

Thank you very much for your support!

All Quiet in the Trenches is set in a (fictional) secondary theatre of war on the Western Front. Many soldiers stationed away from the main front lines probably did not come into direct contact with poison gas very often. Nevertheless, poison gas is one of the most well-known and devastating weapons of the First World War. That's why it was clear to us from the very beginning that we wanted to incorporate this topic into the game.

Poison Gas in the Diary

With less than one percent of all World War I deaths, poison gas is considered an ineffective weapon in retrospect, but its cruelty and the effects it had on soldiers give it its terrible reputation.

We have written several new journal entries on this topic, which deal with various aspects of gas warfare. We plan to have 6-8 stories by the time of release of the next update, but due to our dynamic storytelling, it is of course possible that you will not experience all of them in one playthrough.



Gas Masks

We designed the gas masks in the game based on the German ‘GM15’ rubber mask and the French ‘M2’ mask. Both variants have been given their own storage locations: A carrying bag for French soldiers and the ‘Bereitschaftsbüchse’ ('emergency box') for German soldiers.



Gas Attacks in the Trenches

During the trench phase, occasional gas attacks may now occur. The main consequences are increased exhaustion and mental stress for the soldiers.

The use and duration of a gas attack depend on the wind. Gas can affect life in the trenches for several days, but it is ineffective in strong winds. The wind, in turn, depends on the weather. So heavy rain now has its good sides too.



Chlorine Gas on the Battlefield

Some new levels have been designed in which chlorine gas is used. Soldiers who are near poison gas clouds automatically put on their gas masks.

The gas clouds behave similarly to artillery smoke or smoke grenades. However, gas adds additional penalties to the visibility impairment: reduced stamina and lower soldier effectiveness.



Stamina Adjustments

As part of this, we have made minor changes to stamina, which is reflected in the game via the ‘Out of Breath’ attribute. In addition to balancing changes, we have introduced a mechanic where soldiers who are not given a break on the battlefield will eventually become unable to carry out orders.

In the last two Dev Diaries, we talked about the limited visibility caused by artillery smoke and smoke grenades. This will be supplemented by fog as a natural challenge that will be added with the gas update and which we will tell you about today.

Occurrences of Fog

Fog will occur as an additional weather effect in the game and will influence both the battle and the trench phases. While fog cannot occur in hot or sunny weather, there is a certain probability of it occurring in moderate or rainy weather, as well as in cold snaps (in order of increasing probability).



Effects of Fog in Battle

During a battle, fog drastically reduces visual range to about half of the normal distance. This makes movement through no-man's land less dangerous, as generally there are fewer enemy troops in sight.

However, careless movements can also be extremely risky, as you can now move into close combat or grenade range of one or more enemy troops that were previously out of your sight.

Fog in the Trenches

In the trench phase, fog reduces the danger of all tasks and also affects other circumstances: while enemy snipers, for example, can no longer carry out their tasks, which further lowers the danger level, the probability of an enemy attack increases.

Unknown Factors

There will be another change in battle: if a movement poses dangers from enemy troops that were not previously visible, this information will be hidden. This also applies to tactical attributes such as flanking or close combat. It does not matter whether visibility is restricted by terrain, fog, smoke or other factors.



This is supposed to make movements through fog or smoke more interesting and encourage cautious, short movements. Positions that can be seen by many enemy troops are generally more dangerous, but also give the player more information about the battlefield. The aim is to create a new strategic weighing of safety and information gain. NPC troops are subject to the same restrictions.

Graphical and Technical Improvements

As part of the integration of the fog effect, further adjustments were made:

The shader has been modified in such a way that the graphical outlines are now also influenced by the fog, which previously caused unwanted artifacts in the distance, especially at low resolutions.

Both screenshots in low resolution without anti-aliasing

The transitions to the skybox, especially in hot and sunny weather, have been optimized, which overall leads to a more beautiful appearance in the depths. This has also prompted us to tilt the camera up a little during the battle so that it can now see further into the distance.