🎬 Watch the 1.0 launch trailer: YouTube
Hello, survivors!
After three years of continuous updates in Early Access, Zed Zone, made entirely by solo indie developer Leven, launches its 1.0 full release on November 6, 2026! The full release brings the long-awaited new island, co-op multiplayer and farming, plus two new ways to play: Cataclysm Mode and Horde Mode.
New to Zed Zone? It's a 2D top-down zombie apocalypse survival game: you crawl out of a crashed helicopter onto a quarantined island. Scavenge for supplies, craft gear, build a base and find a way to stay alive.
The full release is 40% off for the first two weeks. Come explore Zed Zone with your friends!
New Island: The Far Island
Repair the boat on the main island and set sail for the Far Island to uncover the secrets behind the zombie outbreak. After that, you can sail between the two islands at any time, and items in the boat's cabin travel with you.
Ten New Areas: a port, the RNA Lab, a shopping mall, an armory, an automated factory, a nuclear power plant, an old airport, a military camp and more, each with its own dangers and rewards.
Island Railway: call a train at a station and pick a stop on the route map. Each Area Guardian you defeat restores power to another section of the line, gradually opening up the whole island. Trains also have storage space.
Area Guardians: the port, the lab and the factory each have a guardian boss (the Augmented Security Captain, the Corpse Amalgam and the Factory Warden). Collect the three access devices they drop to open the gate to Area 61.
Area 61 and the Ending: venture into Area 61's surface and underground facilities, take on a three-phase final boss and escape aboard a submersible to reach the ending. You can keep playing your current save after the ending.
Radiation: radiation storms shroud the area around the nuclear power plant. The longer you stay, the higher your radiation dose, until you come down with radiation sickness. Gas masks, the Radiation Cloak and Heavy Radiation Armor block part of the radiation, and Iodine Tablets and Anti-Radiation Medicine help you hold out longer; starting the backup cooling at the plant also weakens the storms. More dangerous irradiated mutants roam inside the storms, too.
Heavy Firepower and New Gear: lots of new weapons and items, such as the Warden 60mm Grenade Cannon and the 84mm Recoilless Rifle. Defeat the port boss to earn the White Falcon exoskeleton gear.
Co-op Multiplayer
Play online with up to 8 players (4 by default, adjustable by the host; up to 4 in Horde Mode). Explore the map, scavenge for supplies and fight side by side with your friends, then sail to the Far Island together. The apocalypse keeps one survivor busier than they can handle, so this time, call in your friends to share the load.
How to Join: 6-digit room codes, a public room list, Steam friend invites or LAN, and rooms can be password-protected. When a direct connection isn't possible, the game connects through the official relay server automatically.
Bring Your Own Save and Character: hosts can open a room with their own single-player save; joining players can create a new character or bring one they already have from single-player.
Watch Each Other's Backs: when you go down, wait for a teammate to revive you. Hosts can also turn on friendly fire for a few more unexpected “accidents” along the way.
Mod Sync: mods used by the host are synced automatically to joining players.
Farming System
Build Planting Pots, sow seeds, water and fertilize them, then harvest once the crops are ripe. There are 12 crops, including corn, potatoes, tomatoes, wheat, mushrooms and blueberries. Outdoor planting pots are watered automatically when it rains, and mushrooms grow well underground. Harvested crops can be made into Bread, French Fries, Tomato Sauce, Chicken and Mushroom Soup and more. Plant a small vegetable patch in your yard or run a farm with friends: food no longer has to come from scavenging trips alone.
Cataclysm Mode
Unlocked after finishing Standard Mode, playable solo or as a team. Trapped on an island you cannot escape, you face an ever-escalating cataclysm: a horde night every 5 days, and every 7 days cataclysm-class enemies that must be killed within a time limit. Prepare by balancing farming, building and exploring. When you die, you respawn where you fell. Compete for the most consecutive days survived, with separate solo and team leaderboards.
Horde Mode
A camp defense mode with roguelike-style progression. A trader hires you to defend his RV camp. The horde attacks at dusk, each wave stronger than the last, with raiders, giant creatures and cataclysm-class monsters mixed in. Supplies are airdropped into the camp after every wave you clear, and every 5 waves you get a long rest. By default, holding out for 20 waves wins the defense, or you can turn on Endless mode and keep going. Experience, attribute points and skills earned in a run carry over to the next one. Play solo or in a team of up to 4, with separate solo and team leaderboards.
Launch Event: Survival Leaderboard Challenge
From November 5, 23:00 to November 15, 08:00 PST (UTC-8), the top 10 on the four-player Horde Mode leaderboard will win Steam gift cards. See the event announcement for how to enter and the full rules.
Other Additions and Improvements
Voxel Building: freely build walls, floors, steps and roofs from wood, stone, metal, glass and hay bale blocks to put up multi-story buildings, and move furniture and workbenches upstairs too. From a makeshift shelter to a stronghold shared by the whole group, build and furnish it however you like.
Auto Turrets: unlock the Crossbow Turret, Machine Gun Turret, Laser Turret and Tesla Turret in the skill tree.
New Vehicles: the bicycle, karts, the electric forklift and a self-driving test vehicle.
Tutorial: new Standard Mode worlds now come with a beginner's guide.
Characters Separate from Worlds: characters can take their backpack, gear and skills into other worlds.
For the full list of changes, see the update notes in game.
What's Next
The full release is not the end of the road for Zed Zone.
I'll keep polishing and updating the game, and I'm also exploring what more the Steam Workshop can do.
A more detailed roadmap for future updates will follow.
If you run into any problems or have suggestions, let me know on the Steam Community, on our Discord or through the in-game Feedback Center.
Thank you all again for your support and for sticking with me all this way!
40% off for the first two weeks. Grab your friends and start a new survival journey together!