Hello Soldiers!
Update 2.0.7 is now available, arriving ahead of tomorrow’s launch of Easy Red 2: Blood on the Danube and bringing new content, extensive reworks, experimental gameplay systems, visual improvements, and stability fixes across Easy Red 2.
Most of our work during this period was naturally dedicated to completing the new Hungary expansion, but development on the base game has continued alongside it. This update includes improvements to aircraft physics, weapon animations, vehicles, AI navigation, graphics, audio, the Map Editor, scripting tools, and much more.
Blood on the Danube Launches Tomorrow!
Easy Red 2: Blood on the Danube – Hungary 1945 launches tomorrow on Steam!
Fight through the final brutal months of the Eastern Front across three new campaigns covering the Siege of Budapest, the Konrad Offensives, and Operation Spring Awakening.
The expansion includes 35 missions across two new maps, the new Hungarian and Romanian factions, and dozens of new weapons, vehicles, aircraft, uniforms, and pieces of equipment.
The complete launch announcement will be released tomorrow.
Watch the Launch Trailer
Update 2.0.7
Ahead of tomorrow’s release of Blood on the Danube, Update 2.0.7 introduces several new systems and improvements developed for Easy Red 2 as a whole.
Aircraft physics have received new experimental changes intended to make flight behavior more convincing, particularly during low-speed and high-angle-of-attack situations. Weapon handling and animations have also been expanded with improved bolt-action synchronization, animated firing mechanisms, updated ammunition models, and more logical partial reloads.
The update also brings several reworked vehicles and aircraft, new weapons and explosives, improvements to indoor AI navigation, expanded Lua scripting functions, and numerous visual, audio, mission, and stability fixes.
New Features and Content:
Weapons and Explosives
Added the Panzerschreck 43. In a future update, using this early unshielded model may also require the operator to wear a gas mask.
Added the Nebelhandgranate 42 for a late-war German smoke grenade.
Added the Blendkörper 2H for an anti-tank late-war German impact smoke grenade.
Added the OF Mle. 1915 grenade (Ardennes DLC).
Added the Kaenbin flame grenade for early-war Japanese forces.
Added the Type 91 grenade for early-war Japanese forces.
Added the RGD-33 anti-tank grenade bundle (Stalingrad DLC).
Added a new M37 Satchel Charge for US and supplied allied forces.
Added the Geballte Ladung 3KG Charge for German and Axis forces.
Editor and Scripting
Added the new Lua function destroyAll, allowing scripts to destroy all structures within a specified radius without needing to create an explosion or manually locate distant structures.
The Lua sleep() function can now be used inside callbacks.
Map and Missions
Most Normandy campaign missions have been reworked, and all have been given mission intros. This is not part of an overall Normandy rework or remake, just mission updates and general minor improvements... Remade Encircling Carentan however!
Added Tiger II to Battle of the Bulge.
Added Romanian forces to multiple Stalingrad missions.
Changed dates and mission order for some Stalingrad missions.
Additional Content
Added new barricade props.
Added many new vests and squads.
Added new 1-life achievements.
Fixes and Improvements:
Weapons and Animations
Improved bullet ejection animations.
Added new animations for the M1 Carbine and its variants.
Added new Sten Mk V animations.
Reworked the Mosin rifle family and added new variants.
Reworked the Mosin PE scope.
Added an experimental system for animating the firing pins and other internal mechanisms of certain weapons, currently implemented on Mosin rifles.
Added an experimental partial-reload system that removes the appropriate round when manually opening the bolt, keeping weapon animations and ammunition counts logically consistent.
Began a gradual rework of ammunition models, currently implemented on the M1 Carbine, Mosin, and SVT weapon families.
Improved third-person bolt-action animations to synchronize more accurately with body movement and weapon reloads.
Reworked the M43 Stielhandgranate and added a new variant.
Improved camera movement while using several weapons in first person.
Improved the recoil camera effect on vehicles and static weapons.
Improved the PaK 40.
Vehicles and Aircraft
Added experimental improvements to aircraft physics, intended to produce more realistic behavior during low-speed flight, high-angle-of-attack stalls, and other situations where speed and gravity affect controllability.
Reworked the Panzer II and added new variants.
Reworked the Hetzer.
Reworked the Supermarine Spitfire and added several new variants.
Reworked the interiors of the Messerschmitt Bf 110.
Made small improvements to AI handling of wheeled vehicles.
Improved the turret rotation sound system so that movement caused by bumps and uneven terrain no longer incorrectly activates rotation sounds.
Visual Effects and Graphics
Improved tracer visibility at longer distances.
Reworked rocket visual effects. Rocket motors now visibly burn out after the first few seconds of flight.
Improved post-processing lighting and adjusted the vignette effect.
Improved depth and shadow rendering in various shaders.
Improved building shaders and fixed several related visual issues.
Improved the ground snow shader.
Improved terrain textures.
Improved various German uniform textures.
Reworked the Cliff 8 model and its variants.
Made smaller improvements to rock props and other environmental textures.
Reworked trash-bin props, which are no longer obsolete.
Uniforms and Historical Equipment
Adjusted German Heer webbing across several campaigns to better reflect equipment distribution by theatre and period. Canvas webbing is now more prevalent in Mediterranean campaigns, while Normandy troops continue to primarily use leather equipment.
Updated German squad uniforms in Kos using additional references from the battles of Kos and Leros.
Made various additional improvements to uniforms and equipment textures.
Map Editor and Environment Tools
Improved the Map Editor grass-painting tool so that it more reliably avoids roads and placed props.
Improved texture mapping on roads created with the Road tool.
Added new thin sidewalk textures for use with the Road tool.
Fixed issues affecting various buildings.
AI and Navigation
Improved AI pathfinding inside large buildings and underground cave environments.
Made smaller improvements to AI driving behavior for wheeled vehicles.
Improved plane AI behaviors
Audio
Improved large explosion sounds.
Added and improved sounds for various weapons and menus.
Made smaller adjustments to the legacy faction anthems.
Missions and Stability
Fixed issues in various missions.
Added various stability improvements.
Fixed several smaller gameplay, graphical, and technical issues.
What Comes Next?
With Blood on the Danube launching tomorrow, Easy Red 2 is about to take another major step forward—but our work on the game does not end here.
You can read more about our plans for Easy Red 2 in our development roadmap:
You can also join the Easy Red 2 community to share feedback, report issues, publish your creations, and follow future development updates:
Join Easy Red 2 Discord Community
Visit the Easy Red 2 Steam Workshop
Thank you for reading, and we will see you on the battlefield!
Marco and the Easy Red 2 Development Team