Greetings, Survivors!
We are in full development mode. New features and content are being developed for Major Update #4 which we cannot wait to deliver your way. Still, due to the level of complication of some features, it might take us some time before we are ready to publish it for everyone to play through. While it's possible that the first open_beta builds with new features will come your way somewhere in January 2025, the default branch update is expected to arrive somewhere at the end of February 2025, or even at the beginning of March 2025.
Having said that, let's take a closer look at some of the cool things coming your way in the next Major Update. While this is not the full list of all new things that you can expect, the areas mentioned below are either the most interesting ones or most anticipated in our Surveys.
Land Elevation
Land Elevation was showcased first in 2022, long before the game's release in Early Access. While this concept seemed extremely interesting to us, it also caused a lot of issues that we weren't ready to tackle at that time. Now, due to popular demand, we are doing our best to implement this feature once again. Land Elevation is not only meant to make the game look better but also to enhance the defensive potential of your Zones and increase the game's realism.
Planting Trees
Many of you report to us that the amount of wood the player is able to obtain is still too low. At first, we wanted to solve this issue with trees regrowing on their own. While this solution helped a little bit, it still wasn't enough. That's why we decided to add an option to plant trees via area work. The areas previously unplayable due to resource scarcity should now be playable. On top of it, we are still considering adding a Forrester building. The Forrester would plant the trees on their own within their building's range. Let us know in the comments if that's something you would like to see in the game.
Car Workshop
We know that many experienced players start by looking around the map for the best available vehicle. They grab the nearby Sedan and drive around looking for trucks, vans, or SUVs to increase their cargo space. Sadly, sometimes the luck isn't on the player's side and no interesting vehicle can be found. The implementation of a Car Workshop will help deal with those situations by adding:
- Car Construction,
- Car Modifications and repairs,
- Car Deconstruction,
In short, if you encounter 5 cars that you find obsolete, you can now deconstruct them all to construct a bigger vehicle that you desire. An option to upgrade your vehicles is planned too. Armored plates, spiked bumpers, enlarged tank, or additional trunk - the choice is yours!
Lairs of the Infected
When fighting against the hordes, the player deals with separate groups of Infected that can be found during the night and large swarms that attack every few days. While there is no way to avoid the swarms that arrive from far away, we want to add an option to clear the smaller groups the player has to deal with at night. Identifying and burning down the Lair will provide the players with several nights of peace. While we still have to prepare for the swarms, it will now be possible to safely scavenge the nearby area at night in between those large waves.
Is that everything that we have in plans for Major Update #4? Absolutely not, expect to see more exciting news at the beginning of the next year! But for now, we want to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Thank you for playing Infection Free Zone and being with us. Your support means the world to us and we are extremely happy to have such an amazing community on our side.
Best regards,
Jutsu Games Team