Dear Survivors,
Good news! Our second major summer update is out, and it’s a big one: Starting now, you can play with a friend in the new Couch Co-Op mode. It even works online via Steam Remote Play. This means you can invite anyone on your friends list to play along, even if they don’t own the game. The only catch: One of you needs a controller.
In addition, we’ve added a new coastal biome, perhaps our most beautiful one yet. To go along with it, you can unlock a new character with completely new gameplay mechanics and start surfing your way through hordes of zombies right away. More on that below.
Everything is more fun when you're two
Today we'd like to introduce you to our new Co-Op mode. Can't wait to hear your feedback on it. Since our Early Access launch the Co-Op mode was the most wanted feature. Until the upcoming 1.0 full release, the Co-Op mode is in beta, so it may be unstable or unbalanced in some areas. Accordingly, all bug reports, suggestions, and feedback on this are a huge help to us, so please keep them coming.
You can enjoy the co-op mode the classic way (with two players on the couch) or play online with your friends via Steam Remote Play. Here’s a quick guide, but it’s really not complicated at all.
New Biome: Welcome to the Beach
With the Coast Biome, we want to introduce you to what might just be the most beautiful biome yet. Well, maybe it’s only beautiful until the sun sets and hordes of zombies start chasing you across the pier, the beach, or the harbor.
Even during the day, though, you should watch out for our new type of enemy, the Vacationeer (Umbrella Zombie). So, as usual, grab some gas and loot as fast as you can and get out of there. Even if the new environment might tempt you to stick around...
New Char: Surfing through the Apocalypse
One thing that could definitely help you staying alive is our new character, who, in keeping with the coastal biome theme, comes with an exciting new character item: the surfboard.
We’re excited to see what new playstyles you’ll develop based on the unique “surf instead of dash” ability.
How to unlock? -> Have 6 dashes worth of stamina.
New Enemies
In addition to the previously mentioned Umbrealla Zombie (The ,Vacationeer'), you can now encounter the Caveman Zombie in the Canyon Biome.Furthermore, our standard zombies have become more diverse. Gotta meet 'em all (sooner or later).
Loot More Effectively
As we know, the most important thing is good loot. To help us find it more easily and efficiently, our loot crates now light up in different colors, according to their highest contained loot rarity.
What should also help with this is a new one-time unlock that enables an improved radar, which displays the rarity of loot crates as well as gas canisters.
What else
We had a great time at Gamescom2026, where we presented the Co-Op mode for the first time. Thanks to our amazing community, that helped us out the weeks before with testing the update.
Additionally, we had the honor of participating in the official Gamescom Awesome Indies Show with the following trailer, which we don't want to keep from you:
Other
Improved: Reworked player HUD
Improved: HQ missions received their own music
Improved: Tooltips now show numbers that are buffed by something in green
Balancing: Throwables can be affected by most items that affect weapons now (e.g. firework)
Balancing: When dual (or more) wielding indvidiual weapons can target multiple weapons
Balancing: Changed how loot is distributed to loot spots and loot crates on the map (higher rarities tendency to go into crates now)
Balancing: HQ Endboss several reworks and new phases
Balancing: Yodler enemy behavior rework (run away from players, projectiles don't home player anymore)
Balancing: HQ Bridge map increased difficulty with modifiers
Balancing: HQ Parking lot tuned towards finding the card a bit earlier
Balancing: Franky boss in HQ Research map too hard
Balancing: Poison stack cap raised from 100 -> 2500
Balancing: Ballerina boss HP lowered a bit
Balancing: Ballerina boss has a spiraling attack now (spirals through the arena)
Engine: Upgrade to Unreal 5.8
Performance: Several performance improvements (incl. multiple enemies now drawn in one batch, chaos destructions rate limited when frame rate is bad, impact actors are batched together [so e.g. two fireworks triggering in the same frame on same enemy -> one firework with higher damage])
Fixed: Powerup crate destruction effect jittered
Fixed: Astronaut sticker showed crit chance 0%
Fixed: Survivor character pistol level up stickers reapplied to other pistol instance
Fixed: Clown balloon sticker effects didn't trigger on balloon impact (just on expiration explosion)
Fixed: Throwables always targeted random positions (now enemies too)
Fixed: Barrels exploding, flying up in the air and landing on fog borders
Fixed: Confirm button didn't disable while dragging something in airdrop screen
Fixed: Ballerina bombs were density setting affected
Fixed: Ballerina had Scoops investigation board graphic
Fixed: HQ Research boss didn't activate vacuum after beating the boss
Fixed: Enemies could still get trapped by airdrops sometimes
Fixed: Blob ball boss could jump out of HQ research arena
Fixed: Ballerina had wrong health bar widget
Fixed: Ballerina didn't attack when player was very close in phase 1
Fixed: Yodler projectile sometimes not cleaned up correctly and having incorrect size
Fixed: HQ Endscene the globe lifting sound didn't end correctly
Fixed: When upgrading items by dragging another instance onto the item required different amount of overlap, based on resolution (so 4k required the item to overlap way more)
Fixed: Options input assignment panel losing focus with controller when moving upwards
Fixed: Unchangeable gamepad bindings were shown in input settings
Fixed: Canceling placement of a bag extension in airdrop screen (by choosing another reward) left the highlight outlines
Fixed: when playing with controller and the mouse cursor hidden the POIs were still marked as hovered sometimes
Endboss iteration: Fixed that enemy nest destruction was unreliable
Performance: Little improvements when re-applying item effects (e.g. level up, placing items etc.)
Changed: Weekly mode will end if internet connection is lost
Well, that's enough for now. Start the game, maybe invite a friend and see for yourself... There's plenty to discover:
Updated Roadmap:
As you can see, the next major update is going to be something really special... Thank you for participating in Early Access!
Becoming a part of development
Some of you already know this, but here's a reminder for everyone: We use a great tool called Open Decks. Via Discord, you can submit your ideas and feedback directly to our ticket system or vote up existing suggestions.
Our goal is to create the best possible version of “Deadly Days: Roadtrip” - Together with you.
Last, but not least: Check out the supporter pack:
Thanks for your support, feedback and patience <3
Team Pixelsplit