ur biggest quality-of-life pass yet: start every run with a shop and a plan, a fully reworked consumable control scheme, and a wave of automation that handles the busywork so you can focus on the killing.
⭐ Headliners
- Pre-Wave Prep Phase. Runs now open into a shop intermission before wave 1. Spend a difficulty-scaled starting balance to build a base and buy your first gun before a single zombie shows up, then ready up when you're set. Wave-1 guns are properly unlocked, and Play Again re-enters the same prep.
- Consumables, reworked. Grenades are now Ctrl, healing is Space — tap for the smart default (best grenade at your cursor / best heal), hold to open a wheel and pick manually. Readying up moved to Enter.
- Live ability demos in the lobby. Hover an ability while picking and a tiny in-engine clip plays it out: Phase Jump blinking clear of a dog pack, Repulse Nova swatting acid, Bomb Spec wiping a line of walkers. Know before you commit.
🔫 Combat & Weapons
- Pump shotgun overhaul. ~2x fire rate, +50% pellet range, and a rebuilt 3-layer blast you feel in the chest. The auto & sawn-off inherit the new boom.
- Hands-free ammo. Empty mags auto-reload; partial reloads top off instead of dumping loaded rounds; and every gun fully reloads instantly the moment a wave clears — all still drawn from your real armory reserve.
🎯 Controls & Feel
- Quick-tap heal/throw fires the smart pick with no wheel flash, each with a bespoke confirmation sound.
- Grenade blast preview snaps to your cursor the instant you press Ctrl — no more aiming blind.
- Fixed: pressing Shift inside a shop/armory/perk/turret menu no longer casts your special into the arena or burns its cooldown.
🏰 Base & Turret Command
- Click a turret between waves to open its command menu — hover shows a footprint highlight, coverage ring, and a "⚙ Tune" label.
- Rich MAX-OUT preview. Hovering a turret's max-out button shows a before-to-after stat breakdown and total cost — and now works even when you can't afford it, so you know what you're saving toward.
- Structure Auto-Repair (opt-in): damaged defenses fix themselves at wave end, cost split across the team (nothing happens if you can't afford it).
- "Repair & ready up" prompt when defenses are hurt and affordable — one-click patch-and-go, never a hard block.
- Brand action cursors: a cyan cog for configure, a red trash can for demolish — now bigger and clearly readable.
💰 Economy & Progression
- Difficulty-scaled starting cash: Normal $1250 · Hard $800 · Nightmare $500.
- Auto-heal to full on wave clear for survivors — no more "medkit tax" for chip damage between rounds.
- Perk-spend nudge: ready up with 2+ unspent skill points and the game offers to open the perks menu first.
⚙️ Settings & Customization
- Reticle customizer (Settings ▸ Display): pick crosshair style, colour, and size with a live preview.
- New lobby toggles: Death Penalty and Structure Auto-Repair replace the old Purchases / Friendly-Fire switches.
📣 Menu & Polish
- Announcements board now tracks what you've read (unread badges) and only pops open when there's something new — and no longer vanishes after a game.
- Cleaner theme-matched focus ring on dialog buttons.