Huge Content Update For ‘Project Zomboid’ Imminent, Details Inside

The Indie Stone have updated us all on the new features that will be coming with the next playable version of Project Zomboid. This will be the first update in a long time after the poor guys were victims of a robbery back in October last year, causing all of their work on the next update to be lost. Happier times are ahead though (fingers crossed) as these updates are going to add a lot more intuitive features and give fans of the game something to experiment with once again.

First up, the NPC’s will not be as hopeless as they currently are and will apparently act more sensible and actually try to survive as you would. You can also recruit NPC’s into your gang but will not be able to join and NPC-led gang in this update. Although you can watch other NPC groups “looting, rampaging and generally surviving throughout Muldraugh.”

Project Zomboid will actually feel a bit more like an RPG now as well due to the addition of a proper skill progression mechanic. This means that your base character will be weaker than normal but will level up and become much more powerful than you will be used to. Skills such as cooking and sprinting can be improved, as well as the new carpentry feature. This will allow players to build and craft things out of wood, as can be seen in the video below:

One of the major additions with this update is the increase in the size of the map; the developers say that “due to the lower memory requirements of our rebuilt game code we can now stretch to a 300×300 sized map – four times the size and quite a jump from the previous 150×150″. Neat, huh? They are keeping other details related to this increase in map size secret until the update is released, but they seem pretty excited about it – could be completely new environments or similar.

A graphical update is on its way too – a new interface and finer details like grime, cracks in roads and road markings are intended to impress and make the world feel more real. There are also a bunch of new mod tools on the way for the modding guys that have kept the game fresh up until now, despite it being in its alpha stage still.

The rest of the details are all just as exciting and will make the game a lot more dynamic. Objects can be pushed to barricade doors, windows can now be smashed and used an an entry and exit point and of course, to survive a zombie apocalypse you need weapons and this update is bringing new ones! Sawn-off shotguns, sledgehammers, pool cues and kitchen knives are now tools to use at your zombie-mashing disposal. You can see some of these updates working in the video below.

Check out our review of the previous build of Project Zomboid for more information and a hands-on verdict of the potential of the game.

You can download a free demo version of Project Zomboid and purchase the full version for Windows, Mac and Linux from the official website. You can also purchase the game through Desura if you prefer.