While big releases tend to tail off towards December, this year we’ve still got names like Path of Exile, Stalker, and Indiana Jones to contend with, and the biggest and best of all is still yet to come—I hope. I am of course biased, because I love Project Zomboid. Build 42 is the next update for the game, introducing animals, new crafting mechanics, and a graphics overhaul with new lighting. There’s a lot more being added in the update that I can’t possibly cover here, but just know that this update overshadows everything else. I can’t stop thinking about playing it.
Some lucky folk have already played a closed beta version of Build 42. In a recent Thursdoid (the Project Zomboid developer notes that they release almost unfailingly every Thursday), we got some fun quotes from the testers.
Closed Beta Impressions
“I had a great moment with the darkness change – I got cocky and had a small horde chase me. I ran into a store with the plan of trying to lose them out the back. I opened and closed behind me a random door inside, to try [to] lose them. I was accidentally now stood in pitch black. I scrambled for the glowing light switch as the door was now being slammed by the chasing horde, only to realise I’d run into the world’s tiniest bathroom.”
It’s these sorts of organic stories that I can’t wait to experience in the new update. While lighting might seem like a simple thing to get excited about, Project Zomboid’s greatest feature is its unrelenting, all encompassing atmosphere. If you’ve ever wondered what it feels like to wake up to be the sole survivor of a zombie apocalypse in the rural outback of Kentucky in 1994, there’s no game that captures the feeling of desolation, loneliness, and horror better than Project Zomboid. Lighting adds to the immersion in a way that brings this isometric game to life more than the raytraced murky tunnels of Stalker 2.
I’m also excited for the new animal AI being added to the game. Not only will the wild forests of an overgrown Kentucky feel more alive with squirrels and deer tumbling through the bushes, it opens up a world of possibilities for modders. In fact, it’s the modding that gets me most hyped for Build 42.
Could It Really Happen?
While the update will inevitably break some of our favourite mods, some that may never be fixed and tweaked as their makers have moved on from the game over the years, the door opens for the next generation to start pulling at the code of the game. Long gaps between updates gives time for modders to breathe, without consistent updates that break their mods over and over again.
The reason I’m so buzzed about seemingly simple changes is that updates don’t come around often for Project Zomboid. The previous update, Build 41, released in December 2021. That was a huge animation overhaul that completely changed the way you play the game. I imagine that Build 42 is going to go even further, with the team at Indie Stone having expanded over the past three years to introduce new NPC developers, graphic designers, and coders.
December 2021 to… December 2024? I’ve got high hopes that we see a release of B42 into an unstable beta branch by the end of the year. As much was confirmed by nasKo, an Indie Stone employee and administrator of the official PZ Wiki, on Discord.
“With Build 42, we’re at the tail end and it will release on the Unstable branch within the next couple of months.”
Admittedly, this statement did come with the caveat that the release is beholden to the success of the build when they put it in the hands of testers. However, if the quotes from those who’ve played the game are anything to go by, I think a release by the end of 2024 seems extremely likely.
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