Experimental Update #2 - Release Preparations

Hey, it's been a long time!
Many of you thought we had abandoned the game—but that’s not true. We’ve just been quietly working behind the scenes on something bigger, even if we were a bit too silent.

Zombie Cure Lab is planning to leave Early Access in the upcoming months and launch on three platforms:

• PC
• PS5
• Xbox Series

Over the past year (and a bit more), we’ve been working on creating one unified, complete version that runs on both console and PC. It includes all features and bug fixes to make Zombie Cure Lab a fully finished product.

NEW UPDATE IS ON STEAM BETA BRANCH EXPERIMENTAL

But first, what has changed:

Features Overview

• Reworked Onboarding – Two new handcrafted tutorials have been built to address severe issues with players not understanding the game, resulting in many frustrating first impressions.
  A wiki has also been integrated to assist players who are stuck or returning and need a refresher.
• Urban Theme – To strengthen the post-apocalyptic vibe, the new tutorials take place in an urban environment featuring a destroyed city.
  
• Mission Screen – After the tutorial, four new missions can be selected and customized via a new mission setup screen. Adjust various sliders, start with fences, modify zombie damage, and more to match your preferred playstyle.
  
• Reworked UI / Gamepad Support – Our biggest project was overhauling the user interface so it works seamlessly with both keyboard & mouse and any gamepad. We’re pretty proud of the results so far.
  
  You can plug in your gamepad at any time, and the UI will adapt automatically.
  The interface now includes cure progress, visible cured human population, updated lab status with reworked alerts, and more.
  A major change: the infobox is now separated into three tabs—we’d love to hear your feedback on that.
  Worker types now need to be assigned directly (no more “any” assignments).
  (An early version of the UI rework was already available in a previous experimental update.)
  
• Overcrowded Lab – Having too many workers will now push your lab into a “crowded” or “very crowded” state, modifying worker needs and calm-down chances. This creates a soft population cap.
  However, there’s a trade-off: crowded labs also accelerate worker experience gain, helping you prepare humbies for treatment faster.
  
  
• Trading Rework – Resources are no longer free. You now earn support points to request resources, making it more strategic to support your economy.
  Frozen zombies can be sent away for additional rewards.
  It’s now a valid strategy to focus on trading instead of local production—for example, sending away workers or frozen zombies to trade for metal.
  
• Restored Cities – Endgame content: finally, we can restore humanity! Destroyed cities on the world map can now be rebuilt using cured humans.
  Each restored city grants a permanent perk that makes your next mission easier, helping you cure more humans and rebuild the world faster.
  
• Balancing – Days are now a bit shorter, and in general, the game moves faster toward tech tier 4 and curing humans, strengthening the late game and restored cities loop.
  Key bottlenecks like metal production have been boosted.
• Many Bug Fixes – New features always bring new bugs. We’ve fixed a huge number of issues, including long-standing ones like stuck workers and refill job problems.
• Citizen Science Removed – When Zombie Cure Lab first launched in Early Access, players could participate in real-world science by helping calculate protein-ligand dockings.
  That side project has now ended. As a result, those world map events have been removed, and the associated rewards (especially decorative items) are now available in the general tech tree.

Release Plans

Admittedly, things didn’t go exactly as planned during Early Access, and it’s been a challenge to maintain steady development throughout.

That said, we’re excited to finally be moving toward full release with this update.
Help us test the latest changes in the Experimental branch and let’s make this the strong, polished launch that Zombie Cure Lab deserves.

We’re looking forward to your feedback on Discord and in the Steam forums. Cheers!