“We’re going to have probably the most practical bleach-drinking ever seen in gaming,” the builders of Challenge Zomboid cheekily proclaim of their newest replace. The deceptively lo-fi zombie survival recreation is gearing up for its subsequent large patch, 42, which features a full redesign of how fluids work.
The redesigned fluids system is a part of a broader effort underway to bolster Challenge Zomboid’s crafting system. The Indie Stone says that Construct 42 is targeted on making long-term survival a extra sturdy expertise, and making crafted gadgets extra fascinating to make use of and work together with.
Liquids are a key a part of this survival crafting ecosystem. Your characters want to remain hydrated, after all, however in addition they want to hold gasoline round to energy automobiles. Liquids might be flammable or toxic, and these results have to have totally different strengths relying on what the liquid is.
The Indie Stone says you’ll have the ability to exactly combine liquids utilizing the brand new system, pouring fluid from one container into one other, and the brand new fluid system will have the ability to account for this. An especially toxic liquid may very well be diluted with water, leading to a diminished poison impact.

The builders say they’re contemplating what limitations to placed on this method: it is perhaps impractical to permit gamers to dilute gasoline, for instance, since that may make it essential to work out how a lot that may harm engines it was utilized in. Nonetheless, they’ve some neat concepts: characters with specialised expertise, like mechanics and cooks, would have the ability to recognise one thing off about fluids like poisoned juice or watered-down gasoline.
There’s lots extra within the newest publish: it reveals off a work-in-progress menu for a working rooster coop that permits you to seize each chickens and eggs out of it. The Indie Stone says the concept for this is able to be that you simply’d have to shut the hens into the coop at night time to guard them from predators, however – as in actual life – make sure to bear in mind to allow them to out within the morning should you don’t really feel like cleansing up a horrible mess. You’ll additionally need to be diligent about accumulating the eggs in every nesting field, or the hens will finally search for new locations to put them.
The studio says construct 42 will even function a bunch of enhancements to the Challenge Zomboid recreation engine, multiplayer techniques, and the early recreation. There’s nonetheless some time to attend, nonetheless – construct 42 is “nonetheless some methods off.”