• Added a new visual effect for Leader's skill Advance spawning enemies from the threat. I noticed this was frequently mistaken with distant enemies pulled by noise even though the skill triggers at the start of your turn.
  
• Reduced the frequency of mercs idle-talking when changing gear tabs.
  
• Reworked the sound effect of hovering over cards in combat.
  
• Reworked the sound effect of discarding armory cards from hand.
  
• Improved music transition from combat track 1 to 2.
  
• Increased the Initiative tooltip font and window size for consistency.
  
• Added a note on deployed Lure objects to indicate that duplicates are auto-removed.

• The ranked damage of Commando skill Breach has been increased.
  OLD: 1%, 2%, 3%, 4%, 5%
  NEW: 1%, 3%, 5%, 7%, 9%
  This skill suits longer encounters with a slew of enemies, causing a flurry of blocks, parries, and dodges.
  
• The ranked damage of Enforcer skill Skull Crush has been increased.
  OLD: 130%, 160%, 190%, 220%, 250%
  NEW: 150%, 200%, 250%, 300%, 350%
  This skill requires some setup to be effective, so its damage reward has been increased.
  
• Viper has been reworked to spawns with hit points much closer to the primary merc (1st merc in squad).

• After reviewing feedback, watching videos, and spending a lot of time playing myself, I've decided to adjust the base minimum and maximum accuracy values for several ranged weapons.
  
• Note: All minimum values correspond to the lowest (red) quality of the item and can be increased through upgrades and mercenary training. Additionally, the game provides numerous in-combat buffs to help you quickly reach the accuracy cap, and the recently added elite perks can potentially raise these caps even further.
  
  1. Pistol
  - min 80% (no change)
  - max 95% (increased from 90%)
  2. SMG
  - min 70% (no change)
  - max 90% (increased from 88%)
  3. Assault Rifle
  - min 75% (increased from 65%)
  - max 90% (increased from 88%)
  4. Machine Gun
  - min 60% (no change)
  - max 75% (no change)
  5. Sniper Rifle
  - min 85% (no change)
  - max 99% (increased from 98%)
  6. Shotgun
  - min 80% (increased from 65%, the biggest complaint in feedback)
  - max 95% (no change)
  7. Bow / Crossbow
  - mix 85% (increased from 82%, to match sniper rifles)
  - max 99% (increased from 98%, to match sniper rifles)

• Adjacent enemies killed by buckshot damage remain standing or walking (animation bug).
  
• Adjusted 3D model scaling of a few ARs and sniper rifles appearing too small in gear management.
  
• Adjusted 3D model scaling of all bows and crossbows to appear larger in gear management.
  
• Mission victory screen still indicates rep can be used to refresh trader's stock. No longer the case.
  
• Achievement "Every Drop Counts" is awarded upon completing the wrong mission.
  
• If a merc dies in combat, consumable icons get repopulated with duplicates (visual bug only).
  
• Leader skill Advance is pulling distant enemies with no remaining threat, should be only from threat.
  
• Leader skill Advance adds distant distant enemies to threat with a full board of enemies in play.
  
• Leader skill Advance can sometimes trigger on multiple Leaders in play.
  
• Leader skill Advance can sometimes spawn an extra enemy on area clear.
  
• Discounted items purchased from the camp vendor return with the same discount on a stock refresh.
  
• Leader can occasionally drop to 0% stamina (rare case).
  
• Boosted unarmed damage by consumables or Black Belt is lost after toggling to a ranged weapon and back.

Thanks for the reports and happy weekend zombie hunting!

--Paul

• Fixed duplicate MISSED effects, sometimes seen on enemy cards after a single missed shot.
  
• Fixed duplicate attack noise, shown in MODIFIERS (already available CORE STATS).
  
• Fixed enemies floating above ground on mission Army Truck.
  
• Fixed various typos in enemy card details and skills reported in Discord.
  
• Updated wording in several skills to enhance the clarity of mechanics.

• Fixed a gamepad error when rapidly toggling skills on cooldown at the start of turn.
  
• Fixed a gamepad issue where pressing END TURN while targeting an enemy would leave the green targeting arrow visible during the enemy's turn.

• Increased the size of card details in combat for LARGE and VERY LARGE options.
  
• This change benefits Steam Deck players the most with more UI tuning to follow.

• Achievements tied to Armory unique upgrades have been phased out.
  These were introduced a year ago and the Armory has since changed.
  The 3 phased out achievements are:
  -- Unique Collector
  -- Epic Armament
  -- Legendary Luminary
  
• 5 new achievements have been added focusing on a similar goal.
  -- Treasure Hunter
  -- Proud Collector
  -- Deadly Hoarder
  -- Greedy Goblin
  -- Mine! Mine! Mine!

Great bug reports from many players. Much appreciated!

--Paul

• Since the release of Update 6, I’ve noticed that the presentation of enemy Rage and Frenzy mechanics feels underwhelming. These mechanics play a crucial role in defining enemy difficulty, so I’m working to make this information more accessible. This patch enhances the core stats of non-tutorial enemies, placing greater emphasis on Rage and Frenzy. The goal is to help players better identify and prioritize targets in combat.
  
• Rage (top of the card, similar to the radial stamina bar on your mercs)
  - Higher Rage means higher hit chance.
  - Higher Rage means more attacks per turn, up to 3.
  - Higher Rage also increases the noise caused by attacks.
  
• Frenzy
  - Chance to grant +DAMAGE at the end of every turn.
  - Frenzy buffs decreases with each proc to a minimum of 1.
  
• The Leader class has multiple abilities to calm both Rage and Frenzy, frequently overlooked.

- Supplies in assignment rewards are not scaling to +10% of the highest item value from the first 2 rewards.- Weapons granted by assignment rewards are not properly increase in item level to match the rank of your primary merc (1st merc in squad).- Muzori Replica and Tachi katanas are using wrong card images, not matching their 3D models.- ESC key pressed on the mission details screen opens Game Settings, should return region map instead.- Enforcer skill Stunburst can be triggered by another class, should be restricted to Enforcers only.- Missed pistol shots in a 3D cutscene are not showing the MISS purple visual effect.- Sniper rifle upgrade preview says +0 PROJECTILES on upgrade preview, they are always 1 projectile.- Enemy status Study of Decay is occasionally being applied before the Virology Lab is discovered.- Attack noise in combat card details is not factoring in multiple shots (display bug).- First Sashimi crit strike causes all consecutive stikes to crit as well, they should roll individual chances per skill description.- Aimed Shot damage achievements to score 1k, 5, 10k, 20k are only triggering on a kill. Should be triggering on a non-kill shot as well. Included achievements: Devastating Shot, High Caliber, Massive Impact, Longshot Legend- Minor grammatical fixes, reported by players.

- Updated the Rage icon in card details to match the one on every enemy card.- Updated the Frenzy icon in card details to match CORE STATS and MODIFIERS.- Added 2 more camp music tracks, these needed additional remastering and are now ready.- Improved performance of entering (loading into) a new mission.- Adjusted various buffs in consumable details for less text and easier readability.- Reduced the requirements of gathered items for Slade's assignment "Gas Up".- Reduced the requirements of gathered items for Slade's assignment "No One Starves".- Improved the quality of AR from a locked container on mission "Army Truck".- Improved the quality of BR-X from a police car on mission "Roadblock".- Stone Clubs can now be upgraded to blue and purple quality.- Skill ranks for Viper have been swapped around for 1. shield, 2. heavy pipe, 3. machete.- Reworked the "Target Practice" gadget to gain XP for mercs in camp up to 99% of their current rank. The gadget no longer gains ranks with a single skill point. Single skill points have been removed from the game with CU06 (such as bosses dropping point rewards) and this gadget was mistakenly left out. It's still very useful as you only need to bring the merc with 99% XP to any short mission, finish it and return to camp and to claim your new rank along with 5 skill points.

Thanks for all the reports! I will continue to monitor the forums and Discord.

--Paul

This is the first hot fix patch for Content Update 6, released yesterday.

• Unique weapons Master Plumber and Concrete Kiss have incorrect backgrounds.
  
• Accessory Quiver says +5% chance in upgrade preview, should be damage.
  
• Reported damage gains by Frenzy are slightly off (visual bug in card details).
  
• Achievement "Blade Banshee" should say 30 enemies instead of 10 (in-game only).
  
• Achievement "I'm Just Getting Started" is missing its name on steam.
  
• ESC key opens Game Settings when pressed on the Skills, Survivors and Lab interfaces, should return to Region Map as it does with the Gear UI.
  
• Card details window of skills in the draw dialog at the start of every turn is not scaling based on Game Settings. It should now be about 10% larger for default settings.
  
• Card details of cards in play using VERY SMALL and SMALL UI scaling options is horizontally too far from the card it describes.
  
• The final encounter of Supermarket is using wrong 3D scenery (inside the store).
  
• Player is unable to complete their current mission on the final kill. (rare case)
  
• Typos in various skills and tool tips.

• Changed the Concussion status to indicate accuracy instead of hit chance for consistency.
  
• Increased the size of the SELL VALUABLES button on the trader tab.
  
• Event Disastrous Mutation, 3X HP and full heal of all enemies in play no longer applies to bosses.
  
• Survivor greeting emote will only play once when hovering over their profile in mission details, and reset reset when returning to camp from a mission or reloading a save.

Thanks for the reports! I will continue to monitor the forums and Discord.
--Paul

Hello mercs,

I'm thrilled to announce the latest content update 6 for Dead Grid is available now!

This update marks the largest overhaul to the game since its initial launch in Early Access. The main focus of this update is to introduce a new progression system called Elite Perks, perform a major sweep of graphical updates, optimize performance, and elevate the overall quality of the game as it approaches the final push to 1.0.

This post will dive into all the changes in detail. Let’s get to it!

BUILD 0.8.36

• Larger fonts, cleaner frames, reduced clutter, more consistent look.
  
• New weapon sorting options by Ammo and Durability (requested in feedback).
  
• Items of no value can now be sold to the trader (as a way to get rid of them).
  
• Equipped shields on mercs now show a durability instead of shield damage.

• The UI for merc training has been reworked to offer a cleaner look.
  
• Increased the ammo gain from training for Pistols, SMGs, ARs MGs and Shotguns.
  
• Points spent in unarmed combat now restore percent of HP instead of flat +HP.
  
• Cost of training respec has been greatly reduced, now tied to the number of points spent.

• Leader passive trait has been completely reworked and now removes summoning sickness from mercs coming into play. With a leader in your squad, you no longer have to wait a turn to attack on any encounter. This was a frequently requested feature.
  
• Enforcer and Commando mercs now grant passive benfits on adjacent mercs only. Strategically reposition mercs in combat (with arrow keys) to gain the benefits of those passives.
  
• 16 new skills have been introduced, phasing out some older (less used) skills. Leaders received the largest overhaul of skill changes due due to their complete rework of the passive trait.
  
• Some phased out skills have been converted to random events.
  
• Many skills received updated art for a more cohesive look.
  
• Skills UI has been improved to show better fonts and larger icons.
  

• Elite Perks start unlocking from the first mission Meet Slade and can be found in the skills UI.
  
• Many of the perks buff the existing skills and some focus on weapon types.
  
• Each class currently comes with 8 perks, unlocked on a per save basis (unlike the Lab).
  
• Revenant perks are still in development.
  

• 10 new random events.
  
• 15+ new consumables, randomly found as loot.
  
• Seasonal items such as Mad Scientist and Warm Brains are now offered off-season.
  
• Around 40 new unique weapons added to the game.
  
• Close to 50 uniques from past releases have been buffed and re-balanced to utilized various skills.
  

• Recommended squad power has been reworked for the new enemy scaling and different difficulty modes.
  
• Hovering over the recommended squad power gives you quick preview of the approximate enemy health pool at the location based on the repeats of this mission.
  
• Small tutorial for unspent location intel points to help new players unfamiliar with this mechanic.
  

• Completely reworked all outdoor locations with new scenery. This covers all missions with outdoor environments, aiming for a more consistent theme across the Pine Valley region.
  
• In total, this rework covers around 30 locations, most focusing on the outdoor scenery and a few indoor locations, such as the final encounter of Warehouse.
  
• All hordes now come in unique outdoor environments, no longer borrowed from existing missions.

• Improved many tool tips to explain the noise bar, threat cards, unaware cards and killing spree.
  
• These can be disabled in Game Settings by seasoned players.
  
• Killing spree now tracks the total consecutive kill count, going up even at max spree.
  
• Added a new animation when alerting distant enemies for a more impactful effect.
  

• A portion of the remaining noise on area clear is now carried to the next encounter, depending on the difficulty of the game. The actual number is shown in a tool tip over the noise bar at the top.
  
• Playing on the Easy game mode still offers the traditional mechanic where all noise is removed on area clear.
  

• Completely reworked card details with a fixed scrollable window to reduce screen clutter.
  
• Use the mouse wheel to scroll through the details.
  

• All eliminated zombies now include a short bio of their recent activity in Pine Valley and what put them to their final rest. This activity is generated through an in game algorithm which I can improve upon further feedback.
  
• Loot bags and area objects spawned on board from the enemy threat are now always followed by a random minion card, from the enemy threat pool. This should reduce many turns where an item (such as a loot bag) was drawn leaving the player with nothing to attack, unless they trigger Initiative. Played event cards should not be affected by this change.
  
• A completely new enemy scaling algorithm was added in this update. The goal is to offer a more consistent curve for increasing the enemy difficulty and their rank. The game is now 1 major update away from 1.0, so I need to use this opportunity test more scaling changes, which have been long overdue. Here is a quick peak at the scaling curves of 5 difficulty levels.
  
• Enemy Frenzy (granting damage per turn) mechanic has been drastically reworked to proc on a chance, based on the type of enemy and the difficulty mode. A visual effect was added to spot Frenzy procs much easier on every enemy in play. As before, it's encouraged to replay easier locations to improve your squad, more relevant on the harder difficulty modes.
  
• The game is tuned around the NORMAL mode with EASY offering a big drop in HP scaling as well as a lower base damage and proc chance on Frenzy.

Improved the mission complete screen with larger fonts and additional stats.

• Reworked 3D models for characters Hudson, Don, Max and Grave.
  
• Hudson is now fully voiced (previously using a generated voice).
  
• At this point all 15 available mercs are human voiced.

• Slightly increased the the noise caused by all firearms, excluding all weapons with silencers.
  
• Since the introduction of the Armory in content update 5, I overlooked the damage scaling of shields. Shields could be upgraded to a point where they deal damage comparable to, or even greater than, many blunt weapons of the same item level, while still providing defensive benefits. This made many non-shield weapons less advantageous, so shield damage has been significantly reduced—roughly to half of their sharp or blunt counterparts. However, shields continue to remain viable in combat, particularly due to their high chance to stun.
  
• Unique items can no longer be upgraded in the Armory. One of the primary purposes of the Armory is not only to upgrade the level of items but also to increase the item level of new drops within the same category, which includes new unique items that could be useful for your squad. The ability to upgrade unique weapons had made finding and upgrading non-unique items less appealing. The goal of this change is to make discovering new uniques with a higher item level than your current best weapon more exciting. Keep in mind that many exceptional-quality (purple) weapons are nearly as powerful as uniques, so upgrading them remains a viable and effective option.
  
• All uniques now drop with the highest Armory rank upgrade of the same weapon type, so you should no longer find low level uniques which never feels good.
  
• Armory now shows the item level of drops for each weapon type, so you no longer have to click through each weapon to see this info.

• Reputation is no longer used to refresh Slade's stock.
  
• Purchasing an item with a value of 50 supplies or more grants 1 trader favor.
  
• Completing any mission now grants favor points with Slade, used to refresh his stock.
  
• Intel points spent on Slade can increase the favor points by completed missions for a total of 6.
  
• Intel points spent on Slade no longer increase the unique item chance appearing for sale.
  
• Slade offers new special items which grant addition favor points when purchased.
  

• HARD mode has been renamed to Veteran.
  
• New difficulty mode, called Extinction.
  
• Starting on Apocalypse or Extinction will now bypass the initial tutorial mission, you arrive in camp with the following:
  -- 30 supplies
  -- 0 reputation
  -- Standard 2x4
  -- Degraded Snubbie
  -- 1 Bandage
  -- 1 Trader Favor
  -- Vendor stock is shown on day 0
  NOTE: Challenge modes have individual starting loadouts and not affected.

The new title screen is much more optimized and should load the game a lot faster, especially when returning to the main menu from a game in progress.

• Increased the speed of movement across multiple empty tiles.
  
• Noise remaining after a combat encounter is now displayed on the grid map.
  

• Added a reference table of XP gain to reach different ranks, available on the Training gear tab.
  
• Note, XP is consistent for all enemy ranks by design, allowing you to replay earlier missions to rank up if needed.
  
• The actual XP you gain depends on various buffs from gadgets, consumables and region bonuses. This is just a baseline reference for the curious eyes.
  

• Two new late-game hordes added to the game.
  
• 2 new bosses on the 5th horde mission.
  
• A new boss on the Prison Transfer mission.
  
• Added an additional small encounter to mission Lost Convoy for a total of 3.
  
• Reworked the mission lore of many locations to prepare the game for the final story.

• 12 new combat music tracks for a total of 35, some older tracks were phased out.
  
• 2 new camp music tracks a total of 10.
  
• New title screen track (old one phased out).
  
• New Audio Settings option to toggle between different music themes in camp.

• 20 new achievements for a total of 315.
  
• A few existing achievements received fixes.

• Combat Medic - new support skill, similar to Commando's ammo box but focusing on HP.
  
• Replenishment - new passive focusing on self healing.
  
• Tai Chi - slightly reworked mechanic from Retaliation.
  
• Black Belt - slightly reworked mechanic.
  
• Optimize Loadout - returned mechanic from Apocalyptic Pet (which is now an event)
  
• Advance - new passive skill.
  
• Leadership - completely reworked the original passive of the same name.
  
• Firestarter - new passive skill replacing Fire Blade.
  
• Firefighter - new passive skill replacing Razor Sharp.
  
• Sashimi - converted to a passive skill.
  
• Urban Gunslinger - completely reworked the old mechanic.
  
• Full Auto - reworked mechanic.
  
• Iron Grip - reworked mechanic.
  
• Stunburst - new passive skill.
  
• Calibration - new passive skill focusing on sniper rifles, bows and crossbows.
  
• Weak Point - new target debuff offering high damage on critical hits.

• Game engine upgraded from Unity 2019 to Unity 6, this was long overdue and required a lot of small changes causing this long gap between updates.
  
• Performance optimization was a big focus of all the scenery rework, which now includes new video options to disable dynamic shadows. You should see much better performance slower GPUs while maintaining a similar visual quality.

• FIXED: Game error when rapidly selecting skills at the start of turn.
  
• FIXED: Card details are automatically turned on for player cards in hand/play, should be hidden by default, toggled by (Y).
  
• Left Trigger (LT) button now lets you toggle between melee/ranged without having to deselect the current target. Button (B) continues to work as before, but does deselect the current target. Left Trigger (LT) still lets you draw ammo if the hand area is selected using the D-PAD.
  
• Reworked the indication of the selected hand/play zone while playing with a controller.
  
• Performance of all missions on Steam Deck should be greatly improved, especially with the dynamic shadows option off.

• Added new options to toggle 3D cutscenes for attacks at melee, range or both.
  
• Added new music options for Combat and Camp, letting you fine-tune your music tracks.
  
• The last used saved games page is now remembered when returning from a mission.
  
• There were many tweaks to Game Settings in this update, so your old settings should be reset to default.

• Mission "Prison Map" is not unlocked after completing "County Jail".
  
• Camp hotkeys are triggered while renaming mercs with characters matching those hotkeys.
  
• Silenced firearms weapons still indicate noise in card details, instead of their silenced effect.
  
• Silenced sniper rifles play a loud shot instead of silenced, audio bug only.
  
• Cannot get rid of (sell) free cards that ended up in inventory from random loot drops.
  
• One HP attribute the middle Commando skill spec is granting incorrect HP values.
  
• Dialog for skills on cooldown ("C" key) is sometimes not working.
  
• Exhausted merc on area clear cannot loot area objects, even if stamina is restored with consumables.
  
• Entering a blank value in min item level sorting options causes a game error.
  
• Explosion damage boost from legacy Lab progression (phased out in CU05) still gets applied.
  
• Flanking Maneuver triggers Frag Out which should only work on a ranged attack.
  
• Flanking Maneuver reduces killing spree stacks by 1 when triggered during enemy's turn.
  
• Flanking Maneuver and Assist sometimes trigger gas looters to explode after a melee strike.
  
• SMGs and Assault Rifles continue to shoot their full payload at eliminated targes, wasting ammo.
  
• MG attacks continue to shoot at eliminated targets causing animation issues, sound clipping and ammo waste.
  
• MG attacks do not properly switch targets when the primary target is eliminated.
  
• Region mod "High Ground" is not granting bonus XP on kills with a sniper rifle.
  
• Region mod "Silent Elimination" is not granting bonus XP on a melee killing blow.
  
• Region mod "Palms of Death" is granting bonus XP on a ranged attack, should be unarmed only.
  
• Grid map toggles on/off multiple times on mission start causing a screen flicker when starting a mission.
  
• Fixes of typos and triggers for various reported achievements and throughout the game.
  
• 2 undead enraged idle animations slowly sink the model into the ground.
  
• Enraged undead continue attacking the mercs after a fatal strike, occasionally causing death animations to break. The intended mechanic is for the enemy to stop attacking after a fatal strike, allowing the merc to either die or instantly heal using a consumable from their bag. This adjustment should also prevent scenarios where the instant heal occurs, but a subsequent attack still kills the merc.
  
• The display order of mercs added to the squad in gear management is not restored when loading a saved game. Note, the preserved squad display order will only work on new saves going forward.
  
• Removed the ability to damage and explode lootable vehicles. This was specifically causing confusion with Slade's Truck on the first mission, making new players think they must destroy the truck. Blowing up vehicles also caused some issues with achievements and killing spree.
  
• Revenant skill Vicious Bite is not being applied, leaving the chance at base 5%.
  
• Revenant bite attack is missing 3D damage numbers during a 3D cutscene.
  
• Eliminated enemy by a Revenant bite remains standing (animation bug).
  
• Video settings are missing support for the common 1440p resolution (2560x1440).
  
• Launching a game on an ultrawide resolution causes Game Settings elements to be off-screen.
  The game will now attempt to detect a supported resolution on the first launch and revert to 1080p as a fall back. Non-supported resolutions would need to be played in Windowed mode until more resolutions are added. If your monitor changes to a lower resolution since the last time you played and you're unable to change the resolution directly from the game's settings, you can use the following console command to force a resolution of 1920x1080.
  
  1. Make sure you're not in Game Settings (hit ESC to close).
  2. Activate the console with the "`" (tilde) key.
  3. Enter the following command: 1080p
  4. Return to Game Settings, adjust your actual resolution and press Apply to save.

Due to such a drastic change of skills across different classes, I recommend starting a new game. Previously saved games should still load and give you a full skill point refund, but the testing of legacy saves was not extensive. This is the first time in 3 years I've had to recommend starting fresh.

Leaderboards for all challenge modes have been reset. This is the first reset in over a year.


Here is what I'm focusing on next for update 7.

1. Finish the campaign.
2. Rework the Assignments system to unlock and start by spending reputation.
3. More assignments with new rewards.
3. Finish the last 2 survivors which have no mechanics at the moment.
4. Introduce more boss and area object mechanics so each mission/location feels more unique.

Big thanks to everyone for the recent feedback, bug reports and testing of the preview builds!

Please post your issues and suggestions in Discord or the forums.

See you in Pine Valley!

--Paul

Hello Mercs, and Happy New Year!

Get ready, Content Update 6 is just around the corner! It is even bigger than what I teased in the preview post back in November 2024. As always, the full patch notes will provide a detailed breakdown of all the changes and additions.

The update is currently undergoing extensive testing and is on track for release next week. Unless I encounter any major blockers, you can expect it to drop on Wednesday, January 15!

For those who cannot wait to dive in, the preview version is available now on the Discord channel. This early version lets you explore the new content before it officially launches. Keep in mind that balance testing is ongoing, with frequent updates fine-tuning the game.

https://discord.gg/fhxmms6


A huge thanks to all of the early testers for your support and feedback. It has been invaluable in shaping this update. Stay tuned for more details in the coming days!

-- Paul

Hello Mercs!

The time has come to announce the next major content update for Dead Grid.

First, I’d like to apologize for the lack of updates in 2024. I run a small studio, just me and my cat. The cat handles most of the programming—as long as I keep the treats coming, of course. This year, I had to take on additional work to help finance the development of the game, which has put a significant strain on my time.

Now, let’s get to the main topics of Content Update 6!

This update is likely the most significant in terms of reworking existing skills since the release of the Revenant class. I’ve watched a lot of gameplay videos of Dead Grid—if you’ve posted a video on YouTube, there’s a good chance I’ve seen it. These videos are incredibly insightful, as they allow me to observe players’ choices and strategies. This helps me step outside my design bubble and come up with new ideas to improve underutilized skills.


Before diving into all the new skills, I’m excited to introduce a new system called Elite Perks.

Elite Perks are a powerful set of 40 class-wide passive abilities that you get to randomly discover.

Unlike earning and spending skill points, these are unlocked through a mechanic that blends the excitement of finding a rare item with the satisfaction of achieving a milestone. Engage in various combat actions, such as attacking, parrying, taking damage, and more, to start uncovering the requirements for unlocking a perk. The initial chance to unlock each perk can be low but gradually increases over time, boosting the likelihood with continued effort.

Perks can also be discovered in any order and are tied to each playthrough. You might get lucky and unlock a powerful perk early, turning the tide of zombie slaying in your favor. Keep in mind, none of the perks are required to finish any content in the game.

There are 40 Elite Perks in total, 8 per class!


The Leader's passive trait has been completely reworked to provide a more noticeable and impactful presence on the battlefield. While the Commando and Enforcer mercs have undergone a slight adjustment to affect only adjacent mercs, rather than all mercs in play.

Remember, you can always reposition mercs using the arrow keys during your turn to take advantage of their traits.


Many Leader skills have been phased out and replaced with new ones, please take a look.

Commando received a significant buff to the middle tree for abilities focusing on firearms.

Full auto now fires a lot more rounds and focuses on the same target, but overflow damage would still spread on other targets when your primary target is eliminated.

The skill Flaming Blade has been reworked to include a new mechanic that mirrors the functionality of Frag Grenade, while still focusing on fire damage.

I feel that Enforcer sits in a decent place at moment, but noticed almost no one used the middle tree, so it got a new skill as well.

Some skills were renamed and updated with new art.


Even more punishing than Apocalypse for those of you looking for a bigger challenge.
See the upcoming patch notes for full details on this difficulty mode.

Eliminated bosses no longer drop skill point cards as it caused a lot of confusion why returning from a mission granted 1 point instead of 5. Bosses continue to drop unique weapons with a chance based on the difficulty of the game.

With the introduction of the Lab - Armory, I overlooked the scaling of shield damage. Currently, shields can be upgraded to a point where they deal damage comparable to, or even greater than, many blunt weapons of the same item level, while still providing protection. This made many non-shield weapons less advantageous, so shield damage has been significantly reduced—roughly to half of their sharp or blunt counterparts. However, shields remain viable in combat, particularly due to their high chance to stun.

Drawing non-minion cards from the enemy threat, such as loot bags, triggers an additional draw. This should reduce many turns with nothing to attack without using Initiative.

- Re-balanced the difficulty of most mid to late game missions, generally made them a bit harder.
- Extended tutorial (covering mission repeats) for the first 4 region locations has been shortened for all difficulty levels by a couple of repeats. This means enemies will start to enrage sooner.

- Re-balanced the recommended squad power of many missions on the region map.
- Re-balanced player's squad power to better reflect the health attributes with invested skill points.
- Player's squad power now also adjusts right away when spending skill points in health boosting attributes.
- Player's squad power adjusts right away when upgrading equipped weapons in Lab's Armory.
- Re-balanced equipped shields scaling player's squad power.

One of the primary purposes of the Armory is not only to upgrade the level of items but also to increase the item level of new drops within the same category, which includes new unique items that could be useful for your squad. The ability to upgrade unique weapons had made finding and upgrading non-unique items less appealing. The goal of this change is to make discovering new uniques with a higher item level than your current best weapon more exciting. Keep in mind that many exceptional-quality (purple) weapons are nearly as powerful as uniques, so upgrading them remains a viable and effective option.


Completely reworked the New Game interface to be more streamlined for first time players.

Many small UI changes to increase various font sizes, new tool tips, improved icons, etc

Enemies on missions that are affected by nearby hordes will now have their special abilities indicated in the card details. I noticed this caused significant confusion for many players while observing their gameplay. Combat log also reflects this triggered status.

Silenced firearms now correctly display their noise reduction in the card details.



- 2 very difficult roaming hordes
- new consumables and weapons
- new achievements (fame)
- 5 new music tracks


I'm currently working on finishing everything up as this update includes a lot of changes.
I will be posting more news of the release date on the forums and in Discord. Stay tuned.

There are two major content updates planned for the game (including this one) before the 1.0 release. The final update will introduce a victory condition, but you’ll still be able to continue playing after reaching the victory screen. A significant portion of the work for the final update has already been completed and just needs additional polish, so I’ll be delaying that content to ensure it meets the desired quality.

Thanks for your support, reviews, suggestions and bug reports!
I can't wait to see you play with all the new toys.

-- Paul

Hello mercs,

It's been some time since my last content update for Dead Grid, so I wanted to share some news. Rest assured, development is still ongoing, and I'm aiming to post a preview as soon as possible. Over the past six months, I've had to take on some extra work to fund future updates to game, but things are getting back on track now. Thank you for your patience and please stay tuned!

--Paul

Hello mercs,

Work on the next update has already started and here is another small patch for CU05.

The annual Dead Grid holiday event is currently active until January 15. Pine Valley zombies eagerly await you to start the festivities, so BYWB - bring your warm brains.

This small update includes some new consumables to deliver the gifts yourself, plus you get to keep them after the party is over!

Based on your feedback, the new silenced sniper rifles added in CU05 have been buffed to be more in line with some of the other competitive unique bows.
If you have a gamepad connected, you may see this screen after launching the game. The greeting can be disabled by turning off the controller in Game Settings.

• Added 2 new powerful consumables, frequently available from Slade during the seasonal event.
  Up to 15 of each can be owned at a time, after which Slade will no longer offer them.
  Note: These consumables are FREE and cannot be sold back to Slade, so use them in combat to discard.
  
• Added 5 new achievements for tracking even more kills, 2,500, 10,000, 15,000, 20,000, 30,0000.
  
• The Festive Bow accessory returns from last year's seasonal event, found on mission Gas Up.

• Rebalanced the damage of the new unique sniper rifles Bubble Boy and Silent Fury to make them comparable to some of the high end bows.
  
• Changed the mission lore of region location Army Truck.
  
• New welcome dialog to help with controller configuration, shown on the main menu when using a gamepad.
  
• New launch option '--hdd' to slow down the loading sequence, specifically on slower non SSD drives. A message is displayed on the intro screen indicating when this option is enabled.

• Armory progression information is not reset when loading different saves, this is visual bug only.
  
• Refreshing assignment details changes the item level of weapon rewards.
  
• Refreshing assignment details changes the number of supplies granted by the 3rd reward.
  
• Fixed typo in skill Viper.
  
• Fixed typo in achievement Beginner's Luck.
  
• Fixed typo in tooltip for unaware enemy cards.
  
• Adjusted grammar of region modifier Palms of Death.
  
• Adjusted grammar of achievements No Newbs Left Behind, Bootcamp for Winners, Merc University.

Please post your issues in Discord or the Steam forums.

Thank you!
--Paul