Combat Overhaul, Smarter Bandits, Dynamic Vision & Bug Squashing

Combat Overhaul, Smarter Bandits, Dynamic Vision & Bug Squashing

This is a big one. A lot of these changes came directly from things that felt wrong during combat—bandits standing around aiming without firing, headshots feeling like a coin-flip death sentence, enemies remaining visible through darkness, and death leaving animations or sounds stuck behind.

Want to follow development, share feedback, or help shape future updates? Join the official ApocaShift Discord: https://discord.gg/t36zcfqKp7

Here’s what changed:

Combat Rebalance

• Headshots are no longer a near-guaranteed instant kill. Gunfire now rolls against your actual body parts—head, torso, arms, and legs—the same way melee attacks and other damage already work.

• A direct hit to the head still deals significantly more damage, but it should no longer instantly end nearly every fight.

• Bullet damage now varies slightly with each hit instead of dealing the exact same amount every time. No two rounds land identically, giving firefights more variety and making combat feel less like a fixed math equation.

• Fixed the player’s health starting under-scaled, which could make the first fight of a run much more punishing than every fight afterward.

• Improved several combat-state transitions so aiming, firing, reloading, melee attacks, and grenade throws interact more reliably.

Smarter Bandit AI

• Bandits will now actually open fire after spotting you.

• Previously, they could shout, raise their weapons, and then stand there aiming indefinitely unless you attacked first. They will now briefly hold you at gunpoint before committing to the fight.

• Fixed the same issue that caused bandits to ignore zombies walking directly toward them.

• Improved enemy combat-state handling around targeting, spawning, repositioning, taking damage, and dying.

• Bandits should now transition between awareness and active combat more consistently instead of becoming stuck in an inactive state.

Dynamic Vision System

• Added a visible player vision cone so you can clearly see the area your character is currently able to observe.

• Enemies outside the player’s field of view are now hidden instead of remaining visible through walls, darkness, or behind the player.

• Vision distance changes depending on the amount of available light.

• Bright daytime conditions provide a much larger viewing distance.

• Nighttime, moonlight, indoor darkness, and poorly lit areas significantly reduce how far you can see.

• Light sources such as lamps and environmental lighting can improve visibility.

• The system is designed to make nighttime exploration more dangerous while giving lighting equipment and camp power a more meaningful purpose.

Grenade Improvements

• Frag grenades can now be equipped directly from the inventory by pressing G.

• Equipping a grenade temporarily puts away your active weapon while remembering which weapon you previously had equipped.

• Pressing G again cancels the grenade and returns you to your previous weapon.

• Grenades use the normal aiming controls, making them feel consistent with the rest of the combat system.

• Holding the throw input increases throwing strength and distance.

• Grenades now travel through the air in an arc instead of moving like a standard projectile.

• After landing, the grenade waits briefly before detonating and playing its explosion animation.

• After throwing a grenade, the player automatically returns to their previously equipped weapon.

• Fixed several situations where dying or switching actions during a grenade throw could leave the player stuck in the wrong animation or equipment state.

Player Death Fixes

• Fixed the death animation not playing if the player died while aiming down sights. Previously, the player could remain standing instead of falling.

• Fixed gunfire, footsteps, and other audio glitching or repeatedly playing after death.

• Dying during a reload now properly cancels the reload.

• Dying during a grenade throw now correctly stops the action and clears the grenade state.

• Dying during a melee swing no longer leaves attack animations or sounds running.

• Cleaned up several related edge cases involving weapon states, active animations, movement, and audio.

Under-the-Hood Fixes

• Enemy bullets now properly despawn after missing their target or traveling too far.

• Previously, missed bullets could continue flying and being simulated for the rest of the session.

• Improved cleanup for enemies, projectiles, animations, and combat audio.

• Fixed several silent issues involving bandit spawning, death states, targeting, and combat transitions.

• Improved stability when multiple enemies are fighting the player and nearby zombies at the same time.

• Cleaned up several small bugs that were difficult to notice individually but could slowly affect performance during longer sessions.

There’s still plenty more work to do, but combat should now feel more dangerous, responsive, and consistent—without every encounter being decided by a random instant headshot.

Let me know what you think of the changes, and join the Discord if you want to follow development more closely or take part in future playtests.