Update 0.18 - Get ready for the SNOWVERLOAD

2025 is drawing to a close. Together with our fantastic community, we had a great early access launch three months ago, and we are now delighted to present our second major update: Get ready for the SNOWVERLOAD.

Last but not least, we have two pieces of good news: A 35% discount (the first significant discount since the early access launch) and official Steam Deck verification. Yay!

What was important to us?

In addition to new items and events, a powerful new character, and a new snowy biome, we wanted to add more depth to the game and give players more agency and weightier decisions to make on their road trip.

Changes

New Content

New Character: Santa

A new survivor joins the fight! Before the zombie apocalypse, he delivered presents to children; now he delivers deadly airstrikes on zombie hordes.

The best part: sometimes these airstrikes leave behind gifts that you can add to your inventory. The more you collect, the more powerful your special ability becomes.

New: The shady merchant

A dubious merchant who has some very special items on offer. Interested in a bloody hand, a second-hand syringe or a rotten heart? Then you've come to the right place…

Unlock the vendor at the workbench and he will appear from time to time. Take good care of yourself, because the items you can purchase from him come at a price beyond scrap currency.

Look, who is hiding suspiciously behind the trees? Can you spot him?

New: Stage events/mods

This new feature means you'll face some totally new challenges when planning your road trip. Some stages on the map are now marked with an ‘! ’ symbol. If you hover over these locations, you'll see what's different here compared to usual.

For example, the Reaper may appear earlier, the player may receive 150% experience points, only Elite Zombies may appear, or the chance of certain items may be increased.

This means that you now should put a little more thought into planning your route, but also ensures that every run will be unique and full of surprises.

New: Savegame management

Thanks to this new feature, it is now possible to have multiple save games. This allows, for example, several people to play on the same device and have their own save game. It also means you can play the game again from the beginning without having to delete your save game.

New: Labyrinth Event

What could be worse than being stranded with an empty tank in an area overrun by zombies? That's right: being stranded with an empty tank in front of a confusing maze where the precious petrol is hidden in the far corner. Let us know in the comments what you think of this new alternative to the Highway Blockade event.

New: Snowy Mountains Biome

A biome with increased snow and sometimes even snowfall.

New: Quest panel in base camp

A new POI in your base. Track your achievements and see at a glance what you can unlock with them. Why not take a look?

Impressions

A few impressions of a typical Santa road trip. Yes, bicycle pumps can be used on presents:

Balancing & other Changes

• Balancing: Nerfed fire zombie explosion range

• Balancing: Nerfed apple pie damage

• Balancing: Armor of armored enemies now scales with threat level

• Balancing: Status effect damage (poison, fire) can now bypass armor and directly damage enemies

• Balancing: The pressure cooker is inflatable now

• Changed: No more spaceshuttle on the non spaceshuttle maps

• Changed: Banana costume is now findable in base after incremental upgrades unlocked (first apple collected)

• Changed: First 1000 Kills achievement now unlocks the encyclopedia and the unlock for encyclopedia is gone

• Improved: Steamdeck Code entry panel in main menu and bug report panel is controller navigatable now [Note: On steamdeck bug reports can only be opened via pause menu]

• AdjustedImprovedReworked melee weapons to hit enemies more reliably at high attack speed and low fps

Visibility Quality of Life Changes

• Improved: Better object occlusion when character behind buildings / structures

• Improved: Enemy attack telegraphs (especially vs Snowy Mountain biome white ground colors)

• AddedImprovedAdded glow / outlines to item lootdrops in world, so you know the rarity

• Improved: Notification window for loot also shows the rarity now

• Improved: Long tooltips (incl. list of buffing items) autoscrolls now

Fixes

• Fixed: When the reaper dies, time and threat level continue to rise

• Fixed: Enemies just standing around if they died offscreen, but then become visible

• Fixed: Pumpkins can land above the canyon chasm and appear to float

• Fixed: The pressure cooker doesn’t apply damage correctly

• Fixed: Melee weapon attack sound delayed

• Fixed: Titan blockage can sometimes not be completed because titans disappear

• Fixed: Items can spawn out of reach and softlock the player in e.g. the titan blockage

• Fixed: Costume shop is usable multiple times

• Fixed: Fps drops when opening bug report panel or promo code panel

• Fixed: Special rarity has wrong graphics when hovering over items

• Fixed: Crash when upgrading powerup

• Fixed: Alarm Tower alarm sound didn't stop

• Fixed: Pumpkin + Spaceshuttle events could appear in endlessmode

• Fixed: When player surrounded by airdrops then zombies couldn't reach player. Now - as last resort - they walk through the airdrops.

• Fixed: Sometimes currency icons (e.g. reroll dice or apples) can get stuck above opened inventory

• Fixed: Inventory sometimes not updating when switching between two instances (e.g. shop vs airdrop)

• Fixed: Spaceship / pumpkin lootspots didn't remove the ? marker on minimap

• Fixed: Spaceship / pumpkin lootspots looted too fast

• Fixed: When dying edge case possible where animation doesn't fire complete event and game gets stuck

• Fixed: Item + fuel pickup sounds instance limited (so not overlapping too much when looting a lot)

• Fixed: Map generation coloring and small object spawning was not seed based

• Fixed: Airdrop lid not fully disappearing sometimes after opening airdrop

• Fixed: Navmesh inside of police building (thus zombies spawning inside)

• Fixed: Spike projectile not aligning with flight path

Outlook

We want to take a big step closer to our goal of taking the game to the next level during Early Access with the Bloom and Boom update.

To accomplish this, we will take a little more time for the next major update. We don't want to reveal too much at this point, but our goal is to offer all players an enjoyable gaming experience: This means making the introduction to the game a little more appealing, but above all, offering experienced players endless challenges that match their skill level.

Becoming a part of development

Some of you already know this, but here's a reminder for everyone: We use a great tool called Open Decks. Via Discord , you can submit your ideas and feedback directly to our ticket system or vote up existing suggestions.

Our goal is to create the best possible version of “Deadly Days: Roadtrip”. Together with you. So feel free to check it out.

Last, but not least: Check out the supporter pack:

Deadly Days Roadtrip Supporter Pack

Thanks for your support, feedback and patience,

Team Pixelsplit