Early Access Update #1 – Combat Overhaul – Community Playtest

It’s here! Our first major update is now available for community playtesting, and this one’s a big one.

We’ve rebuilt combat from the ground up. New mechanics, new weapons, new animals, new injuries, and significant changes to how the game feels overall. We’re excited to finally get it in front of you.

Before it goes live for everyone, we’re opening it up for community playtesting for about a week. This is where your feedback matters most. If something feels off, too easy, too punishing, or just plain broken, now’s the time to let us know.

This update rebuilds how combat works.

The old combat system was functional, but it didn’t capture what we wanted survival combat to feel like. Every fight should feel like a real risk. The decision to engage, push further, or run should carry genuine weight. This update is our attempt to get there.

Here’s how the new system works:

Turns aren’t equal anymore.

Every action in combat takes either 3 minutes or 6 minutes. Normally you have a decent chance of acting in 3 minutes, but your current state changes that.

We call it Slowpoke. It builds up from injuries, cold, hunger, thirst, low sanity, and carrying too much weight. The higher it gets, the more likely your turns are forced to 6 minutes. At a certain threshold, every turn is 6 minutes. No exceptions.

This matters because animals have their own fixed speeds. Wolves always act in 3 minutes. Bears always act in 6. If you’re slowed down and a wolf is at full speed, it gets two attacks before you can respond. If you’re in good condition against a bear, you get two attacks to its one.

Your condition before a fight directly shapes how the fight plays out.

First strike isn’t guaranteed.

At the start of every encounter, the game determines who acts first. You have a decent base advantage, but conditions can shift that quickly.

Catch an animal off guard and your chances improve significantly. Fighting in a blizzard, being in poor condition, or having low sanity all work against you.

Going into a fight injured, half-frozen, and starving means the animal will very likely move first. That’s intentional.

More weapons, more options.

We’ve added a full weapons system with meaningful differences between each option:

• Bare Hands – Last resort. Low damage, but always available.

• Rock – Slightly better, with a small chance to stagger.

• Hunting Knife – Fast and accurate. A reliable all-rounder.

• Crowbar – Heavier hits with a solid stagger chance.

• Shiv – Quick to craft, decent damage. Good early option.

• Hatchet – Reliable damage with a good stagger chance.

• Club – Slow but powerful. Best stagger and knockdown chance.

• Bow – High damage and accuracy. Strong against skittish animals.

• Spear – Highest damage in the game. More effective against aggressive animals with a small evade bonus.

• Molotov – Not for fighting. For running. The most reliable way to escape a bear.

Weapons degrade with use. At low durability, you lose damage and accuracy. Keep them maintained or you’ll feel it when it matters most.

Animals behave differently.

Animals are split into three categories, each with distinct behaviour:

• Skittish animals (Rat, Hare, Squirrel)

  Small and fragile. They try to flee every turn. Hit them and their flee chance drops. Miss and it increases. They’re fast, so a slowed player may watch them escape twice before acting.

• Defensive animals (Deer, Moose, Snow Bird)

  They avoid fights, but will retaliate if pushed. Deer attempt to flee once injured. Moose are far more dangerous. Their kicks always stagger, and their charges can knock you down or cause fractures. Snow birds are harder to hit and reduce your accuracy during the fight.

• Aggressive animals (Fox, Boar, Wolf, Wolverine, Bear)

  These will actively attack you:

  • Fox – Low damage but can steal food or bait. Often flees on its own.

    

  • Boar – Heavy hitter. Gore attacks slow you down. Charges when injured.

  • Wolf – Fast and accurate. Bites cause lacerations. Lunges can break ribs.

  • Wolverine – Extremely relentless. Frenzy hits twice in a single turn and is hard to escape from.

  • Bear – Best avoided. Massive health, high damage, and extremely resistant without the right tools.

Bears have a Critical Strike system.

Fighting a bear is an escalating risk. Landing a hit builds its Rage. On its next turn, instead of attacking, it prepares a Critical Strike. The turn after that, you have a chance to interrupt it by landing a hit or attempting to flee.

If neither happens, the bear delivers a Critical Strike for double damage. Against a bear, that’s almost certainly fatal.

The more hits the bear has taken, the more likely it enters this state. Early on it’s manageable. The longer the fight goes, the more dangerous it becomes. Bears are designed to punish prolonged fights.

Getting hit has consequences.

Injuries feed directly into your Slowpoke value, making you slower in and out of combat. There are eight possible combat injuries:

• Open injuries: Minor Cut, Laceration, Open Wound

  Caused by bites and scratches. Require bandaging and rest.

• Blunt trauma: Concussion, Broken Ribs, Crushing Trauma

  Caused by kicks, charges, and heavy attacks. More severe and require longer recovery.

• Mobility injuries: Sprained Ankle, Fracture

  Caused by impacts like moose charges. Double travel time and significantly increase Slowpoke.

There’s no cap on injuries. They stack. A bad fight can leave you barely able to move.

Running isn’t always an option.

Your base flee chance is decent, but it depends heavily on the situation.

Skittish animals and passive defensive animals will let you leave without a fight. Once a defensive animal attacks, that option is gone. Aggressive animals make fleeing harder, and the more dangerous the animal, the lower your chances.

Being injured reduces your chances further. Being knocked down prevents fleeing entirely.

The Molotov is your best tool against bears. It significantly boosts your flee chance and causes the bear to lose a turn.

Non-combat animal encounters.

Not every encounter leads to combat.

• Ravens

  They don’t fight. But they signal danger. A raven nearby means predators are close. You can investigate, leave, or exit the location entirely to reset the risk.

  

• Squirrels

  You can fight or follow. Following may lead you to a stash of nuts and seeds that can be harvested multiple times. There’s also a chance it escapes and you get nothing.

  

One more thing: the Bear Trident is coming soon.

Right now, bears can’t be killed. You can only avoid or escape them.

That’s going to change.

The Bear Trident is a late-game weapon designed specifically for hunting bears. It won’t be easy to obtain, and using it won’t make the fight safe. But it gives you a fighting chance.

More details soon.

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Other New Content & Changes

• Reworked the Hand Warmer

• Reworked the Gas Mask

• Added a flash indicator on the Crafting tab when opening card details for the first time

• Updated low light travel warning:

  • Now appears from 3 hours before darkness

  • Stops 2 hours before sunrise

• Added more ways to craft Rope and Strong Rope

• Added Flashlight as a starting item

• Added a “ What’s New ” popup to highlight major updates when the game loads

• Afflictions such as Dysentery and Food Poisoning can now be treated using Water Flask (requires water)

• Meta progression cards can now be activated during combat

• Added many new items and recipes

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How to access the Community Playtest build

To access the Community Playtest branch, follow these steps:

1. Open the Steam client.

2. Click on the "Library" tab.

3. Right-click on "Don't Freeze: A Winter Card Survival" and select "Properties".

4. Click on the "Game Versions & Betas" tab.

5. In the "Private Versions" field, enter "Frostbreaker".

6. Click on the "Check Code".

7. Select "community-playtest" game version

8. Close the Popup.

9. The game will now update to the Community Playtest build.

Community Playtest Feedback

Your feedback is at the heart of this process. We'd love for you to join us on Discord if you haven't already and tell us how the Community Playtest feels to play. If you spot issues, or just want to share your thoughts on the new combat system and how it feels, please drop them in https://discord.gg/dPT8d6KVSC

We'll also be keeping an eye on the Steam forums during the playtest, though it's a bit harder for us to track everything there. We'd love to hear how combat feels, whether the balance lands the way it should, and anything else that stands out while you're playing.

Thank you for your continued support. Don't Freeze is largely a solo development effort, and this kind of community testing is what helps us make the game better. We hope to hear from as many of you as possible, every bit of feedback counts.

See you in the Community Playtest!

Jerry & Yune