Rove Open Beta

Hey everyone, I am very excited to announce that Rove will officially be launching on September 18th, at 4:00 PM EST.

This is an Open Beta release, and we plan to keep the server open even after the beta is over. Rove will continue to receive chapter updates and content drops monthly with server wipe once the beta concludes. We will not be closing the server anymore for updates.

We've added a bunch of new features and made a whole ton of improvements to the game. Read all about it below..

Outpost Changes

All damage in Outpost is cancelled and you can no longer loot players there. If you log off in Outpost, you are killed after one hour. New players now spawn in Outpost on first join.

New Armor Set

We've added the Nomad armor set - a craft-able alternative to the Police set, with similar stats. Must find blueprint to craft, and requires Workbench I.

New Monument: Warehouse

We've added a new Tier 1 monument - the Warehouse.

Resource Gathering

Wood and stone pickups are scattered through the wilderness so early tools are easier to get.

New tools:

• Stone Pickaxe
• Stone Hatchet
• Salvaged Icepick
• Salvaged Axe
• Fire Starter.

The old Stone Hatchet melee weapon is gone — the new Stone Hatchet is a tree-chopping tool, and stone nodes can only be mined with a pickaxe.

Furniture

We've added placeable furniture to decorate your base with! You can buy chairs, a sofa, tables, and even a fireplace at Carpenter Joseph in the Outpost.

And yes, you can sit in the chairs. Chairs and sofa will be made dyeable in a future update.

Daily Rewards

A new NPC has been added to Outpost to reward players for logging in. Talk to Joe to get a free backpack on day one!

Event Calendar

We've added an event calendar you can view by talking to the new NPC Scientist Eugene. Zombies now mutate every day and evolve throughout the 30 day wipe cycle. Health, damage, speed, and even senses are all buffed over time. There are positive world events too though like more frequent supply drops, and more military crate spawns.

Food

We've fixed a long term bug where food would not properly apply saturation. This caused hunger to be completely drained almost immediately after eating. We've also added brown and red mushrooms across the wilderness you can find and harvest for food on the go.

Campfire

Campfires are now craftable and can be used to cook raw meat.

Repair Bench

We've added the Repair Bench deployable. You can craft this bench to place down in your base and use it to repair guns, armor, etc.

• Duct Tape is now loot-only, and no longer craft-able.

Crafting System

Based on internal feedback, we have returned to the custom GUI based crafting system, and removed vanilla crafting.

Wildlife

Deer and bears are in the world — brown, black, and polar bears, each with matching meat. The Bear Headwrap has brown, black, and polar color schemes.

Radiation

Tier 3 monuments are now irradiated — you'll take damage without proper protection. We've added a new Hazmat Suit armor set that gives max radiation protection.

Keycards

We've added Green, Blue, and Pink keycards. Green keycards are obtained through looting crates, and can then be swiped at green keycard room. Each green keycard room has a blue keycard spawn. Blue keycard rooms have pink keycard spawns to be used at the final pink keycard rooms.

• Keycards unlock rooms in certain POIs for high-value loot.

Map Improvements

Police Station and Hospital interiors are revamped with decor models.

Zombies & Bandits

We've made some changes to Zombies based on your feedback..

• Zombies and Bandits no longer target downed players.
• After you clear local zombies, there is a short grace before new ones spawn, and they spawn further away.
• Regular zombies are easier to kill and lose interest sooner. There are fewer of them in the wilderness and at monuments, especially at night, and surges are smaller and take longer to ramp up.
• Horde Callers are rarer. Killing a Horde Caller or its minions is worth more XP. Zombie Teeth drop less often.
• Zombie audio and looting audio are quieter.
• Bandits and Horde Callers no longer visually cull (they used to go invisible in F5 third person). Bandit Camp has more bandits. Tier 3 bandits no longer respawn while players are nearby.

We've also added Riot zombies - regular zombies that spawn in Tier 2 and Tier 3 areas with scavenged Riot Armor.

Looting changes

We've completely replaced all crate spawns across the map for a fresh playing field. Crate spawns are now irregular as well, meaning you will not find the same military crate in the same location repeatedly.

• Military and Elite crates now require breaching.
• Military crates now spawn at Bandit Camp.

Large Crates have less junk and no common melee — more uncommon melee, components, blueprints, throwables, burlap, and rare melee, with a bit less ammo. Tool crates are rebalanced toward common melee and tools. Military, Elite, and Cargo crates give better, more consistent high-tier loot.

Supply drop tables are rebalanced, and drops only land at Police Station, Gas Station, Factory, Farm, Hospital, and Ranger Lodge.

Monuments keep a set mix of crate types, and looted crates respawn at different spots. Map-wide crate mix is rebalanced with new spawn points and less OP loot in lower-tier areas.

Gun Improvements

Left-click aims down sights on every gun. Guns have muzzle flash, and you can shoot out glass.

Several guns last longer before breaking, especially PPSH, AK-47, and M4A1. The Baseball Bat hits harder but swings slower. Army, Riot, and Ranger helmets soak more damage.

The Double Barrel has been nerfed to have a wider spread, while keeping its one-tap damage. Pistols and SMGs shoot faster projectiles. The UZI is quieter. Rocket Launchers no longer break map blocks.

Item Rarity Glow

Items have a glow underlay in inventories based on rarity. Epic rarity is now pink instead of purple.

New Backpack Slot

There's a dedicated backpack slot, wearing a backpack shows a physical model on your character, and Backpack is renamed Light Backpack.

Map Improvements

The TAB map now shows your authorized Base Cores and your active mission objective. Player tablist is back in-game.

Tracking Compass

The tracking compass shows your coordinates in the action bar and no longer requires discovering a monument first.

Leveling

Leveling takes longer. Outpost and Town no longer give region discovery XP.

Cosmetics

We've added cosmetics for donators; backpack skins, a Gold RPG skin, and bullet trails.