Rove Alpha v0.3

Rove Alpha v0.3

Update—Aug 7th, 2026
116

Hey everyone, we've made some changes and improvements to Rove since our second round of closed alpha playtesting ended. Read all about it below..

Zombies

Being the main feature of the server, we want Zombies to be as fun as possible while still being challenging. One of the main points we saw repeatedly is that you never get a break in the wilderness, there are always too many zombies. We have made some adjustments;

  • Reduced wilderness zombie spawn caps to 4 day / 8 night
  • Reduced max zombies per spawn in wilderness from 3 to 1
  • Zombie surges are now 50% less frequent and 50% smaller in wilderness
  • The alive time zombie spawning factor now takes 2 hours to max, up from 30 mins
  • Players within 20 blocks of each other share zombie spawns (Less punishing for teams)

We've also removed the shrieking zombies at night that run at you at the speed of light. That was not a fun feature so we removed from the game.

Horde Caller

With the removal of the shrieking zombies, that leaves a gap in the zombie variation once again so we have added a new zombie "boss" - the Horde Caller. This zombie has a 1% spawn rate chance in T2 monuments and 2% in T3. It can summon minion zombies and has a few specialized attacks. Very large HP and damage so take them on with caution.

New Item - Makeshift Shield

We've added a new tool to help defend against zombies and other players. Find it in military crates and higher.

Hunger

We're continuing to improve the game based on feedback as far as food and hunger goes. We have added a new skill to the Survival skill tree that reduces hunger drain by 5% per point, for a maximum of 25% slower hunger drain.

Blueprints

Blueprints are now more common and separated by rarity. You now have a much better chance of finding an ammo item blueprint - before they were all equally rare at 1%.

Map Improvements

We got a lot of feedback on the new in-game map and we've made improvements. The quality of the in-game map is now 4x better displaying a much clearer map, and the text labels are no longer a janky pixelated mess.

  • The map is now 25% larger on screen than before
  • Monument labels are now on by default (No need to discover first)

More to come

Now that we've covered the highlights, you can read the full list of changes including new features, improvements, and fixes below. Keep in mind the game is still in very early stages - a full world update, loot and economy overhaul, huge base building and team changes, and much more coming in the next patch.

Features

  • New Zombie - Horde Caller
  • New Deployable - Small Storage Box
  • New Deployable - Research Table
  • New Tool - Makeshift Shield
  • New Skill - Iron Gut, 5% slower hunger drain per point, max 25%
  • You can now unlock the 2 previously locked safe pocket slots for gold
  • You can now see how much gold your inventory is worth
  • You can now use grenades to raid bases as a low-level alternative to rockets, stone is significantly more durable against grenades however
  • You can now suicide while downed
  • Added new missions - these are still a work in progress and serve as a game guide until Contracts are added for high tier item rewards

Improvements

  • Hospital is now a Tier 1 monument (Previously Tier 2)
  • Ranger Lodge now has 2 more military crates
  • The Cargo crate at Bandit Camp now only respawns when the camp resets and repopulates
  • The Bandit Camp now has a 30 minute delay before resetting after being cleared
  • The XP formula has been modified and leveling should now be much faster
  • You can now craft the Base Core deployable in the 2x2 crafting grid, however the recipe is now 3 wood + 1 fastener kit
  • The Crafting Workbench has a new 3d model some of you may recognize
  • The large storage box now requires x1 Metal Parts in addition to existing recipe to craft
  • Half of small loot crates have been removed and the other half has been replaced with large crates
  • You can now set names for your sleeping bags
  • Food items now show saturation value in tooltip
  • Medical items now show healing value in tooltip
  • The in-game map now renders at much higher quality
  • The in-game map now shows monument labels by default, no discovery requirement
  • The in-game map now shows last death location with a skull icon
  • Made visual improvements to the text labels for monuments on the in-game map
  • Improved the look of the player arrow on in-game map
  • Disabled F3 entity hitboxes
  • Removed night time runner Zombies
  • Caps for Zombie spawns in wilderness have been reduced to 4 day / 8 night
  • Max zombies per spawn in wilderness reduced from 3 to 1
  • Zombie surges are now 50% less frequent and 50% smaller in wilderness
  • The alive time zombie spawning factor now takes 2 hours to max, up from 30 mins
  • Players within 20 blocks of each other share zombie spawns (Less punishing for teams)
  • Missions now automatically start next after completion
  • Tutorial ambient audio is now 20% quieter
  • Improved the Outpost warnings and hostile notifications
  • Trader items now show item stats in shop page
  • Stone nodes are now 2x larger for better visibility
  • Stone nodes now give you 2x more stone (4 -> 8)
  • Increased chance of finding a blueprint in Military crate from 1% -> 5%
  • Increased chance of finding a blueprint in Elite crate from 1% -> 10%
  • All blueprints now have rarities, so drop chances are now balanced properly instead of them all being equally super rare
  • Increased chances of finding Rare blueprints in Elite crates
  • You now have a chance to find Common and Uncommon blueprints in Large crates
  • Added messages showing loot value when entering monuments
  • Made dropped zombie tooth item 25% smaller
  • Removed the tracking compass from default starter kit
  • Sleeping bag is now easier to place and smaller in size
  • Storage box is now easier to place and fits smoothly in bases
  • Blueprints must now be learned at a Research Table
  • Zombies sounds are now 20% quieter
  • Added a road leading from the Town to the Farm
  • Added new ambient audio for indoor environments
  • Added respawn SFX
  • Loot crate glow and text prompt now only show when you are actually close enough to open the container
  • Added visual arrows to the tutorial so it's a bit clearer on what to do
  • Removed the global cap on horse spawns
  • Improved Hospital interior decor
  • Players can no longer chop trees with bare hands, requires a hatchet
  • Increased chance of finding a gun in a large crate from 1.5% -> 5%
  • Increased chance of finding a gun in a military crate from 5% -> 8%

Fixed

  • Fixed players being able to interact with deployables through walls and doors
  • Fixed zombies being able to damage and bite players through walls and doors
  • Fixed found loot items not stacking with trader purchased items
  • Fixed players not taking damage when breaching crates
  • Fixed some components not having a salvage output
  • Fixed barbed wire not damaging zombies
  • Fixed a bug where doing /skiptutorial during breach would leave you stuck in tutorial
  • Fixed a minor tooltip issue with farmer food items
  • Fixed an issue with corpses becoming unlootable after an extended period of time
  • Fixed Discord messages sending twice in-game
  • Fixed a bug where placing deployables would not replace foliage when destroyed
  • Fixed an issue where grenades would instantly destroy bases in one shot
  • Fixed an issue where downed players left behind text displays
  • Fixed being able to place base core on roof through a ceiling
  • Fixed tall grass and large ferns missing halves in some areas of the town

Known Issues

  • We are aware the map has lots of open empty space, this is intentional to give ample room for base building but we are working on adding new monuments and more variety to the wilderness areas of the map
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