Tjena, Survivors!

Well, we made it. Active development on Generation Zero is done, we've wrapped it up. GZ has been such an amazing project, an incredible world, and an absolute blast of a game that we're profoundly proud to be a part of. We’re so thankful to our team that dedicated themselves to build Östertörn, FNIX, and its deadly machines. This unique setting, story, and experience were brought to life thanks to a strong creative vision and unwavering efforts.

Over nearly six years since launch, the game has continued to grow, and we're in awe of the shape it's taken. Not only did the story of GZ, FNIX, and Östertörn unfold, evolve, and finally end in such an epic conclusion, but so did the world, the machines, and the gameplay.

However, GZ still retains much of its mystery. Questions surrounding the future of the machine network, the fate of Bolshakov, and the significance of Geneva and Boston remain unanswered. For now, we're hoping elements like the Rivals, Tyrants, Base Assaults and Defenses, Bikes, Companions, and Experimental Weapons keep you in the fight. If that’s not enough, there are still many hidden secrets across Östertorn to discover with your friends, and we’ve even heard rumors of something called the “Swedish Space Program” for those brave enough.

The development journey started back in the spring of 2016 during the last stretch of theHunter: Call of the Wild. Amid a regular play session, crawling around the digital fields of our in-game hunting reserve, there was an undeniable feeling of nostalgia. It echoed back to childhood days playing "krig" (war) with make-believe weapons and hearts full of adventure.

Though the 80s Cold War Sweden might have been worrying for adults, we remember it as magical. Our society was built around a collectivist spirit, and from Military to Civil Defense, there was a consistent presence and reminder that everyone had a part to play if the shit hit the fan. At the same time we were open to - and eagerly consumed - American movies, TV, and comics, absorbing one power fantasy after another. This dichotomy resulted in a sense of responsibility and invulnerability, not unlike the young characters and player avatars of Generation Zero. This nostalgia became the cornerstone of Östertörn and beyond, perfectly balancing reality with imagination.

We’ve poured our hearts into this world, and now we’ve reached the end of one of its stories. We're thrilled by the stories, mysteries, tributes, easter eggs, and more we’ve been given the chance to create with you - the players - by our side.

Because none of it would mean anything if it wasn’t for all of you. We’ve been blown away by your engagement, ingenuity, and passion from the first closed playtest to the final Showdown. A heartfelt thanks to all of you, and we hope you’ll keep finding excitement in the game for a long time still! We also hope that we see you again in the future. There are more Generation Zero stories to tell.

Vi ses,
The Generation Zero Team


We know you may have some questions about what comes next - both for us and for you. With that in mind we’ve put together the following FAQ:

What does no more active development mean?
We are not planning to develop any new content, and the development team is moving on to other projects within Avalanche. This also means that we are no longer supporting the game with patches and updates.

Will the game disappear from stores then?
No, you will still be able to buy and play the game as normal.

What about the multiplayer functionality?
No changes will be made, multiplayer will work as it does now.

Will there still be in-game events?
Yes. Procedural Missions and Daily Assignments/FMTEL Missions will still refresh as they do now. We will also have some special events go live from time to time.

Where can I find information and support going forward?
For customer support related questions, please visit our Support Page.
For general questions and tips etc, we suggest reaching out to other players in our Discord, Forum, or on Steam.

What happens to the community channels now?
For our main social media channels (Facebook, X, and Instagram) the only change will be a substantial decrease in posts. We will still keep them up and running for official news.

For the Forum we are investigating how to save all the fantastic information the community has gathered there, with the aim to one day compile all of that and close the forum. Until we are confident we have a good solution, the forum will stay open. However, we will no longer collect bug reports directly from forum posts. Any issues or bugs should be reported through the Support Page.

The Discord server is here to stay, but most moderation and server management will be handed over to the community. We will also still be here, but can’t be around as often.

Our TikTok channel will no longer have new content, but will stay up. This also applies to the Systemic Reaction YouTube and Twitch channels.

What games are you working on next?
We don’t have any upcoming titles that are ready to be announced, but if you would like to be a part of our game development we encourage you to join our Frontrunners program. This is our super secret playtesting community that is part of our prototyping phase very early in development. If you would like to try some of our prototypes from time to time and give feedback on your experience, join the Frontrunners Discord!

Greetings Survivors!

Before we left for the winter break, you may have seen us mention that we were looking into a few changes to the Showdown Update that would address some of the feedback we saw from the community after its release. This Hotfix is now available to our players on Steam, and will roll out for console players very soon.

While the changes to Base Defense and the introduction of the new resources tested well with our smaller beta testing group, it's clear that it didn't quite land with the wider playerbase in the way we expected. We saw and listened to your feedback and we are happy to share with you some changes we think will keep this new mechanic interesting while making it more rewarding for all playstyles.

We have significantly increased the amount of resources you receive from Base Defense missions, which we hope makes your crafting (and hoarding) a bit easier to attain. We also saw a lot of requests for ways to obtain them without needing to complete Base Defense missions. We heard you - Rivals and Tyrants can now drop small amounts of these resources. A Rival or Tyrant should drop resources roughly equivalent to half the resources you would get from doing an Easy Base Defense mission. Rivals can drop Refined Aluminum, Refined Tungsten, and Refined Uranium, while Tyrants can drop Phosphorous and Ethanol.

Finally, we also increased the Base Defense structure health. We hope that together these changes make your resource hunting more varied and exciting!

We have also fixed some critical mission progression bugs we discovered after the release, made several crash fixes, and polished numerous other issues and bugs we found through testing and player reporting.

Here is a summary of the hotfix:

Crash / Stability
- General crash fixes and stability improvements.
- Various performance improvements.
Showdown Missions
- Fixed a potential mission blocker in the radio tower for Exclusion Zone.
- General tweaks to Showdown missions breadcrumbing, triggers and timings.
Economy Tweaks
- Base Defense economy changes, more resources should be dropped.
- Base Defense building health has been increased.
Gameplay
- Fixed an issue where some players could not change ammo type after aiming down sight.
- Fixed an issue where experimental weapon drops for Rivals was much lower than intended.
- Fixed an issue where player skill points were not being reset correctly after the last update.
- Fixed an issue which allowed for instant weapon switching.
- Companions will no longer set off or receive damage from Spiked Wall traps in Base Defense.
- Fixed an issue on Steam where Companion Armor in the Companion Station could only be changed using a mouse.
- Fixed a bug where players couldn't use or see the Quality Level 2 N144 Minigun when equipped.
- Recalibrated Portable Homing turrets so they no longer target player structures.
- Fixed an issue with the Scout Firebird to ensure explosive payloads now actually explode.
Other fixes
- Player screens will no longer display unsupported/null characters when joining or leaving the multiplayer
- Fixed an issue where some players were not automatically shown new messages.
- Field radios now work as intended in multiplayer.
- Various animation bug fixes.
- Various environmental clipping fixes

~The Generation Zero Dev Team

Crush your friends with snowballs and topple them over! If you're feeling brave, you could assault your neighborhood machine too. What's the worst that can happen? ☃️



Mounds of snow can be found all over the map. Just grab a snowball and throw away. But if you're not into it, you can opt out of the snowball fight in your game options.

Read the Patch Notes here:
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/704270/view/509566179781642287

Watch the Launch Trailer:

Greetings, Survivors!

The day has almost come – the Showdown is just 24 hours away.
In this update, you will collect new Experimental weapons, perfect your item crafting, and face off against FNIX one last time.
We’re extremely proud of what we’ve achieved with our small team within a comparatively short amount of time and we can’t wait to hear what you think about it!
Let’s get right into what you can expect from tomorrow’s update:


Team up with old friends and even a new one as you look into mysterious signals coming from the island of Aspholmen west of Klinte.
To unlock these new missions, your character has to be level 25 and you have to have played through the main story (the last mission is called Behind the Curtain).
If you’ve done all of that, simply start a level 3 Base Assault and enter the secret hatch used to find the locations of Tyrants and you’ll run into a familiar face.

While we didn’t have as many resources designing the new area as we had when we made Alpine Unrest, we still put in a lot of work to make it feel fresh and engaging. You’ll find bits of environmental storytelling, interesting locations, and one or the other easter egg on Aspholmen. Happy exploring!

We’ve overhauled the way Base Defense works to make it a more interesting and variable endgame activity.
First off, you will now be able to repair your base for free after each Base Defense. We made this change to reduce frustration due to losing hard earned resources in difficult defense missions.
Secondly, Base Defenses will no longer be about defending the central truck – they are evolving!
Each Control Point location will now allow you to build one new type of building each. According to which type of building you can build, you can earn new special materials used for high end crafting. The three building types are:


Produces Phosphorus. Phosphorus is used for Fire Resistance Clothing, Adrenaline, Flares, Grenades, some Augmentation Blueprints, and some base buildings. Drills are special in that instead of just one, you can build three of them in tahe same base – just make sure to place them far from each other.


Slowly outputs Ethanol, which is used for Jump Boost and Visibility Reduction clothes, the new Stealth Companion Armor, some Augmentations, and some healing items. Watch out, the Lab periodically explodes when turned on! Try to stay away and keep your buildings at a safe distance.


The Furnace is activated by placing low level crafting materials like Metal inside and selecting a desired output material. It can produce Refined Aluminium, Refined Tungsten, and Refined Uranium.
During the Base Defense, the Furnace will slowly start producing materials, but it will also heat up. You need to regularly exhaust the excess heat or it won't output the material you want! Listen for the audio cues when it’s time to vent.


After the last time we released new Experimentals, you kept asking “What about the AI-76?” and we heard that. In Showdown, you can earn three new EXPs from Rivals and Tyrants:

Okay, “any” ammo is a lie, but “almost any ammo” just didn’t sound quite as good. While you won’t be able to put buckshot, rockets, or arrows into this thing, you can certainly load it with .50cal explosive ammo. The same goes for .44, .270, 5.56, 9mm, and of course 7.62. Depending on which ammo you load into the weapon, its fire rate, recoil, damage, and magazine size will change. This allows for some crazy combinations and maximum adaptability to each combat situation. Also, our sound guy Peter did an amazing job making each ammo type sound different and punchy!

Any ammo you use with this weapon (we’ve limited it to buckshot and birdshot, since slugs don’t make a lot of sense for this use case) will be augmented with a magnesium payload, setting everything the pellets hit on fire. This includes machines and the ground, but not foliage, so don’t worry about starting any forest fires. Fire in the hole!

By aiming down sights with this weapon, you can lock onto a specific part on a machine. Any rounds you fire while the lockon is active will automatically adjust their trajectory to fly towards the targeted component. This enables you to maintain maximum destruction even in the most tense situations.

Over the years, we’ve heard time and time again that our players would like to unlock the full skill tree. Well, now you can! If you reach level 87, you will have earned enough skill points to get every skill. While you’ll still only be able to have one specialization skill active at the same time, you’ll be even more of a threat to the machines.
Don’t worry if you’ve already leveled up past level 31; the earned skill points will be granted retroactively.

With the Showdown update, being overencumbered no longer prevents you from fast traveling. Also, carrying way more than your maximum encumbrance no longer prevents you from moving, instead moving normally now uses stamina.
This is to make inventory management easier and allow for more time spent fighting machines.

Two new Companion Armors have been added:

Threat Armor draws enemy attention away from you and towards your Companion. Just be sure to take some Repair Kits with you so it doesn’t go down!

Stealth Armor makes enemy machines less likely to attack your Companion, appointing you the role of Tank and protecting your friend from harm. Well, some harm.

To go along with the new Armors, we have also added 14 new Companion Skins. Five of them can be found around the new and revamped locations, two drop from normal machines and toolboxes, and the rest are limited to Rival loot pools. Whether you want your metallic friend to blend in in a desert environment (for whatever reason), look like a bucket of rust, or assume the look of a dangerous feline predator, these skins are for you.
Rivals also now drop two new Companion Voice Packs: Small Cat and Big Cat.

• Equipment and Clothes crafting as well as Weapon Augmentation have undergone some major cost changes to accommodate for the new materials and make crafting more intuitive. The amount of materials you get from recycling has also been adjusted.
  
• Machines now drop ammo based on the weapons the player is using instead of the machine’s tier and class. Based on the region the looted Machine spawned in, there is also a multiplier that applies to the amount of Ammo that drops.
  
• Note that to incentivise crafting, Machines will only drop basic ammo types like FMJ and Hollow Point. Other types have to be crafted.
  
• To provide you with more space to store the new crafting materials, you can now upgrade your Recycling Station to level 10, which increases the storage capacity to 1600. This has been a highly requested change and you may now hoard resources once more, until you hit the new limit and ask us for another increase. We’ll be waiting.

Old Model

New Model

After listening to your feedback around the model of the N16, we realised that it wasn’t quite up to our standards. The Showdown Update contains a completely overhauled model for all five tiers of the N16. Enjoy!

We’ve hidden nine new dance emotes as collectable VHS tapes around the new locations. Find them all and start a dance party like Östertörn has never seen before.


If there is one thing we’ve always wanted to add, it’s purple and pink vehicle skins. Well, now they’re here! Get yours at your local Rival or Tyrant and thank us later.

• The firing sounds for the AG5, Möller PP, Klaucke, and silenced COM10 weapons has been improved to a snappier version. Pew pew!
  
• The Minigun now has a brief windup sound before it starts to fire. Yes, we know it doesn’t have that in real life, but it just sounds so cool. This is audio only, so it doesn't change the performance of the weapon.
  
• The 5 crown version of the AI-76 has been visually updated to look more in line with the progression of the fist four tiers.
  
• Remote Hacking now plays a nice little sound to indicate whether it was successful or not.
  
• Text chat has been visually improved. The reason for this is that we wanted it to be prettier.
  
• Players can now respawn at Field Radios.

• Fixed a bug that caused Hunters to disappear randomly
  
• Fixed the Vulture freezing and becoming inactive during combat
  
• Fixed the Vulture not correctly entering the next combat stage by deploying reinforcements and becoming invulnerable
  
• Fixed the Vulture prioritizing swedish machines over the player
  
• Fixed Apoc Tanks and Wolves’ Cluster Mines not deploying correctly

• Fixed scripted Runners not spawning during “The Hellmouth”
  
• Fixed the Tylöveden Base Assault not appearing
  
• Prevented turrets from continuing to shoot at players after being destroyed during the “Outpost Sabotage” Procedural Mission

• Fixed an issue where the Companion would take too long to spawn after being placed down

• Fixed the “Off the Grid” challenge not counting properly
  
• Fixed the achievement “Go-Getter” not counting properly
  
• Fixed the “Skilled Spotter” Augmentation challenge not counting properly

• Fixed item icons not displaying when scrolling through the storage box fast
  
• Fixed a bug where multiple worlds would have the same map progression
  
• Fixed a “no title provided” message that sometimes popped up when hovering over another player on the map
  
• Fixed the player icon disappearing from the map when zooming in
  
• Fixed the challenge screen not correctly showing progress made
  
• Fixed the character preview becoming invisible in the “Profile” and “Team” tabs
  
• Fixed an issue that caused pickup notifications to appear multiple times in the loot feed

• Fixed a bug that allowed players to place a field radio on themselves in tight spaces
  
• Prevented Base Assault turrets from shooting through walls

• Fixed sound effects playing multiple times when a Base Assault levels up
  
• Fixed a missing sound when recycling

• Fixed multiple crashes during fights
  
• Many minor and edge case crash fixes
  
• Fixed an instance of players loading infinitely in multiplayer

• Introduced various rendering optimizations
  
• Reduced FPS drops during combat
  
• Fixed FPS drops in multiple locations

Ever since we released Generation Zero almost six years ago, we’ve been working tirelessly to refine its successes and improve upon its shortcomings.
We added new Machines, Bosses, repeatable missions, vehicles, and weapons. To make the world more detailed and even more engaging, we revamped hundreds of locations and reworked the mission flow. On top of all of this, we kept improving the performance and stability, leading to both of them being at an all time high now (due in no small part to your help!).

As a show of appreciation for the thousands of hours of work, an unending well of passion, and a laser-eyed focus on the vision of what’s ahead that went into the game, we’d like to ask you to nominate Generation Zero for the “Labor of Love” Steam Award.♥️
It would mean the world to us as a Development Team to see the game we love so much up for a Steam Award and we think that as a community, we can come together and get it there.
That would be a hell of a way to lead up the last content this game will see, don’t you think?

Regardless, we are incredibly thankful for your support and we’re excited to have you play the Showdown Update soon.

With love,
The Generation Zero Dev Team

Greetings, Survivors!

It’s been a while since we released the August 2024 Update, and many of you have been asking what’s next. Well, we’re here to answer that question today.

Over the past six years, we’ve added tons of new features and content to Generation Zero; Base Building introduced a home to customize and defend, Soviet Machines joined the fray as a new faction, the Companion helped us stand up to the enemy, and the Vulture posed a formidable new threat.


In turn, you’ve spent the last six years destroying machines, hunting Rivals, and keeping the Resistance alive. We’re truly honored that you’ve accompanied us on this journey for so long. Everything you’ve achieved has been leading up to this point.
With this in mind, we’ve arrived at a special and decidedly bittersweet moment:

It’s with the utmost love and tremendous pride that we announce that we are now working on the last update for Generation Zero.

We feel now is the right time to finalize our vision for our beloved game and give it the sendoff it deserves. So, without further ado, let’s talk about this last hurrah, our magnum opus – the Showdown Update.

In the Showdown Update, we are concluding the story arc that we’ve been building towards throughout the main missions and in-game lore. The story of Östertörn is reaching its third act in this mysterious, intense, explosive finale and the Resistance will need you once more! Here’s a small sneak peek:


Most of the Showdown Update will take place in a new area that you haven’t been to before. This new area will not be as sprawling as Himfjäll, but it will give us the space needed to tell the last part of our narrative. You can look forward to exploring new terrains with a unique feel and many bits of environmental storytelling, just like you’re used to! In preparation, we advise you to gather all the Soviet Nesting Dolls collectables and catch up on the attached lore.

Concluding the story in this new location is not the only focus of this update, of course; we’re working on including as many bits of community feedback as we can, too. We’ll be adding three new Experimental weapons to round out the catalog of base game weapons that have EXP versions. To allow you to unlock all skill upgrades and complete the endgame experience, we’re uncapping the skill points. We’ve also been working on new cosmetics, which you will be able to earn in various ways. Lastly, as always, we’re introducing more Quality of Life improvements and fixing lots of bugs.

As you can see, there's a lot in store for you as you experience the conclusion to your journey in the game. There are a few more surprises awaiting you in Östertörn, but those will be for you to discover yourselves.

The Alpine Unrest and FNIX Rising story expansions are not required to complete the new missions, but having played them will provide more context to the story. The narrative will revolve around the Resistance, FNIX, and some characters you already know and love.



As we get closer to launch, we’ll talk more about the update, but for now just be advised to keep a lookout on our channels for more hints and, eventually, the release date.

Generation Zero has evolved so much over the last six years and we can’t wait to experience this final chapter together with all of you, our players. Thank you.

The Generation Zero Dev Team


Will the Showdown update include a paid DLC?
No. Everything in it is a free update for everyone who owns the base game.

What happens after the update?
Our dev team will move on to different projects within Avalanche Studios Group. Our community spaces will remain active and supported for the foreseeable future.

Will I still be able to play multiplayer?
Yes. GZ’s multiplayer mode is peer-to-peer hosted, meaning it doesn’t require servers from us to connect to your friends.

Is GZ2 in development?
We are not developing any sequels at this point, but there are definitely more stories to tell in the GZ universe and a return to the IP in the future is not off the table.

Where can I find information and support going forward?
Any communications will still happen via Discord, the GZ forums, our website, and our social media channels.

Will the game still be available for new players to download and play?
Yes.

Can we expect any community events or activities in the future?
Yes! We will continue to care for and highlight our amazing community every chance we get.

Will there still be technical support for the game?
Our customer support will stay active throughout 2025 and if we decide to discontinue it after that, we’ll let you know well in advance.

How will bug fixes and patches be handled moving forward?
There are currently no plans for further patches, but we’ll be closely monitoring our channels following the release of the Showdown Update to determine whether a hotfix is necessary.

Will you add mod support with this update?
While we realize how much fun and longevity mods can add to a game, officially supporting modding is sadly not just a switch we can flip. It involves a complicated process of both our programming and legal teams to make sure that it's done right and with minimal risk. That's why we will not officially support modding.

Greetings!

Today’s Resistance Report will be a short one as there isn’t much I can talk about yet and it’s currently 4:30PM on a Friday (me writing this at this time also has to do with things I can’t talk about).

However, I do want to use this opportunity to show a sign of life and let you know that we’re working on the next update in full force! Our timelines are on track, the designers are designing, programmers are coding, and QA testers are uncovering more bugs than a 12 year old me in the forest on a wednesday afternoon.
I know you don’t like it when I say this, but we’ll have more information for you soon. Super soon.


Spooky times are back!
The Halloween event starts tomorrow, 19th of October, and runs until the third of November. As always, you’ll be able to earn some exclusive ingame apparel items by destroying Machines!
Any resemblance between these apparel items and fictional characters whose IPs belong to companies bigger than us is epic, but entirely coincidental.

Here’s the drop list:
Slayer set: Dropped by Harvesters and Wolves
Elegant (Vampire) set: Dropped by Runners and Lynx
Antarctic set: Dropped by Hunters
Slasher set: Dropped by Tanks and Firebirds

I hope you enjoy the event and get all the items! Good luck.


The Stockholm-based orchestra Musikaliska Kvarteret is organizing a concert where they’ll play some iconic video game soundtracks and GZ is part of it!
Those of you who have seen me ramble about soundtracks and how important they are know how hyped I am that this is happening. A big thank you to the organizers for including us!

When I heard about this, I knew I had to give away some tickets to our community. So here it is:
A chance for two people and their plus ones to experience this concert live on November 9th!
Since it isn’t being streamed and takes place in Stockholm, I’ve had to limit the giveaway to participants from Sweden only.
If you live outside of Sweden and are ready to purchase a plane ticket to come see this concert, please let me know and I’ll add you to the pool. To be clear, I don’t expect anyone to do this and it would make this so much more difficult for me, but it would be really funny.

Find out ways to enter by clicking this Gleam Link! The giveaway ends on October 25th.

Good luck to all who enter! As of right now, there are 0 completed entries, so I’m hoping some of you are close enough to participate, otherwise I’ll have to take the tickets for myself and my friends and that would be TERRIBLE.

Today’s Swiss German Word is twofold, since you can’t go from one town to another without finding a new dialect in Switzerland. Hence, the words “Hitzgi” and “Gluggsi” are both valid Swiss German words for “hiccup”, each with some more niche regional offshoots and slight variations.

Thanks for reading and I’ll talk to you soon!
Carni
Community Manager

Expand your Generation Zero experience with four explosive new bundles!
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Check them out and get discounts on your missing DLCs:

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https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/44975/Generation_Zero__Story_Bundle/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/44976/Generation_Zero__Action_Hero_Bundle/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/44977/Generation_Zero__Ultimate_Bundle/