World War Z Update Undead Sea Takes Players to Tokyo and More

The latest batch of World War Z content is here in the form of the Undead Sea Update, which includes lots of new features for you to enjoy. Most notably, a new mission set in Tokyo has been added, taking place on an “undead-infested ferry.” There will also be the addition of a new zombie type that will require extra attention, as it can apparently come back to life.

World War Z has enjoyed some impressive milestones, closing in on 2 million copies sold since its launch in April of 2019. This is despite its lukewarm critical reception. It just goes to show that the fans really love mowing down zombies. Whichever side of the zombie-infested fence you’re on, the game’s latest update is a substantial one, so let’s take a look at the detailed patch notes provided by the publisher below:

New Content:

Added Tokyo 3 level.
Added new special zombie that will spawn on all levels.

New Features

Added private lobbies.
Added ability to host the game locally in private lobbies. (Only on Xbox and PS4 at the moment, same functionality will be available on PC later)
Added ability to disable bots in private lobbies.
Added UI that shows maximum difficulty each level was completed on.
Added FoV scale slider.
Added option to change PvP loadout during the game.

AI

Added feature that will prevent Lurker from spawning near players that are joining the game in progress.
Tripled delay, which governs how often Lurker can spawn in the exact same position.
Constant sprinting will now aggro zombies from a bigger distance.
Reworked “zombie stagger” mechanics. When hit, zombies used to play a long hit animation based on gun caliber and an element of randomness. Now they will play hit animations based on gun caliber and if they are hit repeatedly in a short period. This will make shotguns and fast firing weapons more consistent at staggering zombies.
AI Director will spawn less primary weapons if players are already carrying tier 3 weapons.
When AI Director decides to spawn a small wave of zombies, it will contain more zombies, but the wave duration will be shorter.
Made stealth more consistent across all levels; executing perfect stealth will delay the first wave of non-swarm zombies.
Increased chance of spawning special zombies in idle state.

Weapons

Compact SMG. Non-silenced version deals 8% more damage.
Machine Pistol. Bottom branch version 5 deals 6% more damage.
Machine Pistol. Increased rate of fire by 9% for all versions.
Sporting Carbine. Top branch versions deal 5% more damage.
Sporting Carbine. Bottom branch versions’ mag size is increased by 3.
Advanced SMG. Non-silenced version 5 deals 5% more damage.
Advanced SMG. Increased accuracy of both version 4’s.
Sniper Rifle. Top branch now has a bigger magazine and better handling.
Sniper Rifle. Bottom branch deals bigger damage with more penetration and accuracy.
Heavy Sniper Rifle. Reduced projectile size to prevent accidental detonations.
Revolver. Significantly increased damage. It will be able to kill a zombie on the highest difficulty with 1 shot.
Double-Barreled Shotgun. Doubled the distance at which damage begins to reduce.
Double-Barreled Shotgun. Reduced damage in PvP by 8%.
Secondary Grenade Launcher. Increased max ammo from 3 to 5.
Improved hit detection in PvP.
C4 will no longer detonate in midair if hit by a friendly fire (it still can be detonated after it lands on something).
Fixed some of the visual upgrades not showing up properly in weapon customization screen.
Fixed some of the weapon variant icons not reflecting actual visual weapon upgrades on that weapon.
Fixed Pump-Action shotgun displaying LOD model as well as the actual model.
Fixed gun recoil reset when swapping weapons.

Perks

Stim Pistol will now prioritize players in downed state when multiple targets are available.
If multiple players are using “Please Stand Up” perk, only one will trigger if the entire team is down.
All “Spawn with a Heavy Weapon” type perks will now properly adjust heavy weapons that are picked up during gameplay.

Stability

Improved performance.
Fixed several gameplay crashes.
Fixed several issues causing disconnects when joining friend’s game in progress.
Fixed issue that was causing 2 players appearing as the same character in game.

Levels

Fixed a large number of gameplay bugs that were causing inability to progress in levels.
Made some adjustments to AI Director that will make Moscow 3, Tokyo 2, Jerusalem 1, Jerusalem 3, and NY 3 slightly harder and Jerusalem 2 and Tokyo 1 slightly easier.
Improved navigation on Moscow 2 level.
Fixed issue that was causing zombie health scaling to trigger incorrectly for some zombies. In general, this makes Very Hard and Insane difficulties a little bit harder.

General fixes

Fixed issue that was causing Aim Assist to work even if it was disabled in options.
Improved pickup selection system when multiple objects could be picked up by player.
Fixed issue that was causing player to respawn with 0 ammo.
Fixed issue that was preventing dead players turning into zombies in some cases.
Added backpacks for character models in “Collection” screen.
Fixed crash on party leader change during session start countdown.
Fixed issue that was causing pickup progress bar not to appear in some cases.
Fixed player and specialization level display sync in scoreboard and in lobby.
Fixed Barricade defense kit icon display on HUD.
Backstory unlocked UI indicator will no longer display if you have already unlocked the backstory video.
Fixed issue that was causing some weapons to deal less damage with explosive ammo active in PvP.
Fixed friendly/enemy player overhead marker not appearing in some cases.
Fixed “Floor is Lava” trophy not triggering correctly.
Player will no longer drop defense kits when picking up C4 charges in Japan 2 level.

PC Difficulty

Zombies are harder to stagger on Very Hard and Insane difficulty (PC only).
Zombies take 25% less damage from body shots on Insane difficulty (PC only).
Reduced player revive timer from 40 to 20 on Insane difficulty (PC only).

PC Specific Fixes

Fixed friend list displayed as empty for some of the players.
Fixed issue with rebinding Sprint button on right shift button.
Added Animation Quality slider that adjusts animation LODs, number of ragdolls and number of dead bodies in general.
Slightly reduced time to kill other players in PvP for all weapons.

Vulkan

Improved Vulkan performance.
Improved Vulkan stability.
Fixed GPU idle calculations in benchmark mode.
Fixed blood decals rendering when using Vulkan.
Fixed flickering on some objects when using Vulkan.

If you’re still playing World War Z, does this update have you excited? Or if you dropped off, will this be enough to bring you back in? Let us know!

[Source: Focus Home Interactive Forums]