Emergency Call - The Firefighting Simulation 3 news & patch notes

We're excited to share our latest Developer Interview for Emergency Call - The Fire Fighting Simulation 3!!

In this interview, the developer talks about the biggest improvements over the previous game, the transition to Unreal Engine, the realistic fire simulation, the new role system, the detailed fire station, and many more gameplay features.

You'll also learn more about the game's development, the collaboration with real firefighters, how community feedback has influenced the project, and the plans for Early Access and future updates. Of course, the interview also includes plenty of brand-new gameplay footage from for Emergency Call - The Fire Fighting Simulation 3.

🔥 If you're looking forward to the game, don't forget to add for Emergency Call - The Fire Fighting Simulation 3 to your Steam Wishlist—every wishlist helps support the project!

💬 Be sure to join our official Discord server to connect with the community and the developers, share your feedback, and stay up to date with the latest news.

We hope you enjoy the interview!

In the poll on our Discord server asking which topic you'd like us to cover next in DevLog #5, there was one clear winner: What stage of development will the Early Access version be?

What really excited us was the huge number of people who participated in the poll. With Early Access approaching, that's a great sign. A project like this only works with an active community—and we can't wait to get started together.

Developing Notruf 3 through Early Access has been our plan from the very beginning. It simply makes sense to involve a community in the development process when so many of its members have valuable professional experience that can help shape the game. Or, to put it simply: in many cases, you know better than we do.

On one side, we have a passionate community with ideas, expectations, and a wealth of firefighting knowledge. On the other, we have a development team with years of experience from the previous two games. For this collaboration to truly work, however, Early Access needs to begin at a very early stage of development.

Only then can we still make meaningful changes to gameplay systems, mechanics, interactions, and features based on your feedback. If we were to launch later in development, much more of the game would already be set in stone, making major changes difficult—or sometimes even impossible. That's something we learned firsthand while developing the previous games.

By the start of Early Access, all core gameplay systems will be in place. They'll be complete enough to communicate our vision, allow you to provide constructive feedback, and serve as a solid foundation for future updates. This includes:

• The introduction to the game and the role system

• Daily routines, shift changes, and the progression system with end-of-day summaries

• Emergency callouts, driving to incidents, and the first smaller missions as part of the attack crew

• The first training courses and practical exercises

• Fitness training to improve your character's physical condition

• Various activities around the fire station (you'll have to discover some of them yourself)

• The user interface as well as item and object interactions

Visually, the game is still far from complete. However, everything we've already implemented reflects the quality and style we're aiming for. Other parts of the world are currently placeholders or still under development. At the beginning of Early Access, our main focus will be the fire station and its immediate surroundings.

Only part of the station has been completed so far, but this area is fully explorable. For the initial Early Access version, we've focused on the following locations:

• Fire and EMS vehicle bays

• Sleeping quarters, common areas, and the clean/dirty zones

• The offices of the station commander and training officer

• The breathing apparatus training facility and conditioning area

• The gym with a variety of fitness equipment

• The training and drill grounds

• The vehicle wash bay and workshop

The station and the game world will continue to grow throughout Early Access, with new areas, features, and details being added over time. Our goal is to make the entire station fully explorable. Just one word of warning: when the alarm goes off, those hallways can suddenly feel very long... ;-)

Since we needed a working emergency vehicle as quickly as possible, we decided to start with the old HLF. We already had the reference material, knew the vehicle inside and out, and understood how every part of it worked. That allowed us to focus on learning the specifics of Unreal Engine much more efficiently.

Right now, we're working on the ambulance. After that, we'll continue through the rest of the fire apparatus, all the way to the KEF. And of course, the new HLF will eventually find its way into the game as well.

Throughout Early Access, we'll continue expanding the game's core features. This includes new playable roles such as the driver/operator and the water supply crew, along with their corresponding training, exercises, and missions. At the same time, we'll be implementing systems like radio communication, status reporting, and many other features. The city itself will also continue to grow, becoming increasingly populated with traffic and pedestrians.

And then we'll see what other great ideas you come up with... ;-)

Your Crenetic Team

One of the core features of any firefighting simulation is, unsurprisingly, extinguishing fires. With that obvious realization in mind, fire behavior and firefighting mechanics became a top priority for us right from the pre-production phase. Drawing on our experience from previous titles, we defined the following requirements for our fire system:

• Objects should burn dynamically, from ignition all the way to complete burnout

• Objects should feature multiple burn stages, with the final stage leaving players guessing what used to be there

• Soot should appear dynamically wherever objects are burning

• Smoke color, density, and behavior should depend on the available fuel load

• Large smoke columns should naturally spread and drift sideways

• Fire brightness should scale with temperature

• Fire should be able to spread across multiple objects

• Smaller burning objects should be movable

• Dynamic light sources should illuminate the surrounding environment

We also wanted to improve firefighting with the combination nozzle. For the solid stream, we decided against using a purely particle-based effect, as particle systems tend to break apart during rapid movements. Instead, we're currently using a hose-based effect that dynamically adapts to player movement. As the water stream travels, it gradually loses height and density until it eventually disperses. Extinguishing effectiveness scales slightly with the stream's reach, creating those moments where you realize, “I need to get closer.”

Impact feedback is represented by steam effects that adapt to the fire's temperature. Our goal is for firefighting to feel satisfying and enjoyable, even if that occasionally means sacrificing a bit of realism.

To allow fires to spread dynamically, several systems are running behind the scenes. We generate a coarse grid made up of small boxes, which we define as fire cells. Each cell stores information such as its temperature, the amount of available fuel, whether it is currently being extinguished, and how much water it contains. We then activate only the cells that lie within a given burnable object. Once a cell reaches a high enough temperature, it ignites and transfers heat to neighboring cells, causing them to catch fire as well. During firefighting, cells absorb water. As the water evaporates, the cell's temperature drops until it falls below the ignition threshold, causing the fire to go out.

Join here

In the upcoming DevLog #5, you'll decide which topic we'll cover next. We'll be launching a poll on our Discord server featuring several suggested topics.

Your Crenetic Team

When we decided to develop a third part of Notruf 112, one important question came up quickly: should we return to Fire Station 1 in Mülheim, move to a different professional fire department, or create a completely fictional station? After reviewing our extensive collection of photos and video material, it became clear that Station 1 still offers enormous potential. There is still plenty of room to create an even more detailed and authentic representation than in the previous games.

One of the biggest advantages is our close relationship with the Fire Station Mühlheim, the short distances, and the trusted cooperation we have built over the years. When we presented our ideas, the team in Mülheim immediately shared our enthusiasm.

This time, however, we are taking the collaboration even further. We are coordinating much more closely with the station, regularly presenting the latest versions of the game and gathering valuable feedback directly from the professional firefighters. At the same time, everyone involved understands that Notruf 3 is still a game. In some situations, gameplay flow and fun naturally take priority over recreating every procedure exactly as it happens in real life. Even so, our goal remains the same: to deliver a high level of detail and create an even stronger sense of immersion.

The idea of placing more focus on everyday station life was also met with great enthusiasm by the Mülheim Fire Department. Together, we hope that Notruf 3 will help bring more attention to the work of firefighters and maybe even inspire some players to pursue a career — or volunteer service — in the fire department themselves.

One of the first highlights of this partnership already took place during Gamescom 2025. Together with the Mülheim Fire Department, we joined Aerosoft at their booth, where the showcased Ineos Grenadier quickly became a real eye-catcher and the center of many exciting conversations with visitors.

A big shout-out to the team of the Mülheim Fire Department … 😉

Your Crenetic Team

Welcome to the second part of our little devlog series! We spent a long time debating whether to switch to the latest Unreal Engine. After an extensive learning phase, however, it became clear that all graphical assets had to be completely reworked — or even recreated from scratch. In the end, very little from the previous titles could actually be reused.

For the artists, this meant:

• Expanding, adjusting, or recreating 3D models

• Creating new UV mappings for the models

• Reworking all textures

• Setting up new materials

• Importing everything into Unreal Engine

• Optimizing assets for lighting with Lumen

What could possibly go wrong? :-)

With a lot of patience, some duct tape, and a bit of shader magic, we finally achieved a result we’re very happy with. The challenge now is maintaining this level of quality — even when deadlines start getting tight again. Here’s a comparison of the three “Notruf” titles that showcases the graphical evolution quite nicely.

The programmers and level designers also had to adapt. Switching from C# to C++, learning the proper use of Blueprints, and exploring the countless implementation possibilities led to a much longer pre-production phase. But spoiler alert: in the end, nothing from pre-production actually made it into the final production build.

At this point, a huge thank you to Aerosoft for making the transition to Unreal Engine and the learning process possible for us.

Your Crenetic Team

Welcome to the first part of our little DevLog series! We’d like to use these posts to keep you updated on the current state of development and invite you to join us on this journey. With our DevLogs, you can expect a colorful mix of game updates, behind-the-scenes insights, and previews of planned features.

First Information About Early Access

There are only a few more turns ahead before we enter the final stretch toward our Early Access launch. We’re planning to release a very early version of the game. So, if you’re expecting a mostly finished experience where only a few pieces of content or bugs are missing, you may want to wait and join us later or at full release instead.

However, if you’d like to support us early on with feedback and actively take part in the development process, we’d be happy to have a constructive exchange with you! We’re planning to launch Early Access before Gamescom 2026 so that we can already connect with interested players during the event itself.

In the upcoming DevLog #2, we’ll take a closer look at how Part 3 differs visually from its predecessors. After all, we’ve switched to the latest Unreal Engine, and we hope that this work will really pay off visually.

Your Crenetic Team

Wishlist now!

The Aerosoft Publisher Sale is live!

From September 16 to 23, you can save up to 90% on our entire portfolio on Steam, the Nintendo eShop, the Aerosoft Shop, and the Microsoft Store.

with these games included!

• Emergency Call 112 - The Attack Squad (-30%)

• Emergency Call 112 - The Fire Fighting Simulation (-50%)

• Emergency Call 112 - The Fire Fighting Simulation 2 (-30%)

• Emergency Call 112 - The Fire Fighting Simulation 2: Swap Body Vehicle (-30%)

• Emergency Call 112 Add On KEF - The minor operations vehicle (-30%)

Discover & save now:

🔗 https://store.steampowered.com/sale/aerosoftpublishersale25

🔗 https://www.aerosoft.com/en/shop/sale/aerosoft-publisher-sale/

From August 20 to 24, 2025, you can experience the brand-new Notruf 112 – The Firefighting Simulation 3 live at the Aerosoft booth in Hall 9, Stand B43. Begin your career as a professional firefighter and experience the varied daily life at the fire station.

When: August 20–24, 2025 Where: Hall 9, Stand B43

From training to thrilling callouts – in Notruf 112 – The Firefighting Simulation 3, your skills will always be put to the test. Stop by and try the next generation of firefighting simulation live!