The Left Behind News & Patch Notes

Yesterday was the launch of my game. It did not go as I hoped for, here is my message after the first day:

Hello Survivors!

In this post I'm going to talk you through what the game will be and what is not in the game so you can make the right decision if this game is something for you.

What's in the game? The game is a solo and co-op zombie survival game that leans towards an arcade zombie experience. There are multiple gamemodes. The main gamemode is the story mode which gives you 1 to 3 hours of story. Survival elements are in the game but very lightly. You have to find water/food/health to stay alive. This is in the game to stimulate exploring the open-world. You can explore every building in the game (500+) for food, water, health and weapons. Explore a typical Dutch open-world landscape at daytime and beware of hordes of enemies coming in at night. Loot and hunt to survive. Each night, the game becomes increasingly challenging. The game has a perma-death feature, meaning that if you die, you have to start over again! If you want to view how the games story mode will play, creators like GameEdged played the game early:

With how many players can I play the game? You can play the game solo and with 3 friends (a total lobby of 4 players).

Gamemodes The game features the following gamemodes: I've got a couple of questions regarding certain features. I'll walk you through what is not in the game:

Story mode - This is the main mode of the game. The story mode is only available in solo mode. The story takes place in the open-world map.
Survival mode - This has the same difficulty as the story mode and can be played in solo and co-op. The survival mode takes place in the open-world map and does not feature story elements.
Free roam - This mode takes place in the open-world map, does not contain story elements and does not contain horde nights.
Easy mode - This mode takes place in the open-world map, you can experience the story without the horde nights.
Horde mode - For horde mode, there are currently 3 maps available: Vila, School & Pool. This a wave based mode where you fight endless hordes of zombies in small maps. This mode can be played solo and co-op. If you want to see how the horde mode plays, I've recorded a video for you:

Features

Shoot, loot and survive your way through this open world.
Unlock new areas and weapons while playing the game.
Encounter various enemies and animals in the world.
Explore an unique and handcrafted Dutch landscape.
Play for a new highscore every game, alone or with friends.
Unlock various melee and ranged weapons.
Play solo or online with friends.
Immerse yourself in a mysterious story.
Play different game modes: story, survival, horde-mode or explore the open world at your own pace.
You can enter and explore every building in the game.

This is NOT in the game: I've got a couple of questions regarding certain features. I'll walk you through what is not in the game:

Basebuilding & crafting: the game has light base building features, meaning you can board up windows and stack items in chests/closets. The game will NOT have full base building features you see in other survival games. This game has a handcrafted open-world and light focus on the survival aspect. That's why I choose to not include crafting/basebuilding. The survival aspect is not the main focus.
A save system: There is no option to save your game. Instead, the story is a short experience designed around the permadeath feature. If you die, you start over, but the game stays interesting to try it another round. Since it's a short story experience and without the crafting/building system I choose not to include a save system.
Detailed combat: The games combat leans more towards arcade instead of realistic.
Dedicated servers: You can play co-op by hosting your own game.
Controller support: There is minor controller support, meaning you can do some actions like walking, aiming, shooting, etc with the controller. Menus and special keys (like turning on the radio in the first mission) will not work with a controller.
Character creation: The game features the main character, in the menu you can change his outfit.

After the release of the game I've had a long playtest round so the game should be 98% bug free but you'll never know! I'll keep track of bugs/errors and fix them asap so it does not ruin your gameplay experience. Thanks for the support! Thanks to everyone for the support so far! Hopefully this post will help you make a decision if this game is something you want to buy or not. - Justin, developer of The Left Behind

Hello survivors!

This is a small demo update that should improve the experience for new players and multiplayer players. I've added a bit more loot, fixed a couple of multiplayer issues and did some quality of life updates. Some other great news: The Left Behind will join this months NextFest! I'm super excited to join NextFest with the demo and hope all the new players enjoy the zombie experience I've made! After Nextfest, the demo will go offline on the 24th of June, so if you want to do another run, make sure to do it before the 24th! Missed that date? No worries! The full game will release on the 27th of July!

The full update list:

Fixed an issue where equipment would not work properly;
Improved picking up items;
Improved performance;
Added more loot to the world;
Zombies hit a bit faster;
Added a map to the world, close to the starting area;
Removed the crows from the demo;
Fixed an issue with password and friends only lobbies (please let me know if this function now works for you)

Enjoy the new update, let me know how it runs. thanks for reporting the issue!

Hello Survivors!

In this post I'm going to talk you through the state of the demo and what you can expect in the full release of the game.

The demo: The demo contains the first half hour of the story. You can play the story in solo mode and get a preview of how it will play. There is also a free-roaming mode: survival. This is a mode where you can explore the map and survive as long as possible in co-op mode. You can play with up to 3 friends. In this mode you can play PvE/PvP.

If you encounter any problems in the demo, please, contact me on Discord: https://discord.gg/ZUUwNHzDxX , by mail or under this post. If you like the demo, I could rely appreciate a review!

The full game: And now, what can you expect in the full game? I'm going to break that down in the following:

At release, the full story will be available to play and experience. Discover how the story goes and fight an epic battle at the end!
The full game will get an extra gamemode that you can play solo and in co-op mode: Endless wave. This is a mode where it's always night time. This means, hordes of enemies will come to hunt you and you need to survive as long as possible. There are a couple of area's out of the main open world you can play, like: Villa, Pools and school. Within this map, you can unlock new routes and weapons.
Overall gameplay experience will be fine tuned with smoothness in how zombies respond and weapons play and feel and more!
15 Steam achievements to unlock!
And more!

Thanks for all the feedback on the demo so far. I hope you all enjoyed playing the demo and can't wait to show what I have prepared for the full game! - Justin, developer of The Left Behind

Hello survivors!

This is a small demo update that should improve the experience for new players and multiplayer players. I've added a bit more loot in the starting area, fixed a couple of multiplayer issues and did some quality of life updates. Next to that I've updated the art on Steam. I've made new capsule art and store art. I still need to update some screenshots and the GIFS in the description. Those will follow soon! Hope you all enjoy!

The full update list: - Fixed an issue where you needed to click an extra time when dropping items in inventory. - Drones despawn after the wave. - Fixed an animation bug when drinking water if you hold a ranged weapon. - Houses that need an unlock have more loot inside. - Fixed a bug where you could not pickup equipment. - Fixed a couple of playernaming issues. - Fixed a bug where the compass would not work in MP. - Added sounds for hitting a player. - Updated the spectating function. - Fixed a bug where stamina would not go lower than 5. - Lowered the sprint speed for players a tiny bit. - When pressing take-all in chests, the chest closes. - Adjusted the speed for opening garage doors. - Added more loot to cars. - Added more items around the starting area. - Fixed a bug where zombies could stay alive on the server-side. - Fixed the hitbox of certain zombies. - Lowered the health a bit for roaming zombies. - Added more loot in the game. - Added new art for the game on Steam.

Enjoy the new update, let me know how it runs. if the issue is still present and thanks for reporting the issue!

Hello Survivors!

This will probably be the last update for the demo. I'm now focusing on the full release and all the features needed for the release of the game. If the demo needs some fixing on a game breaking issue I'll do that of course! I'm going to focus on the next part of the story, more modes, achievements and more. If you would like to follow that proces, join the official Discord. Here is the full update list:

Added player names in multiplayer.
Revisited the Zombies and their AI. Zombies can now lose sight of the player making it possible to hide from zombies roaming around the map (this does not count for the waves at night) zombies roaming around at daytime and spawning at points of interest have a higher health so watch out for them now! You can spot runners better by looking at their eyes. Other roam zombies can't run anymore, they do however, chase you but are not as fast anymore. Zombies also respond to noise much better. I hope these adjustments will make it more interesting walking around at daytime. The goal is that roaming zombies are more dangerous but you can hide from them or outrun them, but once they get you, you need something to defend yourself! Let me know how you like these adjustments.
I've added a new zombie type, the fat smelly tank zombie.
Animal sounds are now replicated in multiplayer.
Removed a bug related to item triggerboxes and weapon collision.
Removed a bug where joining a match after you died you spawned without a character.
Adjusted the zombie spawning at certain POI locations.
Added a construction under the pool tubes.
Adjusted one building where the stairs didn't align properly.
Revisited all the melee combat sounds.
Revisited a lot of the melee combat impact sounds.
Adjusted the ranged weapons, now the players hands hold them properly.
Adjusted some sounds and made the overall game sound a bit louder.
Adjusted the melee weapon damage.
Nerfed the weapon ammo to lower values.
Adjusted the drone targeting.
Improved the visibility of the max stack sizes in the inventory.
Removed a bug where zombies could open doors if they were dead.
Removed a bug with the games score system.
Removed a couple of objects that were hurting performance a lot without adding to much to the visual look of the game.
Improved performance in various ways. The game should have a better performance, especially on GPU usage. Let me know how the game runs for you now.
Fixed a couple of zombie spawning issues.

Let me know what you think about the about! - Justin, developer of The Left Behind

Hello survivors!

This update is a more behind the scenes update. I fixed a couple of issues regarding the multiplayer/co-op mode. So, a small update, but hopefully makes the experience playing with friends better for all of you!

The full update list: - Fixed a bug where only the server would have an inventory. - Fixed an issue where chest would show strange behavior and gave the possibility for item duplication on certain places. - Fixed a bug where some of the hints still show on all screens. - Switched some of the weapons to a different animation categorie to make more sense. - Adjusted a couple of volume levels for the story dialogue. - Adjusted the location: mechanical shop. it's now easier to enter and now serves as an optional place to hide during the night time, giving new players a better option to adjust to the game structure. - Gave the zombies roaming at daytime some more health to make them more dangerous, there is also a less of a change that they become runners, making the running more unique to the night zombies. Let me know what you think about this adjustment. - Adjusted the spawning of zombies at night. The first night spawns two zombies lesser than before. Special nights also gained an adjustment. - Removed a spellingerror in the lobby menu. - You can find weapons at more places around the pool area. - Interacting hints now show for all players and not only the host. - Fixed a bug where the hunger and thirst system would drain twice as fast for people that joined the game. - Fixed a bug regarding the targeting of zombies in Multiplayer, now, zombies stay at their target where before they would switch way to fast to a different target.

Enjoy the new update, let me know how it runs. if the issue is still present and thanks for reporting the issue!

Hello survivors! This update is a hotfix for 0.1.5. In the last update a bug was reported where certain player would spawn without a character, UI and input making the game unplayable. This error should be resolved now. Next to that I fixed a couple of small issues lister below:

The full update list: - Fixed a game breaking bug where would spawn without character, UI and input; - Fixed the flashlight not replicating in multiplayer; - Fixed a spacing issue in the settings menu; - Fixed sound issues for the door and fire sound effects; - Fixed a bug where crows would spawn multiple times; - Fixed a bug where the player hints would show up multiple times in multiplayer; - There were to many zombies spawning around the maze area, reduced those numbers;

Enjoy the new update, let me know how it runs. if the issue is still present and thanks for reporting the issue!

Hello Survivors!

The biggest update for the demo to date is here! I worked really hard on this new update and I'm really curious what you all think about it. If you encounter any problems with the new update, please, contact me on Discord: https://discord.gg/ZUUwNHzDxX or under this post. If you like the new update, please leave a review. This demo update reveals the complete size of the map, a revisited inventory system, tons of small fixes and gameplay updates and more. Here is the full list:

Revisited full ammo buff
Removed the profile system (maybe I'll add this to the single player mode in the full release so you can save your game)
Fixed zombie targeting and spawning in wave mode
Added a map selection (more modes will unlock on full release)
Fixed replications for a couple of UI items
Added more consumable variations
Added a sniper rifle
Added a secret side quest
Added crows. Crows get scared when you walk close to them
Fixed a bug where the story would start after the first night, even if you didn't start the story
Added item randomizers
The complete map is available now (a couple of areas get added in the complete game)
Adjusted bullet spread
Removed the inventory system for weapons (weapon wheel)
Reworked the inventory system
Updated the way you handle explosives
Updated the settings menu
Added new enemies at special waves
Adjusted door sounds and fixed their multiplayer sounds
Adjusted some locations in the game
Added more POI (point of interest) locations
Fixed a couple of collision issues
Improved performance
Added better fitting item descriptions
Added a better quick selection option for weapons and equipment
Adjusted the overall visuals
Fixed a couple of zombie spawn areas, some zombies were spawning in the ground
Added new weapon icons
Adjusted the night duration. Nights and Days are a bit shorter now

I worked really hard on this update, let me know if you like it! - Justin, developer of The Left Behind

Hello Survivors!

In this blogpost I'm going to take you through the last updates and plannend work for the upcoming months. It's been a while since the last update. I've been on a break for a couple of months, members of the discord got a couple of updates on that. If you want more frequent updates on the game and it's development I can highly suggest becoming a member of the official server: https://discord.gg/ZUUwNHzDxX After two and a half years on developing without a big break it was time to go on a big break, get some new energy and inspiration. Now, with the start of the new year, I'm fully back on developing The Left Behind for you!

I've been working since the start of the new year and already got some nice news for you. I'm working hard to push the last demo update. In this demo update I'm going to smooth out performance even more, add randomized items, fix some multiplayer bugs, add new points of interest, add new features and the biggest of all: the whole map will be available in the demo! After releasing the demo I received a lot feedback. Feedback on missing collision of textures, performance, location suggestions, gameplay elements and more. This made me realize that, by making a great game, I should make more features available for testing. From experience I already new that testing the game is a big part of developing your game. Usually these go through private beta's or an external QA but now I see the demo as a great way to fully polish your game. I got not only feedback but also a lot of suggestions for the game that made the game how it is now. Features thought about by the community. Expect a couple of demo updates in the new year so I can fully polish the game before release.

If you have more suggestions for the game, don't forget to comment them or join the Discord server. Thanks all for sticking around while I was on a break and let's make 2026 the best year possible! - Justin, developer of The Left Behind

Earlier this year, I announced the release date for my game The Left Behind. At that time, I was close to a playable demo. When the demo released back in May, I received an incredible amount of feedback. That feedback not only helped improve the demo but will also benefit the full release.

Many members of the community helped me shape the game to the point where it is now, suggesting great features I hadn’t considered before, refining the gameplay loop, and overall making the experience even more fun.

Improving the demo (and therefore also the full release) took a bit more time than expected. I want to create the best experience for the players who are waiting for the game. For that reason, I’ve decided to delay the full release to 2026. This extra time will allow me to further polish the game and implement many of the community’s suggestions.

I want to thank the more than 4,000 people who took the time to wishlist the game. And especially the community in the official Discord server. Your time, feedback, and dedication means a lot. Some players have already spent over two hours in the demo, and that’s the biggest compliment a developer can receive!

I hope you’ll stick around for the full release in 2026. Thank you so much for your support! More updates on the game will follow very soon.

— Justin Jager, developer of The Left Behind

Hello survivors! This update is a hotfix for 0.1.3. In the last update (yesterday) a couple of bugs were reported. One bug was in my opinion a game breaking bug where the compass didn't update. This update fixes those issues + a couple of more (see list below).

The full update list: - Fixed a game breaking bug where the compass coordinates wouldn't update; - Fixed a bug where using items required clicking two times; - Fixed a bug where zombies would spawn in the floor; - Fixed a bug where some windows would show an interaction option; - Fixed a bug in the zombie audio where it would play if the zombie was dead; - Fixed a collision issue;

Enjoy the new update, let me know how it runs now and thanks for reporting the issue!

Hello survivors! Today the demo update 0.1.3 is live! This update is centered around performance updates. The Left Behind switched engine version. The game was made in Unreal Engine 5.3 and switched to 5.4.4. This update fixed some performance issues and gave me some tools to better streamline the streaming of assets in and out the world. The performance should be better but I would love to hear your experience! If your experience is worse after this update, please let me know!

The full update list: - Performance updates: A new system for streaming assets in/out of the world which should improve the performance on multiple systems. Removed all raytracing features, improved garbage collection, adjusted culling distances for certain foliage types, and more; - Fixed multiple multiplayer issues where the server/client couldn't see what was happening but the client/server could; - Fixed a bug where the game would infinitely try to spawn zombies but couldn’t, therefore the story wouldn't continue; - Rebinded the default inventory key to \ instead of \ key and made a function to close the inventory with the same key; - Fixed a bug that let you duplicate items if you ate/drank it from a chest; - Fixed various sound issues; - Added fall damage. The player now gets fall damage. Depending on the height the damage will be higher; - Improved the visuals for the flashlight; - Added a gamemode selection option (this will be unlocked in the full game); - Fixed various zombie spawn issues; - Added a rebinding function for throwing items (default with G key); - Updated certain POI (points of interest) locations making it more difficult to enter/leave them and more rewarding;
The next update will be a bigger update for the demo. After that update I’m going to work on the rest of the full game (A lot of features adjusted and added in the demo help to improve the game so it’s working on both things now technically). The next update will feature the following: - Reworking the weapon inventory system. A lot of players find it confusing that weapons are in a separate inventory system (press Q for weapons, tab for items). I’m going to combine both features. - A new weapon: sniper. This feature is already in the game but needs a 3d model. In update 0.1.3 I’ve hidden the item in two locations. If you can find it, have fun with it! Otherwise, it will be fully functional and with a correct model in the next update :) - Removing the ‘’make new profile’’ function. This function is confusing to players and can be removed; - Adding a kick + ban system for the multiplayer; - Reworking the spectating system; - Adding a different enemy on certain waves (this is story related, players who played the story already know what is coming!) - There are still a couple of bugs in multiplayer regarding the zombie targeting. These are known and will be fixed, but please mention it when you find one. - Adjusting the molotov cocktail; If you want to stay up to date, please join the Discord server. I’m also giving behind the scene info there and you have a direct way of asking features or questions! Enjoy the new update and let me know how it runs now!

Hello everyone! I've missed the post for the 0.1.1 update so here is two updates in one post. I've been working on a couple of new features and fixed a lot of small issues in this demo update. The next update will be the last big update for the demo. Hope you're having fun with the demo so far! Update list 0.1.1 :

You can now pick your weapon back up if your inventory is full;
New feature! Explosives! You can now find, grenades, mines, smokebombs and molotov cocktails. Equip your explosives in the weapon wheel and throw them with your G key. Be careful, some area's contain mines that already been dropped!
Environment updates: A gate at the wall and a church has been added;
The countdown is removed, wave warnings are now done in the form of audio (church bells) let me know how this plays, if it's clear and/or if this feature needs adjustments;
The wave system got a couple of difficulty tweaks;
More zombie spawns in houses and area's;
More weapons can be found;
Some minor performance tweaks;

Update list 0.1.2:

This patch will fix some spawning issues (zombies didn't spawn correct on multiple locations) and fix some MP UI & sound issues. The spawning stayed in a loop so on the long run could impact performance. This fix will be up in a couple of hours. For the lucky players, the sniper is almost ready for playing, I only need a model (it's now using the rifle model) but I've hidden two temporary snipers in the game. Good luck searching! If you want to know what the next big update will feature, join the official Discord to find out: https://discord.gg/ZUUwNHzDxX Thanks for all the great feedback so far! - Justin

Update 0.1.0 is live!

I'm so excited to release the next update with everyone! I worked really hard on this update so hopefully you'll like the new content.

The new update contains visual updates, performance updates and multiplayer! A detailed list:

Multiplayer: play online or on LAN connection with 3 friends (total of 4 players),
Lobby chat (MP only),
Invite friends through Steam (MP only),
Create a lobby for friends only or password protection (MP only),
Performance updates, it should load faster on startup now,
Audio updates on the zombies and the melee weapons now have extra sounds,
You get updates in your HUD when and what item you picked up,
Items have a visible stack size, making it clearer how much items you can stack,
Visual update how much each food, water and heal item adds to your stats,
Fixed a bug where you could use items infinite when used in a chest,
Fixed some collision bugs,
Foliage gained a performance update,

Keep in mind, the multiplayer is still in early stages! It's there so I can fix bugs etc before release and test it with the community

If you come across any bugs or issue, please let me know!

Enjoy the new update!

Update 0.0.3 is live! With improvements like:

You can rebind your weapon menu,
The camera is more cantered now, people had some issues with it being to far off. inflicting combat. Let me know what you think of the new camera position!,
Quests are better readable in the UI,
Hint/tutorial text helps new player through the controls and game.,
Small performance updates,
A button in the menu to turn of Lumen and Volumetric Fog,
Fixed the car windows (visual bug, removed the glass since it gave some overlap issues and didn't contribute a lot to the visual quality,
Fixed melee spamming,
Fixed some collision issues,
Highlighted certain mission objectives better,
Removed a bug where white outline on certain objects remained on the whole playthrough,
Improved the first 3 nights in difficulty,
Reduced the volume on certain sound effects like the level-up sound,
There is a lot more loot available to find in the map now,
Added some more sound effects throughout the game,
Added some UI animations,

Let me know how you like the new update!

After great feedback by players I've worked really hard on the first update. The first update contains:

Improved the pickup system,
Improved interacting with objects and making it more readable which box/cabinet you open,
Fixed a couple of spots in the map where players were able to bypass level-up requirements,
Fixed a bug where putting the settings to low a game crash happened,
Added temporary hints so the player knows a bit better what the objective is or the right button is (visuals for this will improve in later updates),
Lowered the volume of the level-up sound,
Small performance updates (still working on this but hopefully will tackle this more in the updates to come),
Made objectives more readable in the world,
Added a small outline for your mission text so it's better readable (visual will improve more in later updates),
Added an outline on your compass marker for better readability (visual will improve more in later updates),
Main menu music did not loop, now it's looping

The game application disk usage is reduced from around 25gb to around 13gb. I'll be working on more updates and improvements this weekend and days to come with on the priority list:

Fixing a bug where you can spam melee to fast.
Fixing first time loading taking longer then expected.

Want to stay up to date on the process? Join the official Discord: https://discord.gg/ZUUwNHzDxX Thanks for the amazing feedback so far. I've seen some people with bad experiences but also a lot who enjoyed the demo and played it for more then 2 hours exploring the game! Amazing!

In this demo you can play the first 30 minutes of the game: The Left Behind. The demo features a handcrafted post-apocalyptic world. Explore a typical Dutch open-world landscape at daytime and beware of hordes of enemies coming in at night. Loot and hunt to survive. Each night, the game becomes increasingly challenging. Keep track of your highscore and try to survive as many nights as possible and/or play through an immersive and mysterious story! Features - Shoot, loot and survive your way through this open world. - Unlock new areas and weapons while playing the game. - Encounter various enemies and animals in the world. - Explore an unique section of the world. - Unlock various melee and ranged weapons. - Immerse yourself in the first 30 minutes of a mysterious story. - Enter and explore every building. The full game will feature - The complete story. - Steam achievements. - A solo mode and a co-op mode where you can play the game with up to four (4) players. - The complete map. - More buildings to explore. - An epic boss battle. - And more!

The Left Behind. In this video I'm going to give you updates on: Zombie updates

The story is complete;
Environment updates;
Inventory and item updates;
More info on a demo release;

Hello survivors! I've uploaded a new devlog where I talk about:

Sound design
UI design
How I've made enemies even smarter
And how to get your name in the game!

If you want more updates, don't forget to join the Discord!

Hello Survivors! This week I've uploaded the second devlog for the game. So if you're curious how the game is made, what it will look and play like, feel free to watch the devlog:

Hello Survivors! This week I've uploaded the first devlog for the game. So if you're curious how the game is made, what it will look and play like, feel free to watch the devlog:

Hello Survivors! We want to keep you posted on the game's progress. In this small update video you can see some early combat, the inventory system and the character stats. Video: Follow our socials for more behind the scene updates: X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/J_Justin_J

The Left Behind news & patch notes

The Left Behind news & patch notes

Steam news for The Left Behind