It feels almost surreal to type this out, but Project Zomboid‘s long-anticipated Build 42 should be out by Christmas. Granted, we’ve known for some time that it was supposed to release sometime in 2024, but this feels almost meme-worthy in how late it appears to be launching.
All in good fun, though, and I myself am absolutely chuffed with this development, as I fully expected the unstable build of the game to be out sometime in Q1 2025 at the earliest. Earlier still, Project Zomboid developer The Indie Stone announced that the beta testers’ first impressions of Build 42 were super positive, but that there’s no official release window just yet. Now, though, we not only have a full list of confirmed launch-day features, but also the information that we should be able to play Build 42 around Christmas-time. Exciting stuff! Albeit, there are some caveats to consider.
Build 42 for Project Zomboid should release before Christmas, albeit ‘Unstable’
Specifically, the biggest caveat to keep in mind about Project Zomboid Build 42 is that it’s going to be an “Unstable” version of the game. As per The Indie Stone’s recent Steam blog post, “We feel like we will be in a good place for this, but clearly the closer we get – the shorter the window for any necessary patching before the Christmas season.” This means that Build 42 Unstable may well get pushed a tad into the New Year, but even if that ends up happening, “it’s hard to imagine it slipping far,” says the blog.
Promising stuff, that. Less promising is that Multiplayer will not work in B42 in any capacity. Much as was the case with Project Zomboid’s B41, Multiplayer features will be straight-up removed from the game as The Indie Stone sorts out the Unstable version over the coming months. While it took two whole years for Build 41’s Multiplayer to go live, this only really happened because The Indie Stone was re-developing the networking backend of the game, so it’s unlikely to repeat.
Then again, The Indie Stone didn’t think it would take years for a major new Zomboid content update to be released, and here we are once again, almost three years into Build 41’s production life cycle. Such is life in Knox Country, I suppose.
All jokes and cheekiness aside, Project Zomboid B42 will be a huge game-changer bound to draw people back as it comes out. Sure, some might steer clear until multiplayer is out, but the improved performance, lightning, and gameplay all sound incredibly promising.
Fair warning, though, Build 42 is going to play much differently than Build 41 currently does. All of the changes coming to the game with this version mean that “[Project Zomboid is now] a little slower, more tactical and zombies [are] more of a threat – especially now you also have the darkness to contend with.”
A whole series of changes that may, as Indie Stone puts it, “the overall game might be a little easier for experienced players now but, again, we will tighten this up once we have more universal feedback from the playerbase at large.”
Exciting times ahead, that’s for sure. 2025 should see Build 42 rounded out properly at long last. It’s still far too early to discuss Build 43, with that in mind, but remember that this upcoming update should start introducing actual NPCs into the mix. The future is definitely bright, even if it is going to take a very long time for us to get there.
