Urban Strife News

Although we just released our first major content patch, we decided we couldn't enjoy the holidays fully if we didn't leave our players with a much requested QoL improvement - a button to mass move items to and from your inventories/containers. Thank you again to you all who decided to join our community and contribute with your suggestions and feedback! See you in 2025!

[h3]NEW FEATURES/UPDATES[/h3]

• New GIVE ALL button: You can now mass move items from backpack to other containers (the button also responds to filters). GIVE ALL should appear to all player owned containers (backpack, car, stash)
  
• Improved DONATE: Using the GIVE ALL button in a resource donation will now automatically select and move the correct items to the trade window.
  
• Modified RECYCLING: The Recycling manager will no longer accept assembled weapons, after several of his workers tried to dismantle the firing mechanism with a hammer, nearly killing each other. In order to use weapons for donation you will need to dismantle them first (actually it's just a safety to avoid an accidental automatic donate of all your weapons using the new GIVE ALL button).
  
• Modified SHELTER OVERVIEW: We renamed the GAS column in Notebook/Shelter to Power/Gas (and changed its icon) so the relation between gasoline for the generator and power used by the buildings is crystal clear.
  

[h3]FIXED BUGS/HANGS[/h3]

• Fixed a bug in Courthouse where the Bounty Bros encounter would activate when you already killed the cultists when talking to Judge Jenny
  
• Fixed a rare Zombie Arena bug that would make the game hang (during the aspirant trials)
  

MORE TO COME!

We’ve spent most of the last week monitoring your feedback and working on fixes for reported issues. Initially, we planned to separate urgent fixes (for the stable build) from content updates (in a beta build). However, in the spirit of the holidays, we decided to let everyone enjoy the bonus sandbox map directly! We still plan to separate the two update streams in the future, but for now enjoy them at will, together with a much smoother experience!



[h2]SANDBOX[/h2]
New Maps: Added two new sandbox maps—Pious Graveyard and Grave Robber's Hideout. These are minimally tied to the RPG elements and won’t affect the overall campaign. The maps are accessible as soon as you finish the prologue story, but they're really meant for those who already finished the current EA content and thus have some experience with the game mechanics. Do not expect the enemies to cut you any slack if you're a newbie.

• Warning (again): Both maps are technically Act 2 areas, so expect tough enemies armed with 9mm and 5.56 weapons. If played strategically, you can gather valuable resources, but be prepared for a challenge. The balance may be heavily skewed against you—proceed with caution!
  
• Pious Graveyard: Features a mausoleum that grave robbers have repeatedly tried—and failed—to reach. Discover why they are so determined to succeed, despite heavy sacrifices.
  
• The Pio Clan: Currently in disarray and not very communicative. They’ll explain why they’re hiding in the church and will trade resources with you. The church also serves as a safe spot to rest and recover.
  
• Brother Nino: The trader has a special restock every game day for your convenience. He'll happily accept any loot you've persuaded those pesky grave robbers to part with.
  

[h2]INVENTORY[/h2]

• Sort Button: Located at the top-right of every backpack, box, or stash. It now stacks similar items in addition to grouping them as requested by many players.

[h2]LOGIC/FLOW[/h2]

• Fixed a bug where delivering the quest to Judge Jenny didn’t trigger successful completion of Secure Supermarket.
  
• Fixed a bug where John Saint didn’t offer a blueprint reward after bringing him the ring from Secure Courthouse.
  
• Completing the boss quest for John Saint now triggers a vote in the Notebook/Relations for an alliance with the cult.
  
• Completing the boss quest for Judge Jenny now triggers a vote in the Notebook/Relations for an alliance with the army.
  
• Fixed a bug where Snitch (Gas Station boss) retained the objective marker above his head after completing the quest (cosmetic fix requires a new save to take effect).
  
• After fully exploring all Act 1 maps, a special radio cutscene will now play when you return home, signaling that the horde is near.

[h2]CODE[/h2]

• Improved save file backwards compatibility.
  
• Fixed a bug where the game exited with a fatal error when an NPC under the mouse cursor despawned (e.g., during the Hungry Cultist quest at the Gas Station).
  

[h2]STORY/TEXT[/h2]

• First batch of text revisions by our new guest editor, Scott Hamm, covering:
  
  • Tutorial scenario
    
  • Pop-up help
    
  • Hero’s dream dialogue
    
  • Wake-up dialogue
    
  • First meeting dialogue
    
  • Sheriff's Office dialogue
    
• Renamed Good Moonshiners in Little Italy to Moonshine Workers to avoid confusion with Drunk Moonshiners.
  
• Renamed Bandit Slaves in Adams Villa to Cassey Bandits to clarify their hostile intentions.
  

[h2]ANIMATIONS[/h2]

• Introduced the first batch of faster animations (more improvements are planned):
  
  • Melee attacks and dodges
    
  • Shooting from cover
    
• Characters now return to their starting positions after initiating an attack in stealth (crouch).
  

ENJOY THE BONUS CHALLENGE, YOU'VE EARNED IT!



ALSO, COMING SOON:

• Additional Act 1 maps
  
• Quest streamlining
  
• More proofreading
  
• Voiceover quality improvements
  
• More keybind options
  
• Move All button mirrored for quicker item transfers
  
• Smart Donate Resources functionality for shelters
  
• Tabs for quickly selecting managers during trade
  

The current public build of the game is showing strong signs of stability. While there are still a few patches to be applied, the problems seem proportionally limited. This allows us to keep the default branch as a stable release and end the code freeze to resume development. Meanwhile, everyone who bought the game is welcome to join the BETA BRANCH starting next week—provided you understand that it is a laboratory where things are experimental (and will sometimes go wrong).

So, what can you expect to see (and play) in the beta branch?

[h2]SANDBOX MAPS[/h2]
Many of you have expressed a desire for more maps and the option to play them in a sandbox format. While Urban Strife was never advertised as a sandbox game, we’ve heard your feedback and thought of a solution that should make everyone happy!

We have many maps waiting in the campaign queue to be integrated into the game. A lot of effort has gone into their level design. Why not let everyone enjoy them while the main story is still being developed?



So… in the beta build, you will see all the maps that will eventually make up the game, complete with their real locations and details. The maps will be accessible for sandbox play as soon as they have a basic setup that supports combat (a local faction, basic traders for restocking, loot, etc.). Cutscenes and intrigue will be added later, as the maps exit “sandbox mode” and are fully integrated into the campaign.

Next week, you can expect a trip to a very gruesome graveyard, where Father Pio Di’Angello’s camp is under attack by a gang of ruthless slavers.



[h2]FASTER ANIMATIONS[/h2]
Another common issue that many of you highlighted was the speed of the animations. While we initially planned to address this optimization later in Early Access, the feedback was clear, so we decided to start working on it now.

The animations will be updated in batches, with improvements released regularly. The first batch you’ll see focuses on faster melee attack animations.



This beta branch approach allows us to experiment and iterate, with your feedback as a critical part of the process. Thank you all for supporting the game in EA and hope you all have a lot of fun!

• An issue where the hero's customization was randomly reset during the save/load process was fixed (again)
  
• An issue that prevented players from redefining controls in Game Options has been fixed
  

(then another issue that prevented them using ESC key was found so we went down the rabbit hole and found out an entire history of how UE doesn't like people changing default controls; long story short, we found a way to fix it, you should be able to redefine controls now at will)

• An issue where the hero's customization was randomly reset during the save/load process was fixed
  
• An issue that prevented players from redefining controls in Game Options has been fixed
  

[h3]The issue with the keys was INI related and required a more extensive fix. We'll rollback this patch and prepare a fresh one tomorrow.[/h3]