Builds 18–21: Power Cuts, Casino Hosts & Tougher Colleagues.

HR can knock out the lights. The Scapegoat is making everyone worse. At least the rooftop has someone to help you clock out.

This is the full Build 18–21 roundup. Across these updates, the compound gained less predictable power failures, more varied zombies, a casino host, custom controller layouts and changes to how weapons and explosions behave. There are visual fixes and improvements to the chase between floors, too.

If you last played Build 18, this brings you up to date through Build 21, with a recap of the electrical changes at the start of that run. The latest Windows, Linux and macOS downloads are on your account page.

A rooftop host. A shared way home.

Build 20 gave the rooftop casino a relaxed host who can shorten your visit when you are ready to leave. Speak to him to mark yourself ready; in multiplayer, every living teammate must do the same before the shared timer drops to five seconds. The return trip and crane cooldown stay in sync for the group.

Beside his chair, a zombie turns a wheel to power his lamp, complete with a connected cable. Smoke rises from the host's cigarette. The worker cannot be killed and does not count towards the wave. Employee of the Eternity has apparently accepted the terms.

Power failures on their own schedule

Build 18 changed how the four repairable electrical circuits fail. Reaching wave 7 starts independent random fault timers while leaving every circuit healthy. New faults are spaced apart, so matching deadlines cannot take out every cabinet at once. Waiting times and the spacing between faults change as rounds advance, but an existing wait or repair protection period is never cut short by the next wave.

Keep an eye on the car park, service yard, admin office and loading bay cabinets. A neglected fault can deteriorate into a complete outage; repairs restore the circuit and give it a protected period. The regional lighting and emergency lighting still respond to the available power.

Build 19 gave HR another way to ruin the shift: each special scream has a one-in-three chance to damage one eligible fuse box by 15 percentage points. This starts from wave 7 and respects repair protection. In co-op, one scream produces one shared damage roll.

The horde has individual differences

Since Build 19, each zombie rolls its own health, movement speed, attack damage and attack speed, each varying by up to 5% above or below its usual value. Bosses and summoned zombies receive the same individual variation after their normal scaling. Movement and attack animations follow those rolls, and teammates see the same stats, including after reconnecting.

Scapegoats are a worse influence

In Build 20, Scapegoats began detonating when they get close to a player. The blast hurts survivors, but nearby zombies receive a permanent 50% attack-damage boost instead of blast damage. The boost does not stack. Red electrical arcs identify the empowered colleagues.

Fire, smoke and sparks replace the old explosion circle, and the eye glow now follows the shape of the eyes. It is easier to see who has had a particularly bad influence on them.

Weapons that follow the barrel

Shotgun pellets and laser effects now travel outward from the weapon's muzzle in the direction you are aiming. The shotgun fires a short cone, with damage falling off over its six-metre reach and a forward shove on targets it hits. The laser follows your aim with a narrow beam. These Build 20 changes keep the shot and its visible effect aligned as you turn.

Teammates' third-person stances and weapon grips have also been corrected, and the service-yard skip has its missing face back.

Your controller, your layout

Build 20 added a dedicated Controller tab with Xbox and PlayStation diagrams and matching button labels. Reassign buttons, use press-to-bind, or reset the mapping. Choose standard or southpaw sticks, adjust look sensitivity and deadzone, and invert vertical aiming. Your custom bindings save automatically.

Keeping the chase moving between floors

Build 21 focused on stair entrances and exits. Zombies line up inside the rails before climbing or descending, then follow the crossing onto the landing before turning towards you. These changes address diagonal approaches and early turns into railing corners. If a crowd still catches, tell us which staircase, which direction it was travelling, and where you were standing.

Ready for another shift?

Get the latest build from your account page and give the new controls, casino departure and tougher colleagues a try. Multiplayer requires Build 20 or later. Windows downloads are signed and timestamped; Linux and macOS builds are available alongside them.

Images and clips show the game's actual visuals. The casino and model views use staged cameras; the stair clip uses the released Build 21 with staged starting positions and normal zombie AI and collision. The controller image shows the settings screen.