Although No More Room in Hell 2 launched into early access a little too early for its own good, I still think it was a better zombie game than it gets credit for. Not only did it capture the essence of zombie horror with its eerie, pitch-black nights and undead hordes that seemed fairly unthreatening right up until they steamrollered you in their dozens. But it also had a clever concept where players started the game alone, having to find each other within the map before converging on the objective.
That organic team-building was a big part of what made No More Room in Hell 2 interesting to me, even if its single map became repetitive after a while. Now, developer Torn Banner has added a new feature to the game that adds a further twist to team assembly.
This comes as part of No More Room in Hell 2's Reanimation++ update. Torn Banner describes this as "one of our smaller updates", which is interesting considering the implications it has. The feature in question is called 'Early individual extraction', and it basically allows players to flee the map once the player count drops to a certain threshold.
By default, a round of NMRiH2 includes eight players dispersed across the map's fringes, who gradually come together to complete a central objective. Of course, some players might not make it that far, and even banding together won't necessarily stop players from being picked off by the Zeds.
Up to this point, decimated teams had to just soldier on or, as is more likely the case, drop out of the game entirely through frustration. But as of this update, if the remaining player count falls as low as three, players can choose to abandon the mission in-game, fleeing to one of several underground bunkers where their character can safely extract from the map on their own.
Departing a round in this manner isn't exactly encouraged, netting players "significantly fewer" credits than completing the objective, and giving their character zero experience. But it also means that your character will live to fight another day, which is a win in and of itself considering death in No More Room in Hell 2 is permanent.
While this change has a pragmatic function, namely discouraging players from rage quitting and giving failed missions a more interesting ending, it's also fascinating from a thematic perspective. Imagine seeing your two surviving teammates backed into a corner by a horde, and having to choose whether to help them or leg it to the nearest bunker. Imagine being one of those teammates, and seeing that other player run for the hills, or alternatively, risk their necks to help you when you know they could have left you for dead. That's cool.
This extraction system is by far the biggest addition Reanimation++ makes, but it isn't the only one. The update also throws in a new weapon, the .22 calibre Gruber 922, which makes up for its small cartridge with a high ammo count and attachment flexibility. Elsewhere, there's a new responder voice with male and female versions, while zombies that are knocked down now take 100% bonus damage for quicker eliminations.
But it's that extraction twist that draws me toward NMiRH2 like a freshly cracked brain cavity. I may wait a little bit longer, though, as next month it'll get a considerably bigger update that adds a whole new map called Broadway. It's worth noting that No More Room in Hell 2 still has a "Mixed" rating on Steam, with players complaining about bugs and balance issues, as well as its differences from the original, 2012 mod. But I reckon the sequel has plenty of merits of its own, and could still prove a winner by the time it hits 1.0.
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