Project Zomboid sets Steam record as Build 42 doubles its map

Project Zomboid has set a new all-time record for concurrent players on Steam following the release of build 42.20, an update that doubles the size of the game’s Knox County map. PC Gamer reported a peak of roughly 79,552 players in the early hours of Friday.

The record came despite a price increase applied alongside the update. Developer The Indie Stone raised the cost of the zombie survival sim from $20 to $25, or from £16.75 to £22.50. The game remains in Steam early access, where it has been since 2013.

What build 42.20 changes

According to the Project Zomboid development blog, seven of Knox County’s towns have been completely reworked with new art, giving each settlement its own architectural style along with unique buildings and improved landscaping between them. The map’s surface area has been doubled, taking the total to 35,000 tiles.

That expansion adds new and overhauled locations, among them a boy scout camp, an entirely new prison, and an abandoned orphanage. The build also generates 400 procedural basements, alongside 75 hand-built basements placed across the map.

Build 42 also changes how the game plays. It introduces animals including cows and chickens and revises the hunting and trapping systems, widening the options for farming and wilderness survival. The update further brings an improved stealth system, refinements to fishing, and the ability to drag corpses.

A long gap between builds

PC Gamer describes build 42 as Project Zomboid’s first major build update since 2021, a gap that has become characteristic of the game’s development. The Indie Stone has released a series of smaller unstable beta builds in the intervening period rather than stable full versions.

Attention now turns to the next planned update, which is set to return NPC survivors to Knox County. No date has been announced for it, and PC Gamer notes that the pace of recent builds makes a near-term release unlikely.