Project Zomboid NPCs are eventually coming back – The Indie Stone has confirmed as much. But until build 43 gets here, Knox Country remains desolate. To some extent, the presence of other living people could be comforting. In Dying Light and State of Decay 2, seeing survivors provides a sense of comfort, a reminder that you’re not totally alone – there are moments in PZ, those stormy, mid-winter nights on the road between Muldraugh and Louisville, where I’d welcome company. On the contrary, we saw what happened to Kate and Bob, and the chaos wrought by ‘Slayer’s’ superlative ‘Week One.’ If, however, you want NPCs in your game, specifically smart, violent, and relentless bandits, you’re in luck. Slayer is back with another great Project Zomboid mod.
Project Zomboid mods have already made some crucial changes to build 42. Week One is the biggest, serving as a semi prequel to the zombie game proper and filling Knox with hundreds of dynamic (and often hostile) characters in the midst of the outbreak. It’s a great companion piece to Slayer’s other work, especially the ‘Bandits’ mod, where you have to fend off aggressive human survivors who try to break into your safehouse and ransack your supplies. But if Project Zomboid build 42 isn’t tough enough for you, Slayer has just released something extra devilish.
This is ‘Bandit Creator.’ As well as adding those hostile NPCs to Muldraugh, Riverside, and the rest, you can now customize their statistics and strengths. It’s all there. Health, endurance, stamina, weapon accuracy – everything can be adjusted. You can also alter their artificial intelligence to make them more or less effective in tracking you down and choose when and where the bandits will spawn.
Similar to when you create your own character, you can also grant each bandit three beneficial ‘traits.’ An electrician bandit will sabotage your generators, and carries an array of tools. A recon expert moves faster, while a mechanic will destroy your car. Slayer has outlined other archetypes that will be introduced later. The assassin bandit, for example, moves silently and can kill you with a single stab, while an infected bandit will bite you and pass on the infection, leading to your inevitable death.
Project Zomboid is already better than ever thanks to build 42, but Bandit Creator piles on the difficulty and adds a litany of new challenges. If you want to get it, just head here.
Alternatively, try some of the best survival games, or maybe the best open-world games available today.
You can follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides. We’ve also got a vibrant community Discord server, where you can chat about this story with members of the team and fellow readers.
