Everyone seemed really happy with last week’s big quality of life update (aside from a few new issues I will address in the future) so I’m hoping this trend continues today. A few weeks ago Hellraids dropped to cover the ‘end-game’ system for those who love dividing and conquering hordes of brutes and rotters. Today I’m really excited to announce that two new locations on the world map have been discovered with repeatable 'end-game' shop content to unlock over 75+ new decoration items!

• A brand new location on the World Map has been discovered on the coast: Drop Dead Docks. Here you can activate contracts for selling high quantities of select items in a set time frame for unique rewards, mostly decorative pieces. Contracts are randomly generated and can be re-rolled (increasing each time) or extended for batteries. Once any contract is completed successfully the re-roll cost will reset.

• To help with shifting your stock you can now contact the new Mobile News Crew on the World Map. These guys can be found around the Church and can advertise your shop for you. Just let them know what item you wish to promote, the promotion length and reach, and you’ll see an influx of customers heading in to the store to buy that item.

• Over 75+ new decoration items have been added to the game including several lighting objects.

• New shelving units including the Wasteland Chiller, Wasteland Chilled Counter and various tables.

• In Build Mode some items can now be secured to other secured items permanently for decorative purposes. For example, you can secure a plant to a secure shelf.

• Added an item tool tip when highlighting over item icons on the UI.

• Decorative plant items that were previously in the game can now be secured in Build Mode.

• More area in the bedroom can now be used to secure items.

• The Bone Revolver crafting recipe can be found as a reward from a Drop Dead Docks contract.

I expect the Discord’s #share-your-shop channel to blow up with some incredible new designs once players get their hands on the new items! With some contracts requiring a high amount of certain items to be sold it may uncover that some items are really hard to obtain in bulk. Be sure to share tips with each other and let me know if you feel some are far too hard to obtain in the quantities needed. 

I have been asked a lot about the long-term future of the game since launch and have been suggested so many good directions I could take it in. I’ve got a rough plan for the next year that I’d like to show without spoiling too much. That said, as a one man band it is very hard to commit to things long-term as I need to consider my own situation/finances, manage burnout, plan my next game etc. so please do take this roadmap loosely - these aren’t promises set in stone. 

May/June 2026 - Housekeeping

• Full Controller Support

• Full Steam Deck compatibility 

• A deeper focus on optimisation, particularly during raids

Late Summer 2026 - Rooftop Farming

• Unlock the ladder in the Warehouse to reach the store roof

• Plant, grow and harvest fresh produce to sell, donate or craft

• Discover Meadowspring Farms on the World Map for access to tools and seeds

• Uncover the secrets of the local Tribe and gain their favour for unique rewards

Late 2026/Early 2027 - Into the Bunker

• Prepare to explore the sprawling bunker depths

• Encounter new enemy and boss types

• Return to the surface before your gas mask fully depletes to keep and sell your loot

If you have any issues with the new update please let me know in my community Discord or Steam Discussions as I read regularly. I’m aware that there have been some issues with the last quality of life update and these will be addressed in the near future.

Thanks again and have fun,
Adam ❤️

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3398110/The_Walking_Trade/

Hey guys, I know a lot of players have wanted some much needed quality of life and that's exactly what this week’s update is delivering. Staff have definitely taken the biggest focus with new perks, quick reassignment and role configuration. 

• Staff members will now remember their last assigned job. At the start of the day you can reassign it with one button by right-clicking them. This also persists between sessions.

• Level 3 Service staff members can now empty containers with contents onto the floor before putting them back onto the basket stand. The intention is for cleaners to then organise the emptied items.

• Level 5 Service staff members can now retrieve secured items for customers when not serving customers at the checkout.

• Level 5 Security staff members can now refill Mountable Turrets and Auto Miniguns if there is no immediate threat to deal with.

• Day Rewind: You can now rewind to a previous day's save directly from the main menu, with up to 10 days of history retained per save slot. Choosing to rewind and playing through that day will overwrite any future progress beyond that point. Hardcore saves cannot use this feature.

• Added a new Carcass Balloon item that can be crafted using a Carnival Balloon, Large Bones and Rope. When released outside, the Carcass Balloon will fly away, luring away any revealed raid for an extra 30 days. This can be stacked indefinitely to effectively never encounter raids ever again. 

• Fixed an issue causing Cleaner staff getting permanently stuck holding an item they cannot path to place.

• Fixed an issue causing the HUD notifications to overlap when too many notifications occur at once.

• Customers will no longer accept price changes after picking their desired item.

• Fixed an issue causing items to despawn overnight when taken from beyond the car park and left on the shop floor.

• Players can now use containers to fill up Mountable Turrets and Auto Miniguns.

• Players can now use containers to dismantle many items in the shredder.

• Added configurable Scavenge job settings, allowing you to enable or disable auto-repeating scavenger tasks.

• Added configurable Floor Worker job settings, allowing you to enable or disable item organisation, corpse disposal, and corpse shredding independently.

• Added configurable Security job settings, allowing explicit Store room selection and the new turret refilling feature.

• Added configurable Service job settings, allowing you to enable or disable serving customers, emptying containers, placing containers back and retrieving secure items.

• Staff members will no longer charge batteries again when re-assigning a job of the same type (excludes World jobs). 

• Customers should now queue at multiple available checkouts more evenly.

• The Skills button on the HUD will no longer say “New Upgrades” for a skill tree with fully unlocked nodes.

• Improved the UI when highlighting a staff member to show their current HP and last or current job.

• Security staff will now run back to their post rather than walking.

• Added Tapes Pipes crafting recipe to Thom’s Toolshed.

• Added Minigun and Chainsaw to the Trailer Park scavenge loot table.

• Removed Neuralink Node from the Trailer Park scavenge loot table.

• Reduced the AK-47 loot quantity in the Quarantine Zone loot table.

As much as I have tried to test on new saves and existing ones, with this being such a large update please do get in touch if you notice any new bugs or any of the bugs listed above are not actually fixed in your game. Discord is the best place but I do read Steam discussions often too. The next update will contain more QoL, some new mid-end game shop features as well as new decoration items for the game! I will be creating a loose roadmap soon too for the longer term plan.

Thanks as always,
Adam ❤️

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3398110/The_Walking_Trade/