Firearms

Overview

Firearms are the salvaged-classics category of weapons in Rooted. They are pre-apocalypse guns recovered from the world, distinct from the futuristic 2080-era equipment and from player-crafted homemade weapons. Firearms were introduced as a playable feature in the December 6, 2025 weapons update (patch v0.0.2.355).

Currently Implemented

Acquisition

Firearms enter the game through salvaging and exploration of pre-war locations. They are not crafted from scratch at the Workbench the way homemade weapons are. Players need to recover the firearm itself, then maintain or repair it using salvaged parts. Ammunition is treated as a separate resource and is gathered during exploration.

Training Range

A dedicated training range was added near The Mansion alongside the December 2025 weapons update. Players can use the range to practice firearm handling without committing to a hostile encounter. The space gives the team a controlled environment to test recoil, range, and reload timing.

Combat Use

Firearms serve two roles in the current build. The first is hunting deer and other wildlife, which is why firearms were brought forward earlier than originally planned in Phase 3. The second is defending against hostile survivors and ROTOR robots in contaminated zones, where melee weapons quickly become inadequate.

Animations And Feel

Weapon handling in Rooted uses motion-capture data, with refinements that arrived alongside the Mutable character system and the engine upgrade to Unreal Engine 5.6. The team has also stated that early implementations of the firearms are described as forgiving rather than punishing, so the focus during testing is on feel and pacing before further balance work.

Future Firearms

The Weapons article tracks the broader roadmap, including planned futuristic 2080-era equipment and player-crafted homemade builds. Additional pre-war firearms are expected to arrive in later patches as part of the Phase 3 weapons expansion.

Confirmed Roster

The 0.0.2.355 update on December 3, 2025 introduced the first firearms to the live alpha. The initial roster covers an assault rifle and a sidearm, with handling polished further in the 0.0.2.362 hotfix.

Handling Notes

• Aim sensitivity tuning landed in v0.0.2.355; players can fine-tune aim feel.

• Hip-fire aim offset corrected in v0.0.2.362.

• Players cannot fire while squeezing through tight passages (v0.0.2.362 fix).

• Ammo spawners added in the December 2025 hotfix smooth supply during testing.

Phase 3 Outlook

Firearms shipped earlier than the original schedule indicated, moved up from a planned Phase 4 introduction. The studio has flagged continued expansion of the firearm roster, including recovered 2080-era technology, as ongoing work through Phase 3 and into the 2027 Early Access launch.

Damage Model And Handling (In Development)

A June 12, 2026 development update described a reworked damage model and firearm handling, shown as work in development rather than parts of the current public build. Shots resolve against the body itself: a headshot deals double damage, a hit to a limb deals less, and death lands on the lethal hit rather than a pooled total.

The update set a balance baseline for four firearm classes: a rifle, an SMG, a pistol, and a bolt-action sniper. Each carries its own damage, rate of fire, distance falloff, spread, and recoil. Spread runs through a cone that is wider from the hip than when aiming, grows worse while moving, and blooms further over a held trigger, and every shot kicks the view. Only the M4A1 and the Glock are in the current public build; this four-class tuning is confirmed development direction.

A later June 20, 2026 update continued this handling work in development, giving aiming a more cinematic feel as the player settles their sights so attention lands on what the weapon is actually pointed at, and tightening crouched-stance transitions. This polish is not in the current public build; it is confirmed development direction.