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Zeverland tracks a survivor's condition through hunger, thirst and stamina, with encumbrance limiting what can be carried at once. None of these has a published number attached to it, and the balance of all three changed between the two tech tests, so this page describes the systems and dates the tuning complaints rather than quoting values that no longer apply to anything.

Hunger, Thirst and Stamina

All three drained faster than testers wanted in the first tech test, which was the most repeated piece of survival feedback from that build. The studio's stated fix was not a flat reduction but a progression one: base consumption falls as a character develops, so early survival stays tight while a developed survivor spends less of the day eating and drinking. That answer dates from November 2025 and no post since has reported how it landed in the second test.

Food comes from scavenging first and from production later. Looting and Scavenging covers raiding pantries and breaking open vending machines for drinks, Farming and Fishing covers growing and catching food, and Cooking covers what happens to it afterwards. Cooking was refactored for high freedom in January 2026, with ingredients mixing as loosely as weapon parts, spices granting buffs and unconventional additives possible, which arrived with the studio's own warning to think twice before eating food handed over by a stranger.

Food Expiration

Food spoils. In the second tech test expiry was measured in real-world hours, which meant a stocked larder rotted while its owner was logged out. After testers objected, the studio agreed to retune expiry to in-game time and to exempt canned food, which fits the premise of a world that has only just collapsed and still has full shelves.

Water

Water is the least built out of the three needs. Purification was the most requested addition after the first test and the studio called it highly likely for the next build, and a water cycle with rainwater collectors was promised in the same period. Neither has been reported as shipped. The July 2026 roadmap names the power system as a separate refinement target, which matters here because pumps and purifiers depend on it; Power and Electricity covers that side.

Death and What Is Lost

On death, items in the quick bar stay with the character. Everything else stays on the body and can be retrieved, which makes a death a recovery run rather than a total loss. Death by infection is the exception and is handled separately, because it is the only death that turns a survivor into a Zed; Playing as a Zombie covers what follows. Being bitten to death, or killed by wolves, counts as an ordinary death. Wolves deserve naming on their own, because they are a lethal non-zombie threat in a game where almost everything else trying to kill you is infected.

A Self-Terminate button exists in the game for characters that become stuck. It is a deliberate escape hatch rather than a workaround, and it was documented in the first test's own FAQ; Getting Started lists it alongside the other confirmed controls.

Infection as a Stat

At gamescom 2026 the studio described three survival stats rather than four: health, a combined water and food measure, and infection, with transformation triggering when infection reaches one hundred percent. That description has not appeared in any of the studio's own posts, so it belongs here as something said at a demo rather than as an announced specification, and it may not survive contact with the next build.

What is confirmed from the studio's own posts is narrower but firmer: contaminated ground requires protection. A respirator lasted twenty minutes inside the tier one infected zone during the second test, and a gas mask or antidote was needed to cross infected terrain at all. A faction-based solution for extending time inside those areas has been announced but not shipped. Infected Zones covers the areas themselves and Medical System covers the items that treat what happens afterwards.

Status Summary