Road to 1.0: Economy & Progression

Hello Responders! As we continue down the road towards our 1.0 release, we wanted to take some time to talk through the upcoming progression wipe and changes coming to the core economy of the game. Our goal with this blog is to make clear the intent of our reward systems, as well as set the stage for how 1.0 and onwards will look different than our Early Access period.

Speaking of, players will remain able to earn Early Access rewards right up to 1.0’s launch as laid out in our previous early 2026 dev update. We’ll be participating in the Steam Summer Sale as our final sale prior to 1.0 so if you’re hoping to claim any of those exclusive cosmetics, it’s worthwhile even with the wipe approaching.

Starting Fresh, Together

In our 1.0 update, we’ll be resetting all account progression back to zero. This includes:

  • Account Level
  • Credits
  • Nightmare Tokens
  • Responders
  • Loadouts
  • Cosmetics (excluding EA rewards)

Early Access allowed us to iterate on and refine our progression, from making Credit earn rate more deterministic to understanding the right balance of rewarding skill and preserving goals to chase. This blank slate should be the best experience for the community diving in together to tackle the new content and growing alongside each other!

A notable change we wanted to call out here: Nightmare Tokens are no longer account-bound and instead are tracked on a per-Responder basis. Think of them like medals of service, and when that Responder perishes, their legacy follows them to the grave. Account level will become the main metric conveyed to other players, better representing your access to gear and skills.

Assignments & Merits

We’ve heard lots of feedback around the new Credits system and how we could improve aspects of earning them as well as more options to spend them on. With that in mind, we have two new, interconnected features coming in 1.0 to address this as well as offer players a reason to return to the field each week.

Assignments are random weekly objectives sent by the CRC to be completed in exchange for Credits and Merits. 4 Assignments are available each set, with 2 offering greater payouts. Each Assignment set, players will be able to earn 2000 Credits and 6 Merits. Credits can obviously be spent on everything from loadout items to skills to customization…so what are Merits for?

Merits are a free, exclusive to Assignments currency that reward accomplishment with easier access to cosmetics as well as specific, powerful items. While some appearance options may cost thousands of Credits, 1 or 2 Merits can instead be spent to unlock these items alongside [REDACTED].

Refine Your Arsenal

Loadouts are meant to be an integral part of the progression experience, offering you more tools to help conquer higher difficulty excursions. Previously, the cost of investing in equipment on a single Responder was a bit too steep with our updated Credit earn rate. As such, all loadout items have had their prices reassessed to offer more choice while also balancing potential impact. Some examples of adjusted item costs include:

  • M9A3 reduced from 2500 ➡️1500
  • DB12 reduced from 1200 ➡️ 600
  • Frag Grenade increased from 150 ➡️300
  • Revive Syringe increased from 1200 ➡️ 2500

We’ve also elected to remove Character Level requirements from Loadout items, instead letting higher level players choose whether to invest in gear for their fresh recruits or save all their Credits into their most veteran Responder. Player choice and a meaningful feeling of progress is what we want this new outlook to encourage.

Becoming More Skilled

Skills remain an area we plan to further iterate on and improve, with 1.0 acting as a reset allowing us to make some more significant changes. Taking the opportunity a full reset provides, the perk pool is being adjusted to retire some designs and bring in a new set of perks focused around firearm reloading.

Perks Added

  • Handgun Reloading
  • Rifle Reloading
  • Shotgun Reloading

Perks Removed

  • Averaging
  • Guts
  • Teddy Bear

We’ve also heard loud and clear that the cost of perk rerolling is too high compared to the required Credit investment, so it will be coming down even further in 1.0 to allow for more active buildcrafting. With our Hard & Nightmare difficulties trending harder for 1.0, we feel it’s important to encourage players to bring their best into these experiences!

Moving forward, we’ll be looking to adjust skills directly based on feedback and data to ensure that we have options that shine in various moments or for specific playstyles. Skills should feel like a way to curate a Responder’s identity through gameplay similar to how an outfit can reinforce that identity through visuals.

Surviving to Thriving

All of these adjustments come together to provide a clearer vision of No More Room in Hell 2’s progression than ever before. Whether you’re a player who wants to slowly climb the difficulties to watch their Responder grow or a veteran who wants to deploy Level 1 fresh meat directly into the heart of Nightmare with only a baseball bat to their name, these changes allow you to play the game the way you want to and earn better looks along the way!

1.0 is a moment for everyone, whether you’re a brand new player diving in for the first time or one of our earliest supporters, to experience the journey from the second the apocalypse begins and your Responder picks up their first weapon to join the fight.

In our post-launch updates, we hope to iterate on these systems further and offer players more end goals to work towards beyond Nightmare difficulty…but we’re getting ahead of ourselves. We truly appreciate all the feedback and dedication our community has shown us. There’s much more to be shared about the 1.0 update, so stay tuned!

As always, stay safe out there!

The NMRIH2 Dev Team