The world is a scary place. But Endzone 2 makes it even more terrifying. Radiation, supply shortages, and just about everything in between can make a run turn south quickly. But these types of terrors make Endzone 2 a game worth diving into, especially seeing as Stephan Wirth and the fine folks at Gentlymad Studios continue pumping love and care into the game. I had a chance to chat with Stephan, Co-Founder and Experience Lead at Gentlymad Studios, about what makes Endzone 2 so unique in a fairly crowded genre.

‘Endzone – A World Apart’ was a massive underground hit. How much pressure did you feel creating and crafting a sequel to this post-apocalyptic survival game?

Absolutely, there was a lot of pressure. Endzone – A World Apart reached over a million
players and built a loyal fanbase. With Endzone 2, we knew expectations were high. But
instead of trying to replicate the original beat for beat, we wanted to evolve the formula — to
take bigger risks. So, yes, the pressure was real, but it also fueled our ambition to create a
deeper, more expansive survival experience that still honors what fans loved about the
original. And although the start into Early Access was a bit bumpy, we are now confident that
we are on the right track.

‘Endzone 2’ has been in Early Access since August 2024. Do you have a rough estimation of when the game will be released outside of EA?

We’re still aiming for a full release in 2025, and the Dangers and Progression update is a huge
step forward. It cranks up the survival intensity — radiation is deadlier, sickness spreads,
sandstorms wreck buildings — and now you’ll need hospitals, decontaminators, and even
morale boosters like bars and coffee shops to keep your settlers alive and sane. We’ve also
added session goals and late-game monuments to give you real long-term strategy hooks.
It’s gritty, challenging, and a major nod to what fans loved in Endzone 1.

Games like ‘Endzone 2’ can be incredibly daunting to new players. Any tips to get new players started on the right foot?

Definitely. First: take your time. The tutorial can be essential for new players and veterans
alike — it walks you through both survival basics and the new zone system. Second: explore
before settling. Use your Pathfinder bus to scout for a zone that has water nearby and isn’t
highly irradiated. And finally, don’t try to do everything at once. Focus on stabilizing one
settlement before expanding. It’s a harsh world, but careful planning pays off.

I’ve been watching the reception of ‘Endzone 2’ change after plenty of excellent updates. How do you meld community feedback into updates for the game?

Just as we held it with Endzone 1, community feedback is at the core of Endzone 2’s
development. We’re active on Discord and Steam forums every day, reading, responding,
and tracking trends. For example, when players asked for more direction, we added goal
systems. When there were concerns about UI and settler behavior, we reworked them.

It’s a true collaboration, and our roadmap evolves based on what we hear. The most important
part of the puzzle is our feedback tool, which players can use directly in the game to provide us with concerns and suggestions. And we are thankful for every single input we received since
Endzone 2 launched into Early Access.

The mixture of city builder and survival is rather interesting. How did you come up with the concepts for both ‘Endzone’ and ‘Endzone 2’?

It began with a simple question: “What happens when climate change and catastrophe push
humanity to the brink — and how would rebuilding look?” Endzone 1 was our first take, heavily
inspired by games like Banished and Frostpunk. With Endzone 2, we added exploration,
multi-zone management, and even Anno-style trade systems. It’s all rooted in that tension between decay and hope — rebuilding after disaster, not just surviving it.

Are there any plans for console ports in the future? I think, especially with the Switch 2 having mouse controls, this could be an excellent addition to our favorite systems.

It might be something we’re looking into. The original Endzone launched on consoles post-PC, and we’ve learned a lot from that process. With the Switch 2’s improved controls, that’s even more interesting. Our focus right now is on delivering a polished PC experience first, and it will highly depend on the success of our full release if we’ll port Endzone 2 to consoles as well.

Can players expect to see more information added to the roadmap? Or will updates slow after the “Dangers and Progression” update is released?

More is coming. “Dangers and Progression” was a big milestone, but we have a list of features and content we’re eager to integrate. That includes new expedition content, the return of raiders, a fundamental upgrade to our render engine, and more. But to be honest, our full release is getting closer, and we’ll have to see what players think of our version 1.0 before we can make any further predictions about the future of Endzone 2. Because the full release will be the moment when our initial vision will be playable in its entirety for the first time.

Outside of ‘Endzone 2’, what other games are taking up all of your free time?

Personally, I’ve always been a huge fan of the Anno franchise, so Anno 1800 is definitely on this list. Also, Manor Lords is one of my favorites, which is vastly evolving the city builder genre. Aside from city builders, Rocket League is something I enjoyed for a long time and which, funnily enough, partly inspired me while porting Endzone 1’s interface and controls to consoles.

Are there any particular stories from the development of ‘Endzone – A World Apart’ or ‘Endzone 2’ that stick out in your memory? Something funny, something scary, etc.?

Oh, definitely. No matter if it’s Endzone 1 or 2, funny situations are created non-stop while developing a game. Whether it’s an unintentionally distorted animation that squashes settlers together or pulls them apart, placeholder voice-overs with funny pronunciation that stay in the team’s head for months, or exaggeratedly strong light sources that remind you of a nuclear explosion… our Behind-The-Screens library is overflowing with funny pictures and videos.

Do you intend to expand the world of ‘Endzone’ even further? I would love an isometric action game set in this type of environment.

Oh, yeah, we’ve definitely had those conversations internally — what else could the Endzone universe become beyond a city-builder? An isometric action game? That would be awesome. For now, our full focus is on making Endzone 2 the best it can be. But if the community keeps showing up and asking for more, who knows?

And honestly, we’ve already dipped our toes into that kind of gameplay. With the new expedition system, you actually control a settler directly, explore abandoned ruins, and solve
puzzles — it felt like we were building a mini adventure game inside Endzone 2. It was so much fun to develop, it kind of made us think… maybe there’s more where that came from.

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I would like to thank Stephan Wirth, Co-Founder, Experience Lead at Gentlymad Studios, for taking the time out of his busy schedule to chat with me about Endzone 2.