The Front travelled a long road from Early Access to full release, and the studio’s roadmap shifted meaningfully along the way. This guide tracks Samar Studio’s original three-phase plan, the major patches that landed during Early Access, everything the 1.0 launch added, and what is still on the table now that the game has fully shipped. Where the public record is incomplete or where coverage dates conflict, we flag it plainly rather than guessing.
The Front at a glance
The Front is an open-world survival-crafting shooter from Samar Studio, a Singapore-based developer for whom this is its debut title. You play a resistance fighter sent back in time to stop the rise of a tyrannical empire, surviving in a post-apocalyptic sandbox populated by mutants and rival factions. The core loop blends exploration, resource gathering, sandbox base construction, tower defense, logical electrical and water systems, farming, vehicles, and open-world PvE/PvP combat against imperial forces, thugs, and rebels.
| Field | Detail |
| Developer / Publisher | Samar Studio (Singapore; debut title) |
| Steam App ID | 2285150 |
| Platforms | PC — Steam and Epic Games Store |
| Early Access launch | October 11, 2023 ($19.99, 20% launch-week discount) |
| 1.0 / full release | October 30, 2025 (15% launch discount for two weeks) |
| Anti-cheat | Easy Anti-Cheat (kernel-level) |
| World size at 1.0 | Roughly 36 km² |
One date worth pinning down: Steam, the official site, and Games Press all state that the 1.0 full release happened on October 30, 2025. A widely cited Game Rant article lists “November 3, 2025,” but that is almost certainly a publish or coverage date rather than the launch itself. Treat October 30, 2025 as authoritative.
The original Early Access roadmap (October 11, 2023)
When The Front entered Early Access on October 11, 2023, Samar Studio published a three-stage development plan covering the game’s first year. The studio explicitly noted that the contents could be adjusted as development progressed — a sensible caveat that, in hindsight, the project leaned on heavily. The plan promised “new gameplay features, functions, structures, vehicles, gear, NPCs, and more.”
The confirmed items announced at or around launch were:
- Steam Workshop support and modding tools for player-created and shared content
- A new battlefield/PvP mode
- Additional maps
- Mobile bases — including the “Warhammer” mobile base vehicle
- New gear: a Miner’s Hat and a Hazmat Suit for poison/radiation protection
- A new medical structure, the Medical Bed, which consumes meds to remove debuffs and restore HP
- Follower system additions: Follower Talents and follower-specific crafting recipes
It’s important to be honest about what was not spelled out. The launch press described the three stages only at a high level — the exact phase-by-phase breakdown of what was slotted into Phase 1 versus Phase 2 versus Phase 3 was never publicly itemized in that announcement. So while the destination features above are well sourced, the precise sequencing between them is not. Anyone presenting a tidy “Phase 1 = X, Phase 2 = Y” table is reconstructing it, not quoting the studio.
The Early Access update timeline
The Front’s version numbering during Early Access is a genuine source of confusion, so it helps to address it head-on. The pre-1.0 builds used a “1.x” scheme — patches like 1.1.0, 1.3.6, and 1.4.4 were all still Early Access builds. That means version “1.4.4” predated the actual 1.0 milestone, which is the full release rather than a sequential “1.0.0” build. If you’ve ever been puzzled by a patch that looks like it should be post-launch but arrived months before the game left Early Access, this is why.
| Version | Date | Notes |
| 1.1.0 | March 14, 2024 | First major content patch (community threads cite NPC leveling, power-system, and optimization changes around it) |
| 1.3.6 | February 21, 2025 | Mid-Early-Access patch |
| 1.4.4 | July 25, 2025 | Late-EA patch; coincided with a new game mode plus combat-system and zombie-challenge improvements |
| 1.0 (full release) | October 30, 2025 | Exit from Early Access |
A note on detail level: the granular feature lists for 1.1.0, 1.3.6, and 1.4.4 lived behind Steam announcement pages that could not be fully retrieved for this write-up. The dates and the broad strokes above are reliable, but if you need the exact bullet-by-bullet patch notes for a specific build, check the live Steam announcement archive for App ID 2285150 directly rather than trusting a secondhand summary.
What the 1.0 full release added (October 30, 2025)
The 1.0 release was framed as a major overhaul of late-game PvE and core creative mechanics rather than a map-expansion update. Its headline feature is a deep vehicle-building system, surrounded by endgame combat content built to put those vehicles through their paces.
- Vehicle Assembly system (expanded) — mix-and-match parts to build custom combat vehicles. Weapon modules include flamethrowers, toxin sprayers, and electric cannons; utility modules include sawblades, drills, and harvesters. Add paint customization and squad-based vehicle collaboration on top.
- Zombie Horde Dungeon / Horde Mission system — large-scale combat encounters explicitly designed to stress-test your vehicle engineering.
- Two endgame bosses dropping rare rewards.
- Mutated AI enemies that leap onto vehicles, forcing you to keep moving rather than turtling in place.
- Adventure Mode — mission-based progression for up to six players, with boss fights and objectives but without persistent-world risk. It runs alongside the existing Standard Mode, and both received 1.0 content.
- 20+ base vehicle types beyond custom builds, with advanced progression unlocking tanks and helicopters.
- World size of roughly 36 km² of wasteland.
- Tech: DLSS and XeSS support, plus localization into 13 languages.
One correction worth making, because it gets assumed a lot: no new biome or map region was confirmed as part of the 1.0 launch in the sources reviewed. The 1.0 headline is PvE and vehicle systems, not map expansion. If you read a claim that 1.0 added a fresh biome, ask for a primary source before believing it.
What’s planned after 1.0
The Front is now fully released, but it is not finished. The Steam page lists several vehicle features still planned after 1.0:
- Mechanical claws
- Flying vehicles
- Paint jobs and additional customization
- Graffiti customization
Beyond that vehicle wishlist, the studio has signaled that a post-1.0 roadmap would be shared in an upcoming blog post, with developers stating they want to “communicate clearly about the present, but also the future of the game.” That intent is documented, but the specific itemized post-1.0 roadmap contents have not been publicly detailed in the sources available as of this June 2026 research. In plain terms: the game is fully released, more is coming, and the next concrete milestone list is pending an official Samar Studio announcement. We are deliberately not inventing 2026 milestones to fill that gap — when the studio publishes the roadmap, this guide will be updated to match.
Multiplayer and dedicated servers
The Front offers three server types: Official Servers, Solo/Hosted Servers, and Dedicated Servers. Official servers launched alongside Early Access on October 11, 2023 in Europe, North America, and Asia. Official PvP servers wipe data every 45 days, and official slots are commonly 40 players.
For groups who want persistence, custom rules, and higher player counts, a custom dedicated server is the way to go. You can self-host on your own PC or rent from a hosting provider, and the server name, type, and individual parameters are all configurable. Max players, for example, is set via the ?MaxPlayers= startup parameter and the per-server serverconfig_ file (the Windows binaries live under ProjectWar\Binaries\Win64\). Operators routinely run slot counts well above the official 40-player cap.
# Example: raise the player slot count via startup parameter
ProjectWarServer.exe ?MaxPlayers=60
# The matching value also lives in the per-server config file:
# ProjectWar\Binaries\Win64\serverconfig_.ini
MaxPlayers=60 If you’d rather skip the manual binary wrangling, a managed host handles the file paths, anti-cheat, and updates for you. You can spin up a configurable world on a dedicated The Front server and adjust slots, mode, and wipe behavior from a control panel instead of editing INI files by hand. For the exact parameter list and step-by-step setup, our The Front server configuration documentation walks through each option.
Frequently asked questions
Is The Front fully released or still in Early Access?
The Front exited Early Access and reached its 1.0 full release on October 30, 2025. It originally entered Early Access on October 11, 2023, so the EA period ran roughly two years.
What was on the original Early Access roadmap?
Samar Studio’s three-stage first-year plan included Steam Workshop and modding tools, a new battlefield/PvP mode, additional maps, mobile bases (including the “Warhammer” mobile base), new gear like the Miner’s Hat and Hazmat Suit, a Medical Bed structure, and follower additions such as Follower Talents and follower-specific recipes. The exact phase-by-phase ordering was never publicly itemized.
What did the 1.0 update add?
1.0 centered on an expanded Vehicle Assembly system (flamethrowers, toxin sprayers, electric cannons, sawblades, drills, harvesters, plus paint), a Zombie Horde Dungeon, two endgame bosses, mutated AI that leaps onto vehicles, a six-player Adventure Mode, 20+ base vehicle types with tanks and helicopters at advanced tiers, a roughly 36 km² world, and DLSS/XeSS support across 13 languages.
Did 1.0 add a new biome or map?
No new biome or map region was confirmed as part of 1.0 in the sources reviewed. The launch focused on PvE and vehicle systems, not map expansion. Be cautious of any claim of a 1.0 map expansion that lacks a primary source.
What is planned after 1.0?
The Steam page lists still-planned vehicle features: mechanical claws, flying vehicles, paint jobs, and graffiti customization. The studio also signaled a fuller post-1.0 roadmap to be shared in a blog post, but the specific itemized contents were not publicly detailed as of June 2026. Further detail is pending an official announcement.
Why are there 1.x patches that predate the 1.0 release?
Early Access used a confusing “1.x” build scheme, so patches like 1.1.0 (March 14, 2024), 1.3.6 (February 21, 2025), and 1.4.4 (July 25, 2025) were all still Early Access builds. The true 1.0 milestone is the October 30, 2025 full release, not a sequential “1.0.0” version.
Ready to play?
Run your own The Front server with XGamingServer
Spin up an always-on The Front server your friends can join in minutes — no port-forwarding, no tech headaches.
