Veilbreak: Dead Signal

ShooterofIO ONLINE
Developer(s)	SOI Studios
Publisher(s)	Mob Productions
Series	ShooterofIO
Platform(s)	Web browser
Release	WW: July 2, 2026
Genre(s)	First-person shooter Survival game
Mode(s)	Single-player multiplayer

ShooterofIO ONLINE is a 2026 browser-based first-person shooter survival game developed by SOI Studios and published by Mob Productions. It was released on July 2, 2026, for web browsers on PC. A spin-off of the ShooterofIO series, the game is launched through ShooterofIO: Online HQ.

The game is structured around its Zombies mode, in which players fight waves of undead enemies across round-based survival maps while completing quests, earning progression, and acquiring upgrades. ShooterofIO ONLINE launched with the map Hollow Pines, followed by Forest of the Dead as part of its first major post-launch update. Its story, titled "The Broken Veil", follows Noah Mad, Jessica Carver, Edward Richtofen, and William Peck as they investigate a series of undead outbreaks connected to buried containment systems and a fractured boundary between worlds.

Originally announced as an incremental browser game inspired by Cookie Clicker, ShooterofIO ONLINE later shifted toward a survival-focused format with planned Multiplayer, Zombies, and DMZ modes. Following release, SOI Studios removed Multiplayer and DMZ, citing the stronger potential of Zombies as the game's primary experience. Post-launch support adopted a seasonal update structure.

Gameplay

ShooterofIO ONLINE is a first-person shooter survival game played through a browser. The game centers on Zombies, in which players survive increasingly difficult waves of undead enemies while earning Essence, Scraps, weapon experience, profile experience, and seasonal progression. Essence functions as the main in-match currency and is used to open doors, purchase perks, buy ammunition, use the Mystery Box, activate Pack-a-Punch, and interact with map systems. Scraps are used outside matches for progression rewards, GobbleGum packs, cosmetics, and store items.

Zombies includes several playlists. Standard is the main round-based survival experience and features full map exploration, power activation, perk machines, the Mystery Box, the Arsenal Machine, Pack-a-Punch, Wonder Weapons, side Easter Eggs, and Main Quests. Cursed is a harder legacy variant of Standard built around Cursed Relics and harsher survival conditions, while Surge is a faster wave-based mode in which players fight through short combat phases, choose rewards between waves, and progress toward optional boss encounters. Guided Mode provides objective assistance for Main Quests and was introduced to make story progression more accessible.

Before starting a match, players select a profile and starting weapon. Weapons can be upgraded through the Pack-a-Punch Machine, improved through rarity upgrades at the Arsenal, replaced through the Mystery Box, purchased from wall buys, or obtained as Wonder Weapons. Weapons are divided across assault rifles, submachine guns, shotguns, light machine guns, marksman rifles, sniper rifles, pistols, launchers, and melee weapons. Ray Gun appears as a Wonder Weapon in the launch build, while Forest of the Dead introduced The Thornbinder.

Players can also purchase Perk-a-Cola drinks, which grant passive bonuses during a match. The perk set includes Juggernog, Speed Cola, Stamin-Up, Deadshot Brew, Quick Revive, Vulture Aid, Voltaic Vigor, Undertow Tonic, and Widow's Wine. Some perks are placed directly on individual maps, while the Choose-a-Perk Machine allows broader perk access once power is active. Perks are supported by Augments, a progression system that allows players to strengthen or specialize perk effects through Major and Minor upgrades.

GobbleGums are single-use consumables that provide temporary or situational advantages, including bonus resources, emergency survival, ammunition recovery, perk support, high-rarity weapon opportunities, and quest assistance. GobbleGum packs are purchased with Scraps and contain randomized rewards. Aether Shroud functions as the primary field upgrade in the launch build, charging through combat and serving as a defensive escape tool during high-pressure rounds and boss encounters.

ShooterofIO ONLINE uses profile-level progression across Zombies. The profile tracks level, prestige, weapon levels, weapon kills, critical kills, best round, total kills, Cursed statistics, Surge statistics, Main Quest completions, GobbleGums, Scraps, cosmetics, operator unlocks, calling cards, emblems, and Battle Pass progress. Career Rank progression rewards players with level-based unlocks, including Scraps, calling cards, emblems, charms, weapon blueprints, operators, and seasonal rewards. Prestige progression is supported through visual prestige icons from Prestige 0 through Prestige 10, with support for a Prestige Master state.

The game's menu includes Play, Weapons, Perks, Augments, Barracks, Challenges, and Store tabs. During gameplay, the player's heads-up display shows health, armor, ammunition, round progress, Essence, equipment, field upgrade status, quest information, and player status. A TAB-accessible Quest Items display tracks important items collected during Main Quest progression without directly explaining the next step. The Challenges menu includes Zombies challenges, Daily Challenges, and Weekly Challenges, which reward players for reaching specific rounds, earning kills, completing Main Quests, clearing Surge zones, reaching higher Cursed rounds, and unlocking Cursed Relics.

The enemy roster includes standard Zombies and several round-scaling variants. Sprinters pressure player movement, Armored Husks function as slower high-health enemies, Bile Spitters attack from range, and Phase Wraiths appear as later-round special threats. Boss-class enemies, such as The Jailor, appear through Main Quest progression and are immune to instant-kill effects such as Nukes. Later content expanded the enemy roster with Spore Husks, Browlers, and The Hollow King in Forest of the Dead.

The playable character roster includes Noah Mad, Jessica Carver, Edward Richtofen, and William Peck, who are unlocked by default. Operators function as cosmetic character selections and do not alter core gameplay systems. Additional operators can be unlocked through progression.

Maps

ShooterofIO ONLINE launched with Hollow Pines, a forest-town survival map set across a rural checkpoint, abandoned town road, market lot, electrical substation, chapel grounds, saw mill, rail yard, bunker laboratory, mine, and underground temple. The map begins at Ranger Checkpoint and branches toward Ashwood Main Street, West Cabin Loop, East Market Lot, Power Substation, Memorial Grounds, Rift Chapel, Moonlit Saw Mill, Old Rail Yard, Bunker Lab, Blackroot Mine, and Subsurface Temple. Hollow Pines is described in-game as a "Full Quest Survival" map and includes doors, power, perk machines, a Choose-a-Perk machine, the Mystery Box, Arsenal Machine, Pack-a-Punch, Cursed Relics, Quest Items, Wonder Weapon crafting, and the Main Quest "The Echo Beneath the Pines".

Forest of the Dead was added after launch as the game's second Zombies map. It is set in a cursed woodland and expands the game's map structure through dead forest paths, spore-covered wetlands, hanging ranger structures, ritual bells, root systems, underground crypts, mirror puzzles, and the sealed Heartwood Court. The map introduced The Thornbinder, Spore Husks, Browlers, and the Main Quest "The Locket in the Roots".

Crownfall was released as part of Season 03. It is the game's third Zombies map and continues the story of The Broken Veil following the events of Forest of the Dead.

Plot

The Zombies storyline of ShooterofIO ONLINE is titled "The Broken Veil". It follows Noah Mad, Jessica Carver, Edward Richtofen, and William Peck as they survive a series of undead outbreaks linked by buried containment systems, ritual mechanisms, abnormal energy, and a damaged boundary between the living world and something beyond it.

Zombies: The Broken Veil

No.	Title	Original air date
1	"Hollow Pines"	July 2, 2026 (2026-07-02)
After a catastrophic outbreak overtakes the abandoned town of Hollow Pines and its surrounding forest, Noah Mad, Jessica Carver, Edward Richtofen, and William Peck are drawn into the area under unclear circumstances. The survivors push beyond Ranger Checkpoint and into Ashwood Main Street, finding signs of a failed containment effort as the dead rise under the influence of a force buried beneath the town. After restoring power at the Power Substation, the group triggers the town's underground systems, causing the Bell Tower and ritual markings to react. During the Main Quest, the crew recovers several scattered components, including the Station Fuse, Bell Tower Key, Vanta Canister, Phase Lens, Saw Chain, and Rail Signal, eventually opening the route to the Subsurface Temple. There, the Echo warns that the Jailor is pulling Hollow Pines and its dead into his prison. The survivors enter his arena and defeat him, but the ending reveals that Hollow Pines was only one part of a larger system.
2	"Forest of the Dead"	July 9, 2026 (2026-07-09)
Following the events of Hollow Pines, the survivors follow a distorted radio warning toward Forest of the Dead, an abandoned woodland where the roads are flooded, the signs are unreadable, and the trees appear to grow in impossible directions. After their vehicle crashes during a storm, the group awakens to find the road behind them gone and a distant bell ringing from somewhere below the forest. As they progress, the group discovers the Forester's Locket, which leads them to crow bells tied to memories of the woodland's collapse. Blackseed pods pulse beneath dead bark, mirrors inside the Dreaming Crypt reveal impossible paths, and the Root Choir sings fragments of warnings. The survivors learn that the forest is built around a sealed heart containing the Hollow King, an ancient ruler-like entity bound inside the roots. After destroying the Blackseed Pods, solving the Root Mirror sequence, and opening Heartwood Court, they defeat him, only for a sealed vault beneath the roots to begin opening.

Development and release

In March 2025, SOI Studios began production on a standalone browser game intended to adapt systems from the main ShooterofIO series, which began in 2007. In June 2025, Mob Productions announced the project as an incremental video game inspired by Cookie Clicker, with a heavy focus on progression. Several weeks later, SOI Studios announced plans for a Zombies mode and stated that the game was intended to launch with three modes: Multiplayer, Zombies, and DMZ.

SOI Studios later confirmed a planned July 2026 release window, stating that the game would be released in a playable state and that player feedback would be used to identify bugs and improve the experience after launch. ShooterofIO ONLINE was released on July 2, 2026, for PC web browsers.

Following launch, SOI Studios announced that Multiplayer and DMZ would be removed from ShooterofIO ONLINE, citing the limited quality of both modes and the stronger potential of Zombies as the game's primary experience. The modes were removed on July 5, 2026. On the same day, SOI Studios announced that post-launch support would follow a seasonal update format. The first major update, Season 02, was initially announced for August 22, 2026, but was later released earlier on July 9.

SOI Studios also stated that additional gameplay changes were in development, including a planned system intended to replace Augments. The studio described the replacement system as a way to enhance each Perk through a variety of unique and more challenging upgrades.

Promotion

Mob Productions first announced ShooterofIO ONLINE in June 2025 as an incremental browser game inspired by Cookie Clicker. Following the project's shift toward Zombies, SOI Studios promoted the game as a browser-based online survival title with Multiplayer, Zombies, and DMZ planned for launch.

After release, promotional messaging shifted toward Zombies as the central experience. SOI Studios announced the removal of Multiplayer and DMZ on July 5, 2026, and began presenting the game through a seasonal update model. The first post-launch season was promoted around the release of Forest of the Dead, while Season 03 was announced with Crownfall as the game's third Zombies map.

See also

• ShooterofIO
• Zombies (ShooterofIO ONLINE)
• Hollow Pines
• Forest of the Dead (Online)
• Crownfall
• The Broken Veil