Top of the World challenge in Project Zomboid

Build 42.20, released to the stable branch in July 2026, added two challenges to the rotation and removed Cabin in the Woods. One of them is Top of the World. The official 42.20 overview describes it in a single line: you start at the top of a skyscraper. The same update raised the map's height limit, and The Indie Stone says Louisville skyscrapers can now have up to 32 floors full of zombies. This challenge is built around that new vertical space.

The other new challenge is about sprinters. The official blog calls it 28 Seconds Later, while the patch notes call it 28 Minutes Later, so you may see both names. For sprinter tactics in general, see sprinters. For how challenges differ from the sandbox presets, see game modes, and for the other returning challenge with a hard opening, see A Really CD DA.

The settings below come from the challenge data as listed by one community reference, matched where possible against the official notes. The in-game challenge screen is the final word, since the rotation has changed between builds.

The opening text hints that something is already banging on the penthouse door, so expect a fight in the first minutes. No source we could read lists a starting kit, special traits or extra rules beyond these settings. Random speed means some zombies may be fast shamblers, but this is not a sprinter challenge.

Opinion Treat the penthouse as your first base, not a room to escape from at once. You start above the zombies on the lower floors, so time is on your side if you stay quiet.

1. Before opening the door, search every container in the penthouse for a weapon, a bag and anything that makes light. Party rooms often hold kitchen knives, bottles and pans. See best weapons for what to prefer.
2. Deal with whatever is at the door one at a time. Open, hit, step back, and close the door again if more pile in. Use the doorway as a funnel, as covered in combat.
3. Fill every bottle and pot with water while it still runs. Water can cut out on day zero in this setup, so do this before you explore.
4. Eat the fridge food first. Power lasts at least two weeks with these settings, but there is no reason to wait.

Opinion The tower is a vertical dungeon. Each floor is a small level with its own zombies and loot, and the stairwell is both your road and your chokepoint.

• Clear one floor at a time. Pull zombies to the stairwell landing and fight them there, where only one or two can reach you. Do not open a floor and walk into the middle of it.
• Keep a way back up. Until the ground floor is clear, your safest room is the one you already cleared above you. Retreat upward when you get tired, then rest.
• Watch noise. Fights on upper floors pull zombies from the floors below and from the street. Gunfire in a tower full of zombies is a bad idea. Read stealth before you start swinging.
• Mind windows and balconies. A fall from this height will kill you. Do not climb out of windows to save time unless you have a proper rope set up, and test it on a low floor first. See climbing.
• Light the dark floors. Power holds for the first two weeks at least, but some rooms and stairwells are dark. A flashlight or lantern helps, as described in lighting.

We could not confirm whether the Bateman Building has working elevators or whether stairs run unbroken from top to bottom. Check the route on the first floors you clear.

The challenge leaves a working Dash Bulldriver, a pickup, close to the foot of the tower with the key in the glove box (one source). That is your ticket out of downtown. Reaching it means getting through the lobby and the street outside, which are likely the most crowded parts of the run.

Opinion Do not rush the last floors. Rest, eat and heal before the lobby, then make one clean push to the truck. Once inside, drive away from the city center rather than looting nearby stores on foot. Louisville is the densest part of the map; see Louisville for the layout, travel routes for ways out, and base locations for where to settle once you are clear.

• Opinion Pick a character who can fight in tight spaces and carry loot. Strength and fitness help more here than skills you only use after settling; see character builds.
• Carry a backpack as soon as you find one. Upper floors of office towers have lots of small loot and little room in your pockets. See bags.
• Keep a bandage and a disinfectant on you at all times. You cannot run to a pharmacy from floor 20. See first aid.
• Close doors behind you on cleared floors so you can hear when something new comes up the stairs.