2020 Halloween Event
The 2020 Halloween Event was an Easter egg created by the TNO developers and added into the game on Halloween Day, October 31st, 2020. The easter egg featured a zombie plague originating in Burgundy in 1963. Additionally, major leader portraits were updated, with some appearing to be infected by the plague, while others survived but sustained physical injuries or apparent mental trauma.
The Easter egg is no longer a main feature of the game, but can still be activated in custom settings as "Halloween Event."
Lead-up
On October 24th, 2020, a TNO developer on the Discord server leaked a news event from the Halloween Update titled "Whispers from the Black Sun." The event added some worldbuilding and loosely hinted at what was to come. It mentioned an uneasy silence falling over Burgundy and a "rabies outbreak" in Paris.
For the next week up to October 30th, more of these events were posted each day. The events showed a world descending into chaos: An outbreak in New York, withdrawal of Japanese troops from China, and a nuclear detonation in Rodomo, Burgundy.
These events also appear in the Halloween Update itself, and will fire sporadically from 1962 into 1963.
Release
On Halloween Day, the following patch notes were released:
The New Order: Last Days of Europe - v1.0.5c - Uncut Joseph Goebbels - Aged Several Portraits - The ground is loose - Added new crisis for Burgundy - Several Events added - Forever never ends - The 1964 Presidents, the GCW Contenders, and others now have alternative, more detailed, portraits. - Kolchak has returned to the Great White. - Do you hear the knocking? - You open the door. - And seven eyes return your glare.
As the patch notes suggest, Joseph Goebbels returned to TNO as the undead leader of the horde. Additional historical figures joined the horde as well, including Benito Mussolini, Alexander Kolchak, and Vladimir Lenin.
Gameplay
The Horde spawns in 1963 in Rodomo, Burgundy, under the name "Radio Silence" and without a leader portrait. Burgundy will try and almost always fail to fight back against the horde. Once they have defeated Burgundy, its name will change to "The Horde" and its leader will be revealed to be the Rotting Corpse of Joseph Goebbels. After this, zombies spawn in New York, Shanghai, and Dover. The horde will then declare war on every nation it shares a border with. It will continue doing this until every nation has been wiped out. As a human nation there is no way to make peace with the Horde, except defeating them.
The Horde gets a massive bonus in attack and defense. Additionally, they recruit 100% of all manpower in their territory and core each state they conquer. It is almost impossible to defeat a horde division in even numbers. Strangely, they are still vulnerable to attrition and lack of supply, meaning that encircling them is still a good tactic. The horde cannot build a navy or air force, and as such, has no way of invading island nations. However, they are able to transport divisions across the sea into their own controlled territory.
The event serves solely as an easter egg and was not meant to be taken seriously. Story-wise, content for the Halloween event does not go past 1963, and The Horde itself does not have a focus tree or unique gameplay. Additionally, there is no new content for preexisting nations. This means that the game will progress normally while the horde is unleashed. Events like the German Civil War and South African War will still happen, even as the nations themselves fall to the horde.
Despite this, it became a challenge amongst some players to "beat the horde." As the United States, if the player can encircle and destroy the horde in New York, they have secured the entire American continent. The same goes for the British nations. However, as the horde takes more land and gains manpower, it becomes nearly impossible to defeat. The only realistic ways to defeat the horde are as Germany before the German Civil War, or as the United States in a war of attrition.