Claiming to be "Not Battle Royale" this battle royale looking title premiered via livestream last night, with a pretty brutal live action trailer (below) to announce the worldwide launch of DayZ, a not battleroyale/open world online survival game for PS4, PC and Xbox One.
The story follows the post-soviet country of Chernarus after it is struck by an unknown virus, turning the majority population into frenzied infected, aka zombies. Fighting over resources has led to a hostile mentality among survivors, driving what's left of humanity to collapse as everyone turns on everyone. You are one of the few immune to the virus and you have to decide how far you'll go to survive.
Billed as an "unforgiving, authentic survival experience," up to 60 survivors on a server engage in an unscripted gameplay scenario with no goals given, except for one: to survive as long as they can, by all means necessary. There are no superficial tips, way-points, built-in tutorials, or help given to players. Every decision matters, and every mistake can be lethal. If you die in DayZ, you lose all your character progress and start over, as the game is permadeath all day.
The focus of the game is on the world itself and players are free to attempt to crush the dangers of Chernarus by working alone or banding together. The game has a ton of survival mechanics, servers, and a massive 230km map, leading to all sorts of organic experiences aimed at giving each player their own story.
Originally launched as a standalone game in Steam Early Access in December 2013, the game has gone through a major engine overhaul since then, and is now powered by modules of Bohemia's new Enfusion Engine, with practically every part of the game completely redeveloped and improved. Check out the trailer and screenshots below, DayZ is out now.
