DayZ [XSX] (2012)

“A zombie film is not fun without a bunch of stupid people running around and observing how they fail to handle the situation.”

―George A. Romero

Here is a question: what would you do if a zombie apocalypse hit your town and most of the population turned into shambling undead horrors? Would you collect a ragtag gang of survivors and fortify the local police station to fight off zombies and bandits? Or would you become some crazed cannibal, scouring the area for unwitting survivors to barbecue? Well, with Czech publisher Bohemia Interactive’s DayZ, you can do either of those things. Or you could just die, which you’ll be doing. A lot. Whether it be from hunger, thirst, exposure, falling off things, zombie attacks or, of course, being fileted by other survivors, death will be your constant companion in this game.

DayZ started life as a mod for the wildly popular military shooter ARMA 2 which became so popular that it developed a sentient life of its own. In 2018 it became a stand-alone release on PC, with a follow-up release for consoles in 2019, gracing the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One with its presence. It’s currently on Gamepass, which is how I experienced it on my Series X. The game takes place in the fictional land of Chernarus, a former Soviet state with lovely sights, rubbish weather, and zombies. Lots of them.

How does this cult multiplayer darling fare on the console though, when it is better regarded as a PC title? Let’s head into the review like the fresh spawns we are and find out…

First of all, we look at the visuals! This game is a mixed bag in the visuals department on console – the overall scenery of Chernarus looks pretty decent. Rays of sunlight show through the trees, the ocean shimmers along the coastal road and the cities and towns look dilapidated and derelict. But, on closer inspection, the shine doesn’t really hold up. The buildings look a bit cardboard-like, trees desperately pop in on the horizon and, in the case of the DLC Livonia map, artefacts pop in and out as you move the camera around, which can be a bit distracting.

Thankfully, character models do fare better, with survivors and zombies both having a decent level of detail and fidelity, even if zombie models do repeat a little too often (the old man zombie with the vest and wellies is a constant companion of mine). Weapons and equipment also look good with extra attention to making the games’ firearms as realistic-looking as possible. 

Audio plays a significant part in DayZ. Every time you fire a gun it elicits a hell of a bang, which can be heard from a long way away and will easily give away your position to all other survivors nearby. It will also lure in every zombie nearby, so unless you want to be chased around town by a mob of bloodthirsty zombies you should consider exercising weapon discipline!

Aside from some terrible main menu music, DayZ has no soundtrack at all to speak of. As a survival simulation, it instead works to immerse you in its world as fully as possible, meaning that the singing of birds will provide your soundtrack, wind whistling across open fields or the lapping of the tide as you run along the beach to avoid that town full of battling survivors. When played with a surround sound setup this works fantastically. I’ve often stopped to just listen to things going on around me and the soundscape makes it easy to pinpoint exactly where that gunshot just came from, for example.

Multiplayer shooters are a dime a dozen these days, after the meteoric rise of the likes of Call of Duty, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, and of course, the perennial content-fest that is Fortnite. What does DayZ do to make itself stand out from this massive crowd? Well firstly, it refuses to hold your hand. Don’t expect to start with any weapons or gear to get by here, all “fresh spawns” drop in with an apple, a glowstick, and the clothes on their back – and that’s your lot. If you don’t get looking for loot right away then it is very likely that you are going to die, be it of starvation, thirst, or illnesses brought on by exposure to the elements. Raiding towns for food, warmer clothing, and other provisions is just as important as picking up a gun.

The most common path for any DayZ playthrough is to spawn, get enough gear to head away from the coast, and raid one of the big military bases inland, where the best gear can be found. This works well from a design point of view, as players will clash not only in the spawn areas but also inland around the military areas, where lots of assault rifles and grenades can be found to spice things up, as well as the best protective gear to give yourself an extra chance in a firefight. 

Reaching all of this good equipment will not be easy, however, as the only map you’ll find in DayZ is the occasional tourist map, and the game will not pause and wait for you while you try to decipher it, nor will it give you any markers, waypoints or any other icons, you’ll be expected to find your way around the old fashioned way – road signs and a map.

While this game doesn’t have much of a story (it’s Eastern Europe and there are zombies) it can still be incredibly immersive, every life that you live on DayZ is a story that writes itself as you go along. For example, I had one character who went on a photography tour of the map, posing like a tourist at points of interest while my teammate took pictures. This was all good and well until some horrible fresh spawn ambushed me with a silenced handgun, sending me back from the start. Another character was a horrible cannibal who fittingly died of food poisoning and another still befriended a player from California and went to raid some army bases together.

DayZ really is a fascinating game, borne from an ARMA 2 mod back in 2012. Passable graphics are vindicated by excellent usage of sound and a deeply layered and realistic game engine, creating an addictive gameplay loop that can have you surviving pretty much any way you like. It is also a brilliant social experiment, pitting players against each other in a world where every other survivor can be an enemy or, given the chance, perhaps a friend. Will you loot that survivor sitting at the campfire after filling her with lead from your M16, or will you put the gun down, sit with them and try to bond over some lovely cooked chicken?

It really is all up to you, survivor!

PIXEL PERFECT

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Some call him Winst0lf, others the Bizzaro Mage, and some people just call him Craig. Whatever you wish to call him, he’s a writer, reviewer and podcaster, all while somehow maintaining a day job. Maybe one day he won’t have to… one day…