They aren’t great, but they react well to the environment around them. In between areas, you’ll interact with the game’s titular Zs – the zombies. I hit the ground unscathed I randomly died ten seconds later. I found the highest building I could and leaped from the top. Whether it’s a gun and some ammo, rags and alcohol or a cliff and your body so you can end your own misery – it rarely feels satisfying. Most of your time in the husk that is DayZ will be spend trying to find things that work together. As your hunger and thirst rises, your health declines. Wandering from empty house to empty hour, scavenging food, drink and endless amounts of clothing you don’t want is most of the alleged “gameplay” here. Wandering throughout DayZ’s streets is a lonely experience – fittingly so. Instead of helping DayZ grow and nurture, this standalone release hasn’t breathed new life into the game. With the foundations set, all that was needed was an expansion and improvement upon the core concept of an open-world zombie survival game. Its foundation as one of the world’s most popular mods ever meant should have helped.
After five years in early access, you’d probably think that DayZ’s standalone release would be fantastic.