Now, I won’t go into the whole history of the title, but If I mention the word DayZ, most people would think back on the Arma mod, which was beloved and perhaps even the start of the battle royale genre, adopted by games such as H1Z1, Fortnite, and Player Unknown Battlegrounds. The mod was huge, and everyone loved it, but from there, it all seemed downhill when we saw the arrival of the DayZ standalone, which remained in Early Access on Steam for years and started to feel hopeless.
It was a broken, buggy mess that seemed almost unplayable at times. Most people, upon hearing the name DayZ, will completely shrug it off, and frankly, I would’ve as well. Fast forward, though, and we finally have a working version of Dayz on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4.
That’s what I’m here to talk about. DayZ has finally released on the PlayStation 4, and I couldn’t be more excited to review the same game that I begged Steam for a refund on.
DayZ is a zombie-infested PVP survival sandbox, fans of State of Decay, 7 Days to Die, and even the hit series TV show The Walking Dead will feel at home in a lot of ways. Between base building, trying to remain silent and out of sight, surviving pitch-black dark nights, and, of course, as Walking Dead fans will know, the threat of other players, this game will keep you on your toes when in cities, towns, and even military bases. The world of DayZ is huge.
You’ll spend hours traveling on roads, in the forest, and on the beach, trying to loot anything you can. Whether it’s replacing your worn-out jacket, finding a gun cleaning kit to fix up your weapons, or even just gathering enough food and water to prepare for your trip to the next town, which could be miles away, there’s always a reason to check out every closed door.
Or, maybe you just want to explore and craft. DayZ offers a huge world, and my biggest problem with the game is, very little text is in English. Chernarus is in Russia, so all of the cities and towns have Russian names. Add this to the fact that while you can find a compass and map, the game doesn’t give you either one at the start, and trying to figure out where to go, especially if you’re meeting up with a friend, makes this very difficult.
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There are certain tricks to learning the map, such as clouds always going east or using the stars to navigate, but it’s tedious. Most players rely on a phone app for getting around, including myself. My partner and I probably spent more time trying to find each other than we did actually playing together for the first while that we played. But without that phone app, I’m not sure how well we would have done.
The crafting system has some flaws, which will likely leave you using Google to figure out a recipe, some of which don’t appear to work in the PS4 version, not sure if that’s due to the item (such as a bow) being added in a later patch on PC or something else. The game doesn’t tell you what the recipes are, so even something like crafting a fireplace or rope will have you struggling to figure it out. Crafting things like a torch or spear is easy enough to learn, but making items like a backpack or fishing pole aren’t as easy. Once you learn the recipe and have done it a few times, it does get pretty easy to remember, though, luckily.
Don’t get me wrong when I say that the players are the threat. Zombies aren’t much when alone, even if you don’t have a weapon handy, your fist can do the job. But a zombie can easily attract other zombies that appear far enough away for that to not be a risk. If you aren’t careful, you could find yourself overwhelmed. These things are loud and fast. Shooting at them is a quick way to dispose of the zombies, but will alert both other zombies in the area and players of your location from the noise, which can be heard from a long distance.
People, though, are the true threat and are (sadly) quick to shoot on sight for safety, and of course, for the loot you have on you. They might even find themselves hungry and decide to make your body their dinner (yes, that’s a thing). With no PVE servers, it’s best to go into this game thinking of it as a battle royale. Some players may just tie you up, hold you hostage, for a bit, and rob you, or just simply wave and keep walking. But most of the time, it’s best to be ready for a fight.
As I mentioned above, DayZ manages to make the night feel more dangerous in great ways, but sadly this makes a lot of players leave lobbies and search for a daytime server. The nights really are pitch black, those who stay tend to camp out and wait for the sun to rise. Traveling at night comes at a risk, you can’t see anything around you, and carrying a road flare or flashlight comes at the cost of holding a weapon. Which greatly slows you down if you attract an enemy, as switching to your weapon will take a second. There is a variety of items, though, such as gas lamps and head torches, but setting up camp is the safe bet.
Visually speaking, the game isn’t anything special. It’s a nice-looking game with creepy-looking zombies and well-done wildlife and character designs. The areas within the map look pretty good, but building and house models are re-used quite a bit. The forest could use more variety, as there’s really nothing in them, and it can make leaving the road feel like a chore. You might get lucky and find some berries or hunting areas, but I haven’t found any fruits or wildlife in the woods myself.
The game isn’t perfect, as it does suffer from some bugs. Upon loading into your server, you may find yourself greeted by a black screen, which I haven’t found a fix for myself besides logging out and back in. Hit detection is a bit off at times, and weapons won’t always equip onto your back when putting them away. Tooltips do not show at times when loot is in the vicinity. Texture loading can cause the frames to drop, and frankly, the UI isn’t controller-friendly, but these are all very forgivable once you’ve got into the game. It wouldn’t feel like DayZ without any of these issues, though. Would it?
Overall, the game has been a ton of fun. I feel while the title does have some issues and needs an update to catch up with the PC version, it’s still a very fun experience to play alone or with a friend. It’s become a favorite of mine and is so much better than the Early Access build I tried playing a few years ago.
