DayZ is an open world survival video game currently being developed by Bohemia Interactive. It's the standalone successor of the same name. The game was released for Microsoft Windows via early access on Steam in December 2013, and is currently in early alpha testing.
The game places the player in the fictional post-Soviet Republic of Chernarus, where a mysterious plague has turned the majority of the population into violent zombies. As a survivor, the player must scavenge the world for food, water, weapons, and medicine, while killing or avoiding zombies, and killing, avoiding or cooperating with other players in an effort to survive the outbreak.
DayZ started development in 2012 when the mod's creator, Dean Hall, joined Bohemia Interactive to begin work on the standalone version of the game. The development has been focused on altering the engine to suit the game's needs, developing a working client-server architecture, and introducing new features like diseases and a better inventory system. The game has sold 3 million copies since its alpha release. At Gamescom 2014, it was announced that DayZ would be coming to the PlayStation 4, and at E3 2015, it was announced that it would also be released for the Xbox One, with early access version being released under the Xbox's own Early Access program.
Release:
The first publicly available development build was released on December 16, 2013 during the alpha development stage through Steam's Early Access program at a cheaper price than when it is finally released. The price will increase as development continues until reaching the full release price. This alpha release is an early access build with a large amount of the features still in progress and the development team is targeting the release at an audience who want to be involved in what Hall called a "very barebones experience that is a platform for future development."
In November 2014, it was announced that the final release version of the game would be released in 2016. However, the game is still unreleased as of middle 2017.
Reception:
The alpha release sold over 172,500 copies in the first 24 hours, totalling over US $5 million in sales. During peak sales, over 200 copies were being purchased per minute and after one week over 400,000 copies had been sold. The game reached a total of more than 1 million sales while remaining at the top of Steam's sales charts for two weeks in a row during their Winter sale despite it not being reduced in price. In an alpha review of DayZ, Rick Lane of Eurogamer commented positively on the new additions but said that the game may not be worth the current price until more features have been added. On the other hand, Craig Pearson of PC Gamer said that he had good experiences in DayZ and that it was already worth the price.
By May 2014, the game had sold 2 million copies. By January 2015, the game had sold 3 million copies.
Awards:
DayZ won the MMORPG.com award for Best Hybrid MMO at PAX East 2013, and in August 2013 it was announced as the winner of IGN's People's Choice Award of gamescom 2013, beating 49 other games with 15% of the votes. At the 2014 Golden Joystick Awards DayZ won the Best Indie Game and Best Original Game awards. DayZ was named the 52nd best PC video game ever by PCGamer in 2015.
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
MINIMUM:
OS: Windows 7 32-bit
Processor: Intel Dual-Core 2.4 GHz or AMD Dual-Core Athlon 2.5 GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 630 or AMD Radeon RX 450 with 1 GB VRAM
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 15 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX®-compatible
RECOMMENDED:
OS: Windows 7 / 8 / 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i5-2300 or AMD Phenom II X4 940 or better
Memory: 6 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 750TI or AMD Radeon RX 460 with 2 GB VRAM or better
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 20 GB available space
Sound Card: DirectX®-compatible