There's a near endless list of PC mods that became separate, standalone titles and DayZ has very recently made the jump. Starting out life as an incredibly popular mod for ultra-realistic military simulator ARMA 2, DayZ is set during a zombie apocalypse with one simple goal: survive. While other games might challenge you to survive whilst completing a story or a quest, DayZ literally throws you into a zombie infested area with no tasks or goals to accomplish. Instead, exploration is key to DayZ's immense popularity. Your character constantly needs food and water to live as well as medical equipment (bandages, blood packs) for they are injured. On top of that, ammo and guns are a necessity (obviously, the world's overrun by zombies) so you're constantly driven to explore every building in sight. You can liken DayZ to The Walking Dead (mainly the comic series, although the TV series features glimpses of this too) as both feature zombies but only as a common problem. Instead, it's other survivors who you must be more wary of. With permanent death being a key feature in Day Z, other players' murderous habits suddenly become much more terrifying; there's a real fear in spotting someone new and unknown whilst you're out in the field. This also leads to some interesting scenarios created in game too (if you like social experiments, you'll LOVE DayZ) such as players taking a lone survivor hostage, forcing them to part with goods in order to save their life. Sight and sound play an important part too (you want to attract as little attention as possible) so running around at top speed constantly is a surefire way to get your character killed quickly. Perhaps the most interesting part of DayZ is that it's not even finished; the stand-alone release is currently in Alpha (although you can buy it and play it now through Early Access on Steam) with new content and features arriving constantly. With over one million copies sold so far, it's unlikely to fall in popularity anytime soon too. If you've always fancied yourself as a murderous maniac in a zombie apocalypse, DayZ is the game for you.
I have an addiction to achievements, a craving for new bands and a dream to become Captain America. I once finished second in a Mario Kart 7 tournament so I'm kind of a big deal.
