dayz is a pretty funny game to me, because there are two types of people when it comes to dayz. you will either absolutely love dayz, or hate it more than anything else. and I think the reason why so many people love it is the exact same reason why so many people hate it, because of how much time commitment it takes, not in the way where each session requires you to play for a long time; you can log off at any moment and continue from where you stopped last. it’s the time between actions that makes the game so unique.
dayz having zombies is somewhat misleading, as on first sight it may look like a game based around zombies. and yeah, the zombies are there, but the real gameplay are other players. the dayz map is huge, and you start on the coast. running to the other side of the map takes 1.5 hours at minimum, and if you stop to loot things it will take even longer. the thing is, the loot you find generally gets better the farther inland you make it. and while there are vehicles like cars and boats, theyre usually found more inland. it’s basically a walking simulator which might sound boring but it's exactly what makes it so special. you can walk around the dayz map for hours and not find anyone. of course there are hotspots on the map (usually the military areas) but there’s no guarantee you’ll find anyone there. so when you do find someone, with your character that’s been alive for a good amount of hours, the adrenaline rush that fight gives you is just unmatched by any other video game. and if you die, back to the coast you go. but if you win, the rush you get is incredible. it makes you play like a real person that has actually been in a zombie apocalypse, specifically because of this. in most games you can play recklessly and not care since you’ll respawn and be back to where you were in just a little bit. but in dayz every play makes you consider the risk/reward, is it worth it to go to this town? is it worth it to pick up this item over this other item? is it worth it to go loot that crashed helicopter? every choice matters.
you are never invincible in dayz, even if you have the best weapons, the best armour, or any item you could ever want, if you’re not careful some random guy with a hunting rifle could dome you in the head and end your run pretty quickly. a pretty popular saying in the community is that “it’s not your gear, it’s just your turn to borrow it.” and that's what makes the game constantly engaging, the fact that at any moment something could happen. I think dayz shares a lot of characteristics of horror games, and you could even call it a horror game. the map definitely has an eerie feeling, being set somewhere in eastern europe along with the abandoned and destroyed buildings that a zombie apocalypse would bring. the nights are extremely dark, without any lights to pollute the sky, and when you're in one of those dark nights a player encounter will be as scary as any horror game.
that's the thing, dayz is built around player interactions. with other humans added as a variable, every run is different. all of the paths you take will change the way you interact with others. you can try to build a huge base and stop it from getting raided, you can play as a nomad and hide stashes all across the map. you can play as a pacifist and try to make friends with others, you can play as a cannibal and kill absolutely everyone, you can grab a ghillie suit and snipe people from the side of a hill somewhere. none of these methods of playing are “correct”, because it's up to you to make it viable. with the proximity voice chat and enough charisma you can really make anything work. the gameplay loop encourages you to try these different things, dayz has no “win condition” it's up to you to set goals on what you want to do in the game. and for someone like me who already plays challenge runs which are just arbitrary goals it suits me perfectly. you'll get bored pretty quickly if you just run directly to the same town every time and use the same playstyle every single time, but there's practically infinite gameplay if you switch it up every once in a while.
this isn't an ad or anything for dayz, bohemia interactive are introducing a bunch of bugs into the game as i speak but i just love the game and i really feel that there's no game like it. it's a gameplay experience that we don't see much these days in online multiplayer, with their match making and ranked elo or whatever, in dayz you go to the server browser and just join whichever one you want, it really is up to you. i think it represents the game pretty well, as dayz is based around player agency. everyone starts off the same at the coast, with a bandage and piece of fruit to their name, and it's the players choice to do whatever. dayz is alright i guess
