14 DAY TRIAL // Video game developer Dean Hall and the team at Bohemia Interactive have announced that their DayZ Standalone is now live on Steam via the Early Access program, with gamers able to take on the role of a survivor who needs to navigate a world filled with hostile humans and infected creatures.
The most important features of the Alpha release of the game are:
Chernarus - a post soviet state, with plenty of deep forests, villages, abandoned military bases and other structures covering no less than 230 square kilometers; - each server of Day Z Standalone can support up to 40 players and each of their profiles is entirely persistent; - inventory management is active - objects can be combine in intuitive ways to allows gamers to create the items they need to survive; - all weapons can be customized and the team at Bohemia says that they are all based on authentic ballistics simulations; - clothes can also be customized as the player tries to make sure that he remains undetected by the infected while also surviving the threats coming from the environment.
The team working on DayZ Standalone says, "Current version is including only small subset of game mechanics and serves mostly as test bed with core technology that should serve as basis for future additions and improvements."
Before the game reaches beta stage, it will also include playable vehicles, a variety of animal life that gamers need to deal with, player-created structures, a better user interface, improved graphics, support for user-made mods and more fluid control and animations.
The studio adds, "We estimate that reaching Beta version with all key features present will take more than one year from current stage. All features and plans listed here are subject to change, we may add or remove features as seen fit during development process."