DayZ Standalone Review

Finally the long awaited standalone version of DayZ has come out in pre-alpha. Too be honest I was really excited when I saw DayZ had been released on Steam. The mod was and still is one of the best mods of all time and I was excited to see if the standalone game  could fill the almighty boots left behind by the original mod.

The gameplay is left mostly unchanged, the core gameplay remains intact. The classic survival gameplay and intense PvP action is still intact. A couple of new features  have been added and more new features will be added in the coming future.

One new addition in the standalone is handcuffs, which enable  players to handcuff other players rendering them unable to use anything. This addition has revolutionised the types of cruelty one player can inflict on another player, and it’s only going to get better as the game is updated. That’s the beauty of the DayZ Standalone.

The game is as fun and addictive as the mod and knowing that more and more features will be added is really exciting. Some features of the original mod have not been added as of yet, for example the standalone has no vehicles at the moment, but we can be sure they will be added in future. Since the gameplay is largely unchanged it’s very difficult to fault it.

The only complaint I have is that there are a lot fewer zombies in the standalone than the original mod. This means that players are less likely to work together because there is no threat drawing the players together. Due to this the standalone has really become all PvP all the time, and the only real threat to the player is other players. In the original mod shooting a rifle in the middle of the city was a death sentence because every zombie in the city would come running to take a bite out of you. However in the standalone I can shoot someone on the streets and run away before any zombie even smells me. This is a minor flaw which I’m sure will be fixed in coming patches. Overall the Day Z Standalone is just as good as the mod and I’m excited to see where it’s headed.

The gameplay is left mostly unchanged, the core gameplay remains intact. The classic survival gameplay and intense PvP action is still intact

The DayZ Standalone looks a lot better than the original mod, the graphics have been updated and so have the animations. This was one of the few flaws I had with the mod, and in the standalone it is mostly fixed. The animations are a lot smoother and look a lot more natural and the graphics look really beautiful and have a lot less of those ‘ugly’ moments I mentioned in my review of the original mod. Overall DayZ Standalone looks up to date with all the other game released and might even look better than a couple. There is still no music in DayZ but I don’t feel this is too much of a issue. In game I feel the lack of a soundtrack adds to the games atmosphere, but maybe a little something on the title screen would add to the game. Anyway it’s early days for the standalone so this could change.

No attempt is made to write any kind of story for DayZ but this isn’t a problem. I mentioned in my review of the mod that some slight mentions of a story would be nice, but I don’t feel it’s necessary.   In a way DayZ writes its own stories with the different experiences each player has whilst playing. I could talk for ages about the various shenanigans me and my mates get up to in DayZ and that’s the beauty of the game. Each player has a plethora of stories about the wacky things they have gotten up to in DayZ.

Just like the mod, DayZ’s lifespan is immensely long. This game will keep you immersed for ages and playing with some friends will keep you even further immersed. I have barely been able to stop playing it’s so addictive and I can tell it will keep me occupied way into the future. It’s only going to get better as well, with all the new features being added in as the game is updated.

Overall The DayZ Standalone is just as good if not better than the mod and well worth your time and money. I can already tell that DayZ standalone will be one of the most popular games of the coming year and is not one to be missed.

DayZ Standalone is available in pre-alpha on Steam.