Arma II: Day Z Mod

The Basics: Infamous zombie survival shooter

Previous Time Spent: 8 minutes

Expectation of learning Curve: Medium

Why I bought this: The infamy of the Day-Z mod, great previous writing about it

First Impressions: Similar feeling of really being in a place that I felt with ARMA II (which makes sense since it's the same engine and the same basic setting). Visuals are a bit dated since it was released roughly 5 year ago, but not so bad as to break immersion. This was immediately frightening and immersive. My first run in the game lasted roughly ten minutes, and involved running to a gas station, trying to commandeer a van, and being killed by zombies.  

 My 3 Hours with the Game: I signed into a Russian server to play this game, and spent my entire 3 hour evaluation period there. Over a number of runs, I found myself slowly learning the systems of the game, such as where to scavenge for things, how to sort of escape zombies, and general inventory management. Most of my time was spent walking or running through the zombie infested post-soviet countryside. That countryside, and all of the villages and towns were dotted with the undead, and salvageable  supplies. On a couple of runs, I found firearms and ammo, leading to overconfidence and extra danger. Actually hitting zombies and downing them was refreshingly challenging. I generally felt like a regular person dropped into a dangerous situation and trying to survive. And in a couple of instances, especially with human contact, this turned nightmarish.

My highlight: The first time I ran into another human player in the game, I was running down the coast road past a gas station, with the hope of finding a van. Zombies were close on my tail, and I could hear them grunting behind me. As I passed the gas station, I saw a man with a gun, standing on top of a building. I didn't stop, due to the horde of undead on my tail, and kept running down the road, spotting a factory in the distance, and hoping to lose the zombies inside. A short time after passing the gas station, I heard the report of a rifle going off, and I kept running

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I came upon an abandoned factory, and came inside, making my way up ladders, hoping to not be followed by the zombies. I climbed to a sort of catwalk, and heard gunshots again, and the sound of breaking glass and bullets whizzing by. So, I ran along the catwalk, making my way to a set of interior rooms, connected by stairwells. I saw a hatchet in one of the rooms, but the zombies caught up to me, causing me to retreat up the stairs again before grabbing it. From there, the human caught up to me as well, and I spent a short time trying to evade him, and the zombies in the ruined factory. Eventually I came out onto the catwalk again, and came to a point where he seemed to have a good shot at me, so I panicked and jumped, risking the fall. I landed hard, apparently breaking a leg. The screen faded and blurred, representing pain, but I was able to crawl out of the factory. I heard some more gunshots, but crawled through the long grass, escaping my tormentor, and eventually bleeding out alone outside the factory.  

My verdict: This is a game I like a lot, and expect to play beyond the three hours. The experience is terrifying and compelling, and allowed for some amazing emerging narratives. I would recommend this, but I'd also suggest checking if the standalone version of the mod is easier to get ahold of. 

-Jon