Yesterday we saw the revealing of an upcoming zombie survival MMO titled The War Z, which is in development by Hammerpoint Interactive. Today is no different, with the release of more information on the upcoming apocalypse title, plus a batch of screenshots to get the zombie genes tingling.
Featuring chaotic environments and survivors banding together, The War Z plans on bringing a new set of rules to a genre kick-started by the recent ARMA 2 mod, DayZ.
In The War Z, players are thrust into a post-apocalyptic world five-years after a viral outbreak that ravaged the human population and left, in its wake, a nightmare of epic proportion. Hordes of undead zombies infest the cities, and the few remaining human beings have devolved into a lawless, nomadic society where the sole objective is to survive at any cost.
Players must use skill and cunning in order to acquire food, weapons and other supplies necessary for survival. While navigating the vast landscape, they will discover cities teeming with the undead as well as other players that may or may not be friendly.
While it is obvious that the game is relying heavily on the popularity of DayZ, and even in some cases borrowing from the very successful mod, it does try to distinguish itself and set a new atmosphere for a genre that many are eager to play in.
One of the interesting mechanics that The War Z will be offering is the chance for players to earn experience points, and then spend those earned points into a set of skill trees, allowing for character progression and growth. While obviously this is a great element in an RPG, could this somewhat diminish what makes a survival game like DayZ so great? In DayZ the only character progression is through items you gather on your adventure and dying isn't as inconvenienced as it would be in The War Z. Would players be willing to start from scratch after investing so much time into the right "build"?
Among the experience points, Hammerpoint Interactive is promising a range of features that would easily compliment a genre like this, including dedicated server support for both public and private sessions and different play modes.
Some features of The War Z include the following:
Survival Horror MMO with entire game world build around a Zombie Apocalypse
Two modes of play: Normal (downed characters can be revived after “cool down” period) and Hardcore (death will be permanent)
Ability to switch between first-person (FPS) and third-person (TPS) perspectives
Huge maps ranging between 200 and 400 square kilometers
Meld of PvE (player versus environment) and PvP (player versus player) gameplay
Unique social elements, including bounties, rewards, help requests, trap setting, etc.
Safe Settlements: safe cities within the world where players can purchase, sell and store items as well as post notes for other players
Single purchase, downloadable client with ability to play full game without subscriptions or requiring in-game transactions
Full developer support with regularly scheduled, free content updates
Dedicated public servers as well as private servers that can be completely self-managed in game client
For a chance to get into the closed beta testing, head over to the
official website to sign up, and you can also check out the
official Facebook page for updates and news. Check out the screenshots below for a glimpse into the zombie-filled world of The War Z, including a look at vehicles and environment detail.
PM
WWW