H1Z1 The New Zombie Apocalypse MMO

Sony Online Entertainment’s president John Smedley has appeared on Twitch.tv to announce a new zombie apocalypse MMO H1Z1 said to be released in late 2014 for Windows and PlayStation 4. H1Z1 will be a free-to-play game with with payable early access on Steam within 4 to 6 weeks. The game will have a persistent online world across multiple servers, each with their own different rules and a day/night cycle.

The setting for this zombie apocalypse game is both American countryside and cities 15 years after the H1Z1 virus has devastated mankind with death and destruction In this world, the remaining humans fight against extinction and those infected with the virus.

Humanity has been hiding in the shadows, searching desperately for food, water, and anything that can help to survive another day. “We want our players to make Woodbury from The Walking Dead if they want to. Or take over a prison. Or fix an old car so you and your friends can run zombies and players over mercilessly, and revel in the sheer delight of hearing a zombie scream as you light it on fire, or craft a gun to take down your friends and enemies alike,” John Smedley said.]

H1Z1 seems to set itself apart from other zombie apocalypse games with the very deep crafting system. This sandbox style of game play allows you to make various items like weapons, campfires, shelters just out of the resources found around the world.

John Smedley explained, “We want you to be able to form roving gangs that are headquartered out of an abandoned warehouse that you’ve taken over… or a house you’ve built from scratch after having cut trees down and secured the resources to make it. We are giving players the tools to make their own towns, camps and defenses, and they can decide how to set up their base.”

Taking elements from State Of Decay, Infestation: Survivor Stories, DayZ, and Fortnite, the emphasis of the gameplay is on players co-operating and trading with each other.

In an interview with Adam Clegg from SOE it was made clear that unlike other zombie MMO games the main focus will be on surviving against the zombies through team-work with other players, and not mainly a PvP environment with a zombie backdrop.