Sony Online Entertainment is working on its own post-apocalyptic zombie MMO, titled H1Z1 , which will be available to play in full sometime “soon,” according to SOE’s president John Smedley over Twitter .
According to Polygon , Smedley revealed H1Z1 in a pre-recorded interview during an episode of the Game Talk Live podcast that went live on Wednesday, April 9. The podcast also showcased a few minutes of early gameplay, where Smedley demonstrated gunplay and arson. What’s more, H1Z1 is touted to feature an open world environment and a day-night cycle, as well as vehicles and possibly aircraft.
” H1Z1 is an MMO that allows players to take on the role of an apocalypse survivor who is in a world that is filled with zombies,” Smedley explained. “A world! Not just a little tiny server.”
Game Talk Live’s interview with Smedley took place in his office earlier on this year, when the game was still very much in early development; there was only one zombie model and use and there weren’t any zombie sounds. The game’s day-night cycle will also affect the gameplay of H1Z1 .
” Oh God yeah ,” Smedley answered when he was about asked the day-night cycle, ” but in this game it matters a lot more than in others because it gets really dark at night and you need to have a torch and you will be ganked by other players, zombies. So we [have] vehicles in here. We can actually have aircraft if we want. Our goal is to build out this entire massive massive world that is this apocalypse of the United States. ”
H1Z1 utilizes a modified version of the PlanetSide 2 e ngine and is said to feature base building and “emergent AI”, in which the zombies will have their own autonomy and individual AI.
Smedley’s aim is to build a large, persistent world, where you can build persistent fortresses and scavenge for resources in a production line-like fashion, and raid against player camps; H1Z1 is touted to bring the survival genre into the next level.
According to bullet-pointed list of details pertaining SOE’s zombie survival game on Reddit , HIZ1 will launch on PC first, and then later on PlayStation 4. The game will also be a free-to-play title, and it will appear on Steam’s Early Access in about four to six weeks for about $20.
” You seriously don’t need to spend a dime. We’re still figuring out the monetization but we will telegraph our plans early and let people comment and we’ll listen if they don’t like something and come to a place where people feel good about it, ” Smedley explained in a Reddit post .
We’ll bring you more on H1Z1 should it reach our ears.
[ Polygon ]