DayZ Livonia

Hunting for food, fighting off dead and the living is all included in this title. An online survival game like no other; load that rifle and get ready to run as we take a cautious look into the DayZ Livonia DLC from Bohemia Interactive.

The Setting

There is a lot to discover about this title. I’ll tell you that outright. Livonia differs from the standard Dayz gameplay in that it is set on a far smaller, but still expansive, area with a 163 square kilometre map size. With less space comes a much higher density in regards to players, enemies and animals to hunt.

However, the map is still sparse when it comes to the dilapidated structures that frequent the countryside and scavenging for food has been pushed to the side for a more interesting take on survival. The game could best be equated to a much broader State of Decay as the world exists after the fall of the country and possibly the world.

There is no flavour text or clear explanation for what happened to the world you inhabit. There are clear signs of military occupation, and perhaps civil unrest, before the zombie outbreak so it can be noted that the virus did not spread that quickly. The game does not properly address this theory and provides only the world as it is; I found this to be incredibly interesting as the guesswork leaves a large amount of fear and confusion to seep into the atmosphere.

The Gameplay

Right out of the gate this is a battle for survival at every turn. You’re against zombies. You’re against starvation. You’re against wild animals, thirst, infection and, most deadly of all, other humans. You drop in with no gear and straight off the bat you have to know where you’re going and what you’re doing if you want any decent chance of survival and it’s amazing.

This game takes innovation in zombie games to a new level as you grow food and hunt to survive. It’s not about scavenging for hours to find two tins of peaches and a packet of crisps to last you 5 days. It’s about using land to harvest resources appropriately, it’s about being smarter than the average bear so that it doesn’t kill and eat you.

The controls are tight and intuitive and there’s a lot the game lets you do but finding armour, food, a gun and bullets is only half the struggle, using them effectively is the rest of it.

The Ambiance

This game is a master of the open world fear factor. A lot of the time it’s hard to feel scared when you can run anywhere and hide but here, the creatures runs too. You never feel over powered as there’s always a nagging feeling that there’s something more dangerous right around the corner. What I find best of all, there’s an enemy you can’t beat, one you can’t outsmart or out last but one you must simply endure. It’s the weather. The land you run amok on is off to the east of the Baltic Sea and it rains a lot so beware of the lightning and the cold.

Pros

• Amazing world
• Great Ambience
• Unique and well executed

Cons

• Controls can be clunky
• Menus can be hard to navigate