Sony Online Entertainment’s newest title, H1Z1, is a post-apocalyptic MMO that’s lousy with the walking dead. SOE president John Smedley made the reveal on the Game Talk Live podcast, which goes live later today.
“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 said on the podcast. “A world! Not just a little tiny server.”
H1Z1 will be playable soon, said Smedley on Twitter. “[A]nd by play, I mean play fully,” he clarified. He’s possibly hinting at a soon to be announced beta.
It sounds like zombies will only be one of the threats in the MMO, with players presenting a much more devious enemy. “But here is something you’re gonna be able to do that you can’t do in these other games: Light things on fire,” said Smedley. “We are in the middle of putting that in so you are gonna be able to burn down trees, burn down stuff, and that’s gonna be a lot of fun. The idea is that these players [are] building these forts and all of the sudden these other guys coming in lighting it on fire and waiting till they come out of the fortress … is awesome.”
A day and night cycle will have an impact on how players get through the environment, as nightfall will bring with it greater risks. “”[I]n this game it [the day and night cycle] 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,” Smedley explained. Vehicles will make traversing the devastated world a tad easier, and aircrafts could even be introduced.
“Our goal is to build out this entire massive massive world that is this apocalypse of the United States.”
Although zombie exhaustion has surely set in by now, the prospect of a huge, well-realised post-apocalyptic MMO is a tantalising one. And it might not be the only one in development. A State of Decay MMO is also likely in the works.
Cheers, Polygon.