In the survival MMO H1Z1, there was another hour of new gameplay over the weekend. While the game is making significant progress in scope, some bugs are still noticeable.
During the weekend, there was also an hour of new gameplay of H1Z1 at the charity event “Extra Life”. Greg Henninger, Community Manager, showcased an hour of a kind of “overview” of the zombie MMO, essentially what fans can expect in Early Access. Watching this hour might help viewers better understand why Early Access has still not happened, even though a first date was confidently announced back in May.
Small errors could break immersion
The game is complex and continues to grow. There are thousands of opportunities for something to go wrong. Whether a door bugs out and doesn’t latch, or an intact house crackles as if it’s on fire: the game’s “Pre-Alpha” status is evident. This disrupts the crucial immersion for the game, the feeling of immersing oneself in a cohesive world: Players cannot pull arrows that hit a zombie; instead, they can only pick them up again once the zombie has despawned. And while arrows can puncture glass windows, which shatter dramatically, they regenerate much too quickly.
However, each hour of fresh gameplay offers something new to discover, which should please developers and fans alike. For the first time in this hour, there was a zombie tearing apart a deer and then feasting on the carcass. Also, a new “Proximity Crafting” system is introduced in the build, allowing players to craft items from materials that are not in their inventory but are nearby.
H1Z1 is now significantly more expansive than in the early streaming hours. There are many more buildings for players to explore and loot, but this seems to bring its own set of problems.
The Walking Dead is a clear inspiration
SOE’s developers place immense importance on launching the game as flawlessly as possible, not only due to their own standards but likely also because of the genre: SOE assumes that H1Z1 players have TV series like The Walking Dead in their minds and want to find that experience reflected in the game. The aesthetic of the game is reminiscent of the successful series currently being aired in a marathon on RTL II on the past and coming nights. There are abandoned car wrecks blocking bridges, and the small-town atmosphere of the game echoes the AMC series.
With such high atmospheric expectations, the numerous growing pains still afflicting this build of H1Z1 could cause players to lose interest quickly.
Nevertheless, Henninger also states how hard they are working to get the game into the hands of fans as soon as possible.
Here we have the stream for you, it starts about 8 minutes into the video.
