In the survival MMO H1Z1, players – like soldiers – must watch out for prominent objects, such as water towers, if they want to meet up with friends.
The zombie MMO H1Z1 is supposed to be different. They have proclaimed “realism” as their goal. If there ever is a zombie apocalypse, it will unfold just like in H1Z1, fans and developers agree. Just as high-ranking US military officials once said that if attacked by giant combat robots, the US Army would respond just as in the Transformers movies, which were authentically researched.
Now, in a “realistic” zombie apocalypse, it would probably be hard to log in next to your friend or magically “sense” him on the mini-map. And in H1Z1, it is supposed to be part of the adventure to find each other in this world. Because it is expansive. And since the first areas of the world are modeled after the Pacific Northwest of the USA – which is a pretty sparsely populated region on the border with Canada – everything might look a bit bleak and monotonous. Many forests, farms, small villages – very little flickering neon light or cool water slides.
Therefore, players should prepare to meet up with friends based on distinctive landmarks, and those should also be clearly visible from afar. Phrases like “Meet me at the house with the doghouse” or “I am at the intersection where three zombies are lying in front of a pickup truck” make it difficult. Hence, well-visible water towers should serve as landmarks. They were recently introduced in a blog post, and to the delight of fans, they were all presented in multiple colors.
Well, saying it is the delight of fans might be a bit exaggerated. On Reddit, the announcement was rather met with gallows humor. There – as everywhere else – people are waiting for a date for early access. It seems that nothing will come of it in September either. SOE is not sending any signals in that direction. And at the Nvidia event, a delegation from H1Z1 was present, but unfortunately, nothing was announced.
