Brilliant original survival game DayZ is more popular than ever thanks to its new expansion
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Sometimes it feels like there hasn’t been a time in my life when I didn’t know the name of DayZ. The groundbreaking survival zombie sim was everywhere when it was an Arma 2 mod, and now it’s breaking even more ground with the release of its latest expansion, Frostline. Despite being long in the tooth, DayZ has recently had more players in-game than ever before.
Following the release of the Frostline expansion earlier this month, DayZ has seen a resurgence in popularity across the board. The survival game has been hitting new concurrent player count peaks on Steam, with a new record of 78,937 people in-game at the same time on the platform. It doesn’t stop there, however, as the game’s developer Bohemia Interactive has announced that across Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox, the game surpassed 500,000 players in one day.
It’s easy to see why so many are diving back in or trying DayZ out for the first time, given the huge swathe of new content Frostline has added. A new frozen archipelago has been opened up to explore, along with fresh survival challenges, winter-themed wildlife, and much more. Despite all that, the expansion is only sitting on a 70% ‘mostly positive’ rating, with some players expressing disappointment at the size and ambition of Frostline.
“Beautiful map but it is so barren….Namalsk is a modded map and smaller and has way more content than this,” reads one review. “I bought it anyway because I’m a long-time DayZ player but Sakhal is very disappointing. The map looks great and isn’t terrible but it’s missing a lot of features,” writes another player.
Despite some negativity, the Frostline player number explosion is continuing. At the time of writing, 59,082 people are in-game on Steam, which is a huge achievement for a game that’s been around as long as DayZ.
If you’d like to test your survival skills, the Frostline expansion for DayZ is out now. Head over to Steam to check it out and make up your own mind on this new frosty experience.
If DayZ isn’t quite hitting the right note for you, our guides to the best zombie games and the best open-world games will provide you with plenty of alternatives.
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