Sony Online Entertainment’s DayZ-inspired zombie MMO, H1Z1, is close to launching on Steam Early Access, but you can get an early peek at the gameplay in this Twitch stream with some of the devs. Designer Jimmy Whisenhunt and technical director Tom Schenck walk through nearly an hour’s worth of footage, offering an in-depth look at the current state of the survival-focused game, which is set more than a decade after a global plague turns most of humanity into shambling undead monstrosities.
The game is due for eventual release on PlayStation 4 and Windows PCs, though only the latter gets the Early Access, which carries a $20 buy-in price and is scheduled to launch in the coming weeks. The long-term goal is to release H1Z1 as a free-to-play title, though the particulars of how the game will be monetized haven’t yet been worked out. The hope for SOE is to come up with an income model that is heavily informed by community feedback, as John Smedley, president of Sony’s online gaming division, revealed in a Reddit AMA.
“The game at it’s core is about survival,” Smedley wrote. “Our preference is not to sell anything that can help with that. If this game is too hard for you, play another one. We don’t want to give shortcuts for our core mechanic.”
Check out the current state of H1Z1 in the video below.
