DayZ to be Completely Overhauled With New Engine, Reason Behind Long Early Access Period

DayZ is a survival horror game that has been stuck in Early Access hell for what seems like [...]

By Liana 'LiLi' Ruppert

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DayZ is a survival horror game that has been stuck in Early Access hell for what seems like eternity. Now it appears that the title is set for a re-release after four years of careful planning, bringing with it a totally new engine for a new gaming experience. Game Preview members on the Xbox One will be able to experience this overhaul themselves, as well.

Lead Producer Eugen Harten told PCGamesN during a recent ID@Xbox event said that it's almost like a "reboot" for PC with how different the title will run. This change, according to the team over at Bohemia, state this decision as the reason why the game has been in Early Access for over 4 years. This sort of change doesn't just happen over night, but they do hope this marks a "beginning of the end' period before its full launch.

A PR rep recently clarified a few statements also made at this event to our friends over at PC Gamer, stating:

"It's basically the reason why we are in Early Access for so long," he told the site. " Bohemia started a development of a new Enfusion Engine along with DayZ standalone—an engine that's meant to empower our future games."

"The upcoming PC 0.63 Experimental update is going to introduce a sizeable chunk of these long-awaited tech changes that will have a massive influence over how DayZ plays and feels in general. So it's definitely a huge milestone for the game itself, as big as having almost a completely new engine can be, but relaunch is perhaps not the correct word."

"This has been the plan all along: DayZ beta (when our 0.63 update reaches 'stable branch' on Steam) will introduce major tech changes that improve the gameplay, along with some new content and features," he said. "The road from beta to 1.0 will be mostly about polishing those, balancing everything, and doing additional smaller content drops."

It looks like both PC players and Xbox One fans will have another reason to give this title a shot soon. That being said, the team definitely has their work cut out for them, a new engine is no easy feat.

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