Bohemia Interactive has announced Badlands, the third major expansion for zombie survival sandbox DayZ, and it’s bringing the game’s biggest map ever and more next year.
As you might have guessed from the name, Badlands, which is due out next year, will take place in a desert environment, namely the province of Nasdara, described by Bohemia as “a war-scarred desert region where thirst is lethal”.
Nasdara offers the biggest map in DayZ history, according to the developers; it’ll provide you with a staggering 267 kilometers squared to explore, which works out at roughly 103 square miles. That’s a lot of wandering.
Bohemia Interactive is promising the chance to “endure droughts, manage hydration, and survive a harsh arid spring climate” as you explore Nasdara, which, the developer says, will tell “a story of failed invasions, abandoned cities, and the silence that followed decades of war”.
Not only will you find “dense towns, abandoned ruins, oil fields, and infrastructure left behind by war”, but you’ll also get the chance to encounter specific infected variants unique to Nasdara. You’ll also find loot “tailored to the region”.
Of course, the new region also offers the opportunity for some more of DayZ‘s classic player-driven storytelling, so there will be plenty of stalking through silent towns only to get suddenly sniped by someone a hundred meters away. Joy of joys.
You can check out the debut trailer for DayZ Badlands right here. It doesn’t give too much away about what you can expect from the expansion, but it will give you a sense of what the vibe will be.
Last year saw developer Bohemia enjoy an “extremely successful” twelve months, driven by the success of Arma Reforger and other titles (including DayZ, no doubt).
Alongside the long-awaited Arma 4, Bohemia is also currently hard at work on KSA, a so-called “Kerbal Space Program killer” that should help to fill the (quite literal) void left by Take-Two’s supposed dastardly machinations.
DayZ Badlands launches across PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One (and current-gen machines thanks to backwards compatibility) next year. We don’t have a more specific release date for it than that yet, unfortunately.
