H1Z1 and PlanetSide 2 developers Daybreak Game Company went through another round of layoffs yesterday, though the number of employees affected is unknown. This is the third wave since the beginning of 2018.

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Daybreak Game Company have announced that Just Survive, the game that was originally H1Z1’s survival sandbox, will be shut down soon. They’ve already delisted the game from Steam, so no one new can buy it, but current owners can play until the servers close in October. H1Z1 will continue in its current battle royale form (previously called H1Z1: King of the Kill), after the two split off earlier in development.

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H1Z1 has rolled out a major new update today, officially bringing the survive-y Battle Royale out of early access. Along with it, developers Daybreak have added a surprising new variant playmode, called Auto Royale. Auto Royale is a blend of regular Battle Royale systems and perennial PlayStation favorite Twisted Metal. (more…)

This month’s Humble Monthly is offering an early unlock of H1Z1 to those who subscribe. That’ll cost you $12 / 10 at the moment if you fancy it. H1Z1 is currently available from Steam for 14.99 / $19.99, so even if it’s the only game you want out of this Humble batch, you’re in a good place. (more…)

Survival sandbox H1Z1: Just Survive [official site] today receives a big update but also loses its name. The update will bring a new level, a new base-building system, a revamp of weapons and melee combat, and more. At the same time, H1Z1: Just Survive is now named simply Just Survive. Developers Daybreak Game Company don’t state a sensible reason for the rebranding but I’d guess they’re trying to avoid people confusing it with H1Z1: King of the Kill, the massively popular Battle Royale ’em up spin-off designed by the creator of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds. (more…)

Update Night is a new fortnightly column in which Rich McCormick revisits games to find out whether they’ve been changed for better or worse through ongoing development.>

I had assumed that, were I trapped in a kill-or-be-killed nightmare future Battle Royale-type dealie, camouflage would be important. In a world where everyone very quickly gets their hands on some form of weapon, I d want to take lessons from that Hunger Games kid and dress up as a rock, or at the very least find a nice pair of neutral khakis that would help me blend into the environment.

But the player-controlled murderers of H1Z1: King of the Kill [official site] don t subscribe to that kind of wisdom. I ve been killed by people in tie-dye leggings, by people in unicorn masks, and by one particularly memorable opponent who seemed to be cosplaying as a gorilla. They ve killed me with luminous green shotguns and pearlescent assault rifles, and rather than pause to consider the emotional impact of taking another life, they ve stood over my limp body, crotch-chopping like 1990s WWF wrestler.

I braved all this and more in order to appraise the game’s current condition. Has H1Z1: King of the Kill been improved by recent patches, and is it yet worth your time and money? (more…)

There’s an archetypical plot running through a lot of post-apocalyptic fiction, and particularly zombie fiction, where the survivors realize that they never before felt as alive as they do in the midst of their fight for survival. World War Z has no shortage of characters who found meaning and purpose in the zombie apocalypse, a disaster that liberated them from postmodern malaise. A similar sentiment ran through a couple early issues of The Walking Dead. Several times during its run, Battlestar Galactica paused to show you just how lost and hopeless the main characters were before their world was destroyed. If only, such fiction says, something awful would come along and imbue our lives with meaning as we fight to preserve them.

In H1Z1: Just Survive [official site], I think I’ve found the cure for apocalyptic romanticism. Because its name proves to be a pretty accurate summary of what’s on offer in this Early Access build, and a reminder that sometimes survival isn’t enough. Even in a survival game.

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Multiplayer open-world zombie sandbox crafting building survival etc. H1Z1 [official site] is splitting in half, like a zombie’s who got stuck in a door and its torso is crawling onwards ever hopeful while its legs wonder what they’re going to do with all these t-shirts. Look, it’s first thing on Monday morning, okay, so you’re not getting That Sparkling Alice O’Connor Wit yet. But from next week, H1Z1 will be two games. H1Z1: Just Survive will keep doing that sandbox survival stuff while H1Z1: King of the Kill will focus on man vs. man arena murdertimes, like its Battle Royale mode. While H1Z1 was planned to become free-to-play, neither of these will.

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Ridealong is a new monthly feature where Brendan travels deep into game worlds to meet, question and journey with the inhabitants that dwell within. This week, the EVE Online pilots that are plundering H1Z1.>

The Goons are invading. They’re coming over the top and killing everyone in sight, without remorse, without even a word of warning. But this isn’t an invasion into one of the unruly star systems of EVE Online, the usual scene you picture when you think of the brusque citizens of Something Awful. This is an invasion into an entirely different game. The Goonswarm has spread to H1Z1.

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H1Z1 [official site] is to hold its first official tournament on September 26th at TwitchCon, the streaming service’s new event highlighting their community and broadcasters. It will use the Battle Royale mode, where groups of players are dropped into a world and then must duke it out until only one or a small group remains, like The Hunger Games with zombies. Or like Battle Royale with zombies, I guess.

Surviving means prizes, and here it will be share of a real-money pool funded by cosmetic purchases within the game, similar to Valve’s International funding. Various famous streamers have been invited and a social media competition is running to let members of the public get involved too. The announcement trailer and details are below.

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