Sony unveils new MMO free-to-play survival zombie game

Sony Computer Entertainment have unveiled a brand new free-to-play MMO game.

Late yesterday, Sony Computer Entertainment president, John Smedley, revealed via Reddit that Sony have been working on a game called H1Z1, “a massively multiplayer game were players fight for survival in a world where death is the only sure thing”.

15 years ago, a virus called H1Z1 has caused widespread devastation, with some dying whilst others have remained alive but are infected with the virus. With the few remaining non-infected humans, they must fight extinction against the infected.

Players also have to fight off wild animals, find food, shelter and craft weapons.

“Our vision for this game is very simple but ambitious,” said Smedley. “We are starting with what I would call ‘Middle America’ – an ‘anywhere and everywhere’ town. The world is massive as you’ve come to expect from our games. Over time we will grow the world until we have our own version of the U.S. after the death and destruction brought on during the H1Z1 epidemic.

“It will be our own version of America. We’ll have urban cities and desolate wide open places. All connected seamlessly. Our focus is building a sandbox style of gameplay where players can build shelters out of resources in the world. They can even work together to make amazing fortresses complete with weaponry to help defend against both the Infected and other players.”

Smedley also said that the game’s servers will hold thousands of players, as well as multiple severs with different rules, making it more unique than other survival zombie games on the market.

“The main thing that differentiates H1Z1 from the other great games in the genre is the emphasis we are putting on player ownership and building,” he continued.

“We want you to be able to form roving gangs that are headquartered out of an abandoned warehouse that you’ve taken over or a house you’ve built from scratch after having cut trees down and secured the resources to make it. We are giving players the tools to make their own towns, camps and defenses, and they can decide how to set up their base.

“We’re building in all the social features you’ve come to expect from an SOE game [such as] grouping, proximity voice chat, voice chat for your gang, and many other cool social features.”

Player Studio creations will also be opening up for player-created items to be included in the game

He concluded: “Our goal here is to provide emergent gameplay that will allow our players to make the world their own the way they want to. One of the best things about H1Z1 being an MMO is the fact that with a lot of people playing, we’re able to see all different kinds of gameplay.

“If you prefer a quiet life as a farmer raising crops, we’re going to make sure your zombie apocalypse fantasy is complete. If you’re like me and you want nothing more than to kill everything that moves, by all means see how that goes. It’s going to be a blast!”

A gameplay video was also released yesterday, shown above, and the game’s first five screenshots, shown below.

Fans are welcome to ask questions via the subreddit and a live stream of the game will be occurring next week.