Here Is What Standalone Day Z Will Look Like

For a while, it seemed like Day Z and Arma II would be one of those hair-pulling, plate-flinging couples that never musters the guts to actually make a clean break. "Oh, I'm really leaving this time," Day Z would bellow, hesitantly hokey pokeying its way out the door. "Yep. Here I goooooo." And then... nothing. Moving on, after all, is tough - especially when the old relationship was comfortable and also supplied you with all of your vital organs, which you're now in the process of clawing from your stomach to replace with new ones. I think we've all been there. But now, Rocket's given standalone Day Z's alpha a release window, and it's right around the corner. So then, let's take a look inside, shall we?

Admittedly, if you were expecting a massive graphical overhaul, you might have just felt a tinge of disappointment sink its fangs into your smile. This upgrade, however, is more about form than function. Hall explained:

"Our artists have been very busy, methodically going through all buildings in Chernarus and adding interiors. The task can be pretty difficult, when the buildings were made, interiors were not considered so it can be a challenge for the artists to make the interiors both look correct and work properly."

"This is complicated by our desire to dramatically increase performance, and given the scene complexity inside cities we need to balance this with the desire to increase building scavenging opportunities inside the cities."

So it's a juggling act, but one with exceedingly admirable intentions given the Day Z mod's current state of worrisome wobbliness. Will it pay off? Only time (and, after that, heaps of testing) will tell for certain. Granted, this one's still ultimately rooted in Arma, so concerns about clunkiness, zombie behavior, etc are entirely understandable. Fear that its ornate Persian rugs will be subpar, however, is not.