Gisteren zorgde de zombie survival game The War Z na zijn aankondiging voor wat rumoer op het grote boze interwebz. Want veel mensen vonden deze PC titel met MMORPG elementen wel erg veel leentje buur bij de ArmA II DayZ mod speelde. Maar de makers claimen al sinds vorig jaar met deze titel bezig te zijn en dat het nog voor 2013 (lees vijf maanden) in de winkels zal liggen. Any way, hier zijn de eerste screens en het persbericht.

A session-based, massively multiplayer online game, The War Z is inspired by all things zombie and is set in a true post-apocalyptic, zombie-infested world where other players can prove to be a greater threat than the undead hordes that populate the land.

"The whole team is completely obsessed with the zombie culture as well as with post-apocalyptic games like Fallout," said Eric Nordin, senior game designer for The War Z. "Since we started the design of the game, we have continued to incorporate new features that inspire us as we go. At the end of the day we want to ship a game that we want to play ourselves and we're hoping that other gamers will recognize our passion and be excited about playing as well!"

In The War Z, players are thrust into a post-apocalyptic world five-years after a viral outbreak that ravaged the human population and left, in its wake, a nightmare of epic proportion. Hordes of undead zombies infest the cities, and the few remaining human beings have devolved into a lawless, nomadic society where the sole objective is to survive at any cost. Players must use skill and cunning in order to acquire food, weapons and other supplies necessary for survival. While navigating the vast landscape, they will discover cities teeming with the undead as well as other players that may or may not be friendly.

With strong RPG elements, TWZ allows players to earn experience points and then "spend" those points to learn new skills that will aid in their survival. Additionally, there will be opportunities to acquire in-game cash and gold, which can be used to purchase supplies at one of the few safe-settlements located in the game. The War Z will also allow those playing together to join servers as a group or locate friends already playing and join the same server.

"Hammerpoint Interactive is exactly the kind of developer we look to partner with," said Sergey Titov, CEO, Arktos Entertainment Group. "They came to us with an innovative game design that fit our investment strategy and we're excited to be backing this project."

Some features of The War Z include the following:

Survival Horror MMO with entire game world build around a Zombie Apocalypse

Two modes of play: Normal (downed characters can be revived after "cool down" period) and Hardcore (death will be permanent)

Ability to switch between first-person (FPS) and third-person (TPS) perspectives

Huge maps ranging between 200 and 400 square kilometers

Meld of PvE (player versus environment) and PvP (player versus player) gameplay

Unique social elements, including bounties, rewards, help requests, trap setting, etc.

Safe Settlements: safe cities within the world where players can purchase, sell and store items as well as post notes for other players

Single purchase, downloadable client with ability to play full game without subscriptions or requiring in-game transactions

Full developer support with regularly scheduled, free content updates

Dedicated public servers as well as private servers that can be completely self-managed in game client