History VideoGame / DayZ

*** They also have a lot more bullets to a clip than any other weapon type, meaning it is possible to carry more rounds on your person and rarely will have to either drop another item or leave the ammo where it is.

'''Note:''' [[InternetBackdraft For your own sake]], do not mistake ''[=DayZ=]'' with its {{Mockbuster}}, ''The War Z''.

** [[ModernWarfare Veterans only get headshots.]]

** At the same time if you can find sufficient rounds for it, or stock up over time, which [[ItemFarming can take a long time depending on your luck.]] But it can also result in a heavily geared player with enough ammo for more than enough encounters to keep them going and even raid for resupplies, given the few specific locations such Military level gear and ammo drop, and in the process nudging this trope more into the one directly below.

'''Note:''' For your own sake, do not mistake ''[=DayZ=]'' with its {{Mockbuster}}, ''The War Z''.

The game takes place in a fictional 225 square kilometer post-Soviet state called Chernarus after an outbreak of an [[TheVirus unknown infection]] that has wiped out most of the world's population. Players can stay out of the way and fend for themselves, team up with other survivors, or be a bandit and murder everybody they come across, or anywhere in between. Whichever they choose, they will also have to contend with what's left of the indigenous population, turned into shambling infected.

* DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist: Averted. You will lose everything you looted and respawn at the starting location, probably far away from any friends you may have been with. However, you can store equipment in a tent to resupply yourself; but you better pray no one came across it or [[ObviousBeta that the server doesn't delete it]].
** A subverted inversion? Tents are persistent across server resets and an infinite number can be placed on an infinite number of servers. At this point in the game they are so common that a new player can fully arm themselves in a matter of minutes on a high-population server and veteran players are more worried about their tents being found than they are about being killed -- [[NotTheWayItIsMeantToBePlayed in a game where permadeath is the cost for failure]]. While some of this is [[ObviousBeta the result of a recent bug]], there has been a steady sea-change away from risk and consequences for some time.

* DroneOfDread: Pure, unadulterated NightmareFuel.
** On a more literal level, the drone of an approaching helicopter is usually a sign of impending death. It means that an organised group of survivors have spotted you. Expect the chopper pilot to be directing friends on the ground towards your location.

-->''DayZ is, at best, [[NintendoHard unreasonably cruel]].''
-->- [[WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]]

'''Note:''' For your own sake, do not mistake ''DayZ'' with its {{Mockbuster}}, ''The War Z''.

* FluffyTheTerrible: An unusual and meta variant: "DayZ" is pronounced like "daisy", which is grossly inappropriate for a [[ZombieApocalypse game]] [[CrazySurvivalist like]] [[AHouseDivided this.]]

* {{Nerf}}: [[DiscOneNuke Early-availability handguns.]] Players used to spawn on the beach with pistols that could kill other players in 5 or 6 hits and zombies in two. Then ''DayZ'' took their pistols away. Still, if they found a handgun while looting it would take only 1 (if you have a revolver) to 2 (if you have a makarov) shots to kill a zombie. So, after further nerfs, it now takes an entire clip of Makarov bullets to kill a zombie (short of a headshot) and two full clips to kill another player.

* {{BFG}}: The anti-materiel rifles and light machine guns are extremely powerful, but the tradeoff is that they are extremely loud, giving away your position immediately.

* JustHereForGodzilla: [=DayZ=] has done this to the original ARMA II that the Steam store page for the basic Arma 2 game has a service warning (usually reserved for serious regional compatibility issues or the like) informing the user that the mod requires the game's expansion pack and providing a link to a suitable discount bundle.

-->''DayZ is, at best, unreasonably cruel.''

* DroneOfDread: Pure, unadulterated NightmareFuel.

'''Note:''' For your own sake, do not mistake ''DayZ'' with its {{Mockbuster}}, ''The War Z'', made by the same people that made ''[[VideoGame/BigRigsOverTheRoadRacing Big Rigs]]''.

* {{Nerf}}: Noobs and handguns. Players used to spawn on the beach with pistols that could kill other players in 5 or 6 hits and zombies in two. Then ''DayZ'' took their pistols away. Still, if they found a handgun while looting it would take only 1 (if you have a revolver) to 2 (if you have a makarov) shots to kill a zombie. So, after further nerfs, it now takes an entire clip of Makarov bullets to kill a zombie (short of a headshot) and two full clips to kill another player.

** Partially played straight, however, with regard to most anything with a scope. Sniper rifles usually kill in two hits anywhere and the [=AS50=] and M107 will kill you from 3 to 15 times over ... if they hit you in the toe. But then, those [[JustifiedTrope weapons are designed]] for "[[InstantDeathBullet one shot, one kill]]".

* LightningBruiser: some of the zombies

* RealityEnsues: You will die very unexpectedly, often just to random snipers desperate to get a can of beens off your corpse. The zombies themselves are often much less of a problem then actual people with guns.

** On the other hand, without a flashlight or night vision goggles, playing at night is all kinds of ''terrifying'' since the default vision level at night is slightly further than your own hand, but you can still hear the zombies...

* RealityEnsues: You will die very unexpectedly, often just to random snipers desperate to get a can of beens of your corpse. The zombies themselves are often much less of a problem then actual people with guns.

[[http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/01/07/dayz-standalone-still-progressing As of January 2013]], the development team behind ''[=DayZ=]'' have announced the standalone version would be delayed due to expansion and improvements in the possible future to make the game more unique. [[YourMileageMayVary Make of that what you will]].

'''Note:''' For your own sake, do not mistake ''DayZ'' with its {{Mockbuster}}, ''The War Z'', made by the same people that made ''[[{{VideoGame/BigRigsOverTheRoadRacing}} Big Rigs]]''.

-->- [[ZeroPunctuation Ben "Yahtzee" Croshaw]]

* DaylightHorror: The game during the daytime, which is when most players are likely to be playing. Especially so with high dynamic range lighting. Going out of a building or treeline into direct sunlight will briefly light-blind the player, particularly if they face a sun low in the sky. Likewise, going from outside indoors will briefly
plunge the player into darkness. Trying to stick one's face out of cover to see if the coast is clear when one hear's zombies about can be a tense experience.

* DaylightHorror: The game during the daytime, which is when most players are likely to be playing. Especially so with high dynamic range lighting. Going out of a building or treeline into direct sunlight will briefly light-blind the player, particularly if they face a sun low in the sky. Likewise, going from outside indoors will briefly plunge the player into darkness. Trying to stick one's face out of cover to see if the coast is clear when one hear's zombies about can be a tense experience.