Steam Community

Store Page

DayZ

All Discussions Screenshots Artwork Broadcasts Videos Workshop News Guides Reviews

DayZ

Store Page

View Stats:

Global Achievements

Show

All News

Syndicated News

Official Announcements

DayZ Badlands | Dev Blog (Week 70) | Wishlist now!

Jun 5

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3816030/DayZ_Badlands/Salutations, Survivors!

Welcome to our third dev blog for the DayZ Badlands expansion! In case you are wondering why this dev blog came early, we mentioned in the last article that we would be doing one every 3 weeks instead of 4, as a compromise between our original plan and the schedule we had for DayZ Frostline. This particular dev blog serves as an extension of the previous one[dayz.com], where we talked extensively about civilian clothing. This time around, we are getting into military and higher-tier gear, as well as some new melee weapons that you will see in DayZ Badlands. We have also snuck in a small firearm.
This dev blog was primarily written by our colleagues on the art team.

We really enjoy putting these dev blogs together, and if you have not already, please wishlist DayZ Badlands. Your support means a lot to us.

Without further ado, let’s get into it!

Disclaimer The information shared in our development blog reflects a work in progress. The details discussed are subject to change before release. We intend to share these progress updates to provide some insights into the development process and foster community trust. Thank you for joining us on the road to Nasdara!

Regional Uniforms for Nasdara

For police clothing, we created a short-sleeved uniform shirt with a lightweight silhouette, using shoulder epaulets, chest pockets, and a classic collared cut to keep it readable as police gear at a glance. We also explored several iterations of the local police patch, using real regional police badges, shield shapes, circular emblems, official signage, and local typography as reference. The final direction keeps the look official, but fictional enough to belong to Nasdara.

[c]A short-sleeved uniform shirt[/c]

On the military side, the OBR and FNO uniforms cover two different roles. The OBR uniform has a more standard field-uniform feel, with practical details like roll-up sleeves, epaulets, and flap pockets. The FNO jacket is more specialized, built around a longer field-jacket silhouette with a hood, fishtail back extension, drawcords, and a night desert camouflage pattern.

[c]OBR Uniforms[/c]

Compared to the greener woodland gear seen in Chernarus and Livonia, these uniforms use more beige, olive, faded blue, and night-desert tones. The wear treatment also leans more into dry dust, faded fabric, and sun-exposed materials, helping them feel more at home in Nasdara without losing the grounded DayZ style.

[c]FNO Night Desert Camo Uniform[/c]

Art Direction of DayZ Badlands

Beyond the production and improvement of assets, the art team has worked on rethinking its pipeline and approach to creating Nasdara and its inhabitants. DayZ Badlands is in many ways an opportunity for us to do things differently and better. Of course, this direction still respects the founding spirit of DayZ, but offers a clearer and more cohesive vision. Our broader goal is simple: to make the infected look and feel more human.

[c]Regional Military Infected[/c]

As you may already know, the “infected” are just ordinary humans who contracted an unknown disease in the initial outbreak. That makes them extra violent toward you, the immune few: the survivors. The visuals of the Nasdara infected should reinforce this, as well as the fact that infected exist because of the disease and are not merely a generic horror movie spectacle of “undead zombies.”

We focused primarily on three pillars as part of the new art direction for Nasdara:

Regional Influence: Every scrap of clothing and worn detail should hint at who they were before the outbreak: their home, their work, their culture.
Progression of Decay: Every visual element on the infected should tell a story of sickness, neglect, and deterioration.
Visual Storytelling: Every silhouette, texture, and shape should express their story at a glance.

We approached this process with a guiding principle: subtlety.

[c]Regional Police Infected[/c]

The effects you see on infected are now more distinct and identifiable, but every symptom, stain, and injury has a logical cause that links them together. A torn uniform tells you where they worked. Bruises, vomit, cuts, sunburns, and sweat show how much the body has endured and how far gone it is. Every stain has a source. Nothing is decorative. Everything is a clue. More details on infected below.

The Infected of Nasdara

We wanted the infected to feel like they truly belonged in Nasdara, not like they had simply been carried over from previous regions. Regional garments were a big part of that, including local civilian clothing, workwear, police pieces, and military-related items. But we also paid close attention to how Nasdara’s environment would affect their bodies and clothing.

[c]Regional Civilian Infected[/c]

For this map, the infected went through a deeper visual direction pass to better connect them to a Middle Eastern-inspired region while still keeping them grounded in DayZ’s overall infected style. The art department also created shared resources and visual guidelines to help keep the infected cohesive across the whole set, especially since multiple artists were working on different models. This helped keep details like skin treatment, dust, sweat, sun exposure marks, clothing wear, and color grading consistent.

[c]Variety of Infected (Without color variants)[/c]

Instead of relying on the darker, wetter, mud-like dirt that fits Chernarus or Livonia, the Nasdara infected use lighter dust, dry grime, faded fabric, sweat staining, sun exposure marks, and heat-related skin details. The idea was to make them feel shaped by the same harsh climate as the rest of the environment. They are still recognizably DayZ infected, but their clothing, skin, weathering, and overall palette should immediately tell the player that they are somewhere different.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3816030/DayZ_Badlands/Melee Weapons in DayZ Badlands

Nasdara as a fictional, Middle-Eastern region gave us the opportunity to explore a very rich collection of countries and cultures to research and include, and melee weapons are a great example of this. DayZ Badlands comes with a collection of iconic regional melee weapons, such as the Shamshir-styled scimitar, the Jambiya curved dagger, and the Akinaka. Naturally, there will be other varieties of non-historic melee weapons to find in urban areas, like the Police Baton for knocking out assailants, or the Döner Knife, ideal for slicing meats.

[c]From left to right: Scimitar Sword, Döner Knife, Police Baton, Jambiya Dagger[/c]

Determining which real references best suited the collection in Nasdara usually started with researching the Persian Gulf region's history in weapons, and extending that outwards to the Arabic Peninsula, or occasionally east, towards South Asia. Many of these weapon styles are hand-crafted to be unique and occasionally luxurious. Museums, auction houses of historical artifacts, and documentaries on these regions and their art heritage were good points of reference to find an exemplary item. For instance, in real life, every Jambiya is unique in their materials and decoration. Each of them speaks to their origin and its owner’s prestige.

We were keen to include these unique weapons in Nasdara to enhance the experience of the region being old and rich in its heritage. The craftmanship tradition of blades is unique and deep in the real-world cultures that inspired the creation of the Takistan region. Our hope is that players will find something special in these items that invites them to drop their old blades for something that stands out.

[c]The Jambiya Dagger[/c]

Another example coming in DayZ Badlands is the Akinaka. This original Scythian design for a double-edged blade has been around for over two and a half millennia. It's been used by various civilizations over centuries, but has been recognized as a Persian weapon since ancient times. It was used as a short sword by the Greeks, as well as a side-arm, and even as a ritual and burial dagger in ancient Persia. This is an exceedingly rare artifact and it should communicate that whoever holds one in their hands has mastered survival in hostile Nasdara, or perhaps bested someone who did.

[c]The Akinaka Dagger[/c]

DayZ already has a wide choice of hand-to-hand weapons. So it’s important that players find good use in these new melee blades, especially if they're rare, historical loot spread thin across a large region. The scimitar, which you might commonly understand as a Middle-Eastern type of saber or sword, is wielded with one hand, which makes it a fearsome, damaging, and long-reaching melee option with a quick swing. The Jambiya dagger, to account for its traditional metal treatment, will have a higher condition value than regular knives, allowing you to continue using it longer before the need for a sharpening tool.

[c]The Scimitar in Action[/c]

Let's get down to the brass tacks of how we make these weapons.

Once we gather a variety of options for reference, we start with a simple silhouette model before going into higher polygon counts. This first block-out model helps check what the dimensions of the weapon should be, if they look good in the player's hands and on the ground when looted, and if their effective range feels appropriate and authentic to the real item's size. Then a high-detail model is created, from which decoration details and the profile of the shapes are baked down into the texture.

[c]First revision of the Jambiya[/c]

For example, this was an early, first revision of the Jambiya, modeled after a different real example, with a much broader blade and steeper tip. While it matched the silhouette of the specimen, it just didn't look eye-catching enough in the hands of the player once in-game. So a new specimen with a slimmer blade and sharper profile was chosen. A second set of references was then used to texture the item, to get a good feel of the metallic and non-metallic parts, and to see how they look under the strong Nasdara sunlight, or under an overcast sky. Once the look was done, optimized models were then made and finally configured in-game. We're excited for players to see the complete melee collection in DayZ Badlands.

[c]Stealth-takedown with Jambiya Dagger[/c]

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3816030/DayZ_Badlands/The Luger Pistol

We were looking into weapons that could make their way from the fronts of The Great War to Takistan, so a weapon that was a popular sidearm made sense. The P08 feeds from a detachable magazine like a modern firearm. Unlike a modern pistol, however, it uses a toggle lock system to hold the breech and the barrel together as they jointly travel for a short distance before the toggle is cammed and the weapon is allowed to eject a spent casing and load a fresh round. It is also devoid of oddities such as internal magazines that were dead ends in handgun evolution. That makes it special in firearm history. The design held up well and the weapon was an outstanding success. It was used by many European armies and was even considered by the US Army at one point, albeit in a different calibre.

In terms of research, in cases when a weapon was manufactured over many decades and in different places, there is a lot of variation within the type and you have to avoid mismatching features that could not occur together or mismatching features with weapon markings. This is the danger of using photographs from different sources. In practice, it is best to find a specimen and make it your "main reference": a weapon with multiple high-resolution photographs available from all angles that tie the features together. The best sources are museum pages and auction house bids because their descriptions can be trusted, as can the originality of the date of production on the weapon. In cases where there is no set of photographs covering all angles, you have to supplement pictures from other sets and cross reference the features to make sure the two are from a close enough batch. Sometimes there are swapped parts on a weapon from a different batch as originals were damaged or lost, so never trust a single photo unless you can back it up with searches.

Blueprints also cannot be trusted. Most "blueprints" on the internet are illustrations, not actual plans. Finding professional photographs made with narrow lens angles with low distortion is best. Mobile cameras usually use a wide lens so they carry a lot of distortion. You can sometimes correct distortion if you know the exact lens type, but that is more reliable for DSLR photos, as libraries of corrections exist.

While getting the side of the weapon is usually easy, getting a reference for width is the complicated part. Sometimes no good angle is available and a lot of deduction is needed to tie the width at different points to other dimensions.

On the topic of texturing, other than getting the finish on parts correct and the markings to look authentic, there is a lot of work to make the item look like something found in the world. First of all, the finish needs to be slightly uneven on all parts, as well as slightly different between parts. Applying finish to metals is a finicky process and small changes to the composition of chemicals, timing or temperature can produce distinct shades. It is rare for different batches coming out of the bath at a factory to match perfectly. There are also other manufacturing imperfections such as machining marks that are visible through the finish (those add to the character). Weapons also get wear from use and from negligence. Scratches and the fading of the finish should be referenced with IRL photographs because they are not random in nature. Dust, rust, and powder residue - wiped away and applied over and over again, usually most visible in places the finger tips cannot reach – should also be referenced. All of these qualities make the weapon look authentic.

Hope you had a lovely read!

So far we’ve focused quite a bit on showcasing gear assets. That's because the topic of clothing was a bit too large for us to cover in one dev blog. Next time around we’ll attempt to get into the topic of PvP opportunities in Nasdara, as well as a little bit into gameplay perspective and more environment assets. Hope you’re looking forward to it.

Best wishes and big love!
The DayZ Team

Contributors

Regional Uniforms for Nasdara - Windstride
Art direction of DayZ Badlands - Alexander Szaloki
Infected of Nasdara - Windstride
Melee weapons in DayZ Badlands - Jose Pellegrino
The P.08 Pistol - Marcin Pindara
Renders, Screenshots, Captures, Video, and Graphic Support: Lynn, Mark, Jose Pellegrino
Editorial Support: Özgür, Tom, Lynn

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3816030/DayZ_Badlands/

DayZ

784

124

DayZ Badlands | Dev Blog (Week 67) | Wishlist now!

May 15

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3816030/DayZ_Badlands/Greetings Survivors,

The Dev Blog (Week 67) is here.
Last time we covered how vast and new the terrain is. This time around we'll dive into the primary obstacles that slow you down and prevent you from freely traversing the open world, as well as ways to remedy these struggles. Unlike last week's article, which was authored by our creative lead, this one features members from our Art and Design teams.
Without further ado, here is a breakdown of obstacles (terrain & environmental hazards) and protective clothing.

Before we proceeed, please make sure you have wishlisted DayZ Badlands! Now let's get into it.

Disclaimer
The information shared in our development blog reflects a work in progress. The details discussed are subject to change before release. We intend to share these progress updates to provide some insights into the development process and foster community trust. Thank you for joining us on the road to Nasdara!

Obstacles (Terrain & Environmental Hazards)

Exposure to Sunlight

Nasdara is the hottest official map we’ve created for DayZ. The intention was to make the player truly feel like they were in a place that has been under the effects of extreme temperatures for a long time. What was important for us was that the heat doesn't only work as a visual presence affecting the environment, but that it also serves as a gameplay mechanic. One of the ways this will be supported is that direct sunlight will now have an impact on character stats, and players will actively have to pay attention to their vital needs. This includes not only staying sufficiently hydrated, but also extends to keeping your body properly covered, or even remaining in the shade, rather than running out in direct sunlight.

Similarly, the opposite is true. It is a known fact that deserts get extremely cold at night. While we won't go to the extent of reaching freezing temperatures, you can expect severe temperature changes depending on the time of day. Chernarus and Livonia do not ask much of you as a player when it comes to movement around the map. The aspect of environmental pressure on those maps mostly means less than ideal weather or poor visibility. On Nasdara, there are many more factors that will influence your travels across the map. You will have to make strategic decisions based on your current state and available resources.

One of those key resources will be clothing. Not only will it be important to cover yourself from the sun, but the environment will also be hostile to you in ways that go beyond just temperature. Character cosmetics such as glasses, goggles, shemaghs, dust masks, face wraps, etc. will be functional and essential. Keeping your eyes clear and your airways protected will be just as important as staying hydrated or avoiding the sun as you never know when a breeze of dust can turn into something sinister.

Water & Hydration

Hydration will play a significant role in surviving on Nasdara. Up until now, we’ve only used a few ways for players to get water that is safe to drink. Usually that boils down to simply finding a well. For Nasdara, we have taken a deep look into how water is distributed in Middle Eastern countries, both historically and in the current day. Unlike Sakhal, where the original plan of having all the water be frozen was forfeited, this time we managed to find new and more interactive ways for players to satisfy this basic necessity.

There was another reason we had to find new sources of water. Nasdara has very little standing water, so players will have to explore the map and put significantly more effort into staying sustained. But finding water can prove difficult sometimes. If players fail to find any, or if they ignore this requirement entirely, they will suffer increasing consequences, starting with sweating and ending with death.

New Clothing to Combat the Environment

With DayZ Badlands, the clothing pool is expanding in several directions. One area we wanted to highlight is gear that feels especially tied to Nasdara's climate and regional identity. This means:

Lighter shirts (Kameez tunic)
Vests
Looser pants (Shalwar Pants)
Sandals
Protective eyewear (dust goggles)
Several forms of headwear and face coverings, including keffiyehs, turbans, and pakol hats

These pieces help to show that players are entering a very different kind of environment, where heat, sun, dust, and long stretches of exposed terrain all shape what makes an outfit feel practical.

The regional clothing isn’t just about adding visual variety (though some pieces come with a ton of variants). Kameez shirts, for example, will have a huge range. On the art side, a big part of the work was researching how these kinds of garments are cut, wrapped, layered, and patterned. We wanted the silhouettes, fabrics, colors, and surface details to feel believable for the region, while still fitting into DayZ's grounded survival setting. Patterns and materials had to read as practical and worn rather than overly clean or decorative, so the clothing still feels like something survivors could find, reuse, and repair. Nothing here strays far from the visual language we established in DayZ’s base game.

This also gives low-insulation clothing a much clearer purpose. In colder or more temperate terrains, players often gravitate toward warmer, heavier, or more storage-focused clothing, because inventory capacity and protection are usually hard to ignore. In Nasdara, that decision becomes more interesting. Players may need to think more carefully about the tradeoff between insulation, inventory space, and how much of their body is exposed to the sun. A heavier jacket or military piece might still be useful for storage or protection, but lighter, looser garments, breathable layers, head coverings, face wraps, and protective eyewear can make much more sense when travelling through heat, dust, and open terrain.

The goal with these climate-focused pieces was to make them feel useful, practical, and specific to Badlands, while keeping the worn-down, lived-in look that DayZ demands. All in all, clothing in Nasdara isn't just there to change how survivors look. It reinforces something core to the experience. Surviving this terrain means adapting to the region itself.

Hope you had a lovely read!
Please let us know how you feel about the frequency of these posts. For now, the once-per-month approach allows us to curate all the content and assets leading up to our release with extra care, without the risk of oversharing or stepping into spoiler territory, and without straining the dev team's bandwidth. There are a lot of topics we want to cover, however, so we are planning to ramp up production to once every three weeks as a compromise between the previous Frostline dev blog schedule and our current one.
Next time, we'll cover even more clothing items, specifically combatant and military gear, and possibly some melee weapons as well.
Once again, Please wishlist DayZ Badlands if you haven’t already!

Stay safe and big love,
The DayZ Team

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3816030/DayZ_Badlands/

Contributors

Obstacles (Terrain & Environmental Hazards): Martin Palaugari
New Clothing to Combat the Environment: Windstrides
Screenshots, Captures, and Graphic Support: Lynn, Mark
Editorial Support: Özgür, Tom, Lynn

DayZ

1,462

245

Walpurgis Night 2026

Apr 21

Hey Survivors,

We are well into Spring and Update 1.29 is finally out. The team is currently hard at work on the hotfixes and patches for the update, which remain a priority for us to have out as soon as possible. However, the proverbial show must go on, and we are publishing another planned seasonal event of the year: the Walpurgis Event.

What exactly is the Walpurgis Event?

Image Source: https://www.expats.cz/czech-news/article/bonfires-for-witch-burning & Praha 6[www.praha6.cz]

Walpurgis Night is believed to have originated as a commemoration of Saint Walpurga, an 8th century abbess associated with protection against pest, rabies, whooping cough, and, you guessed it, witchcraft. To this day, in parts of Europe, similar events are held at the end of April. They may be known by different names across different countries. Here are some examples:

Czech: Čarodejnice
Germany: Walpurgisnacht
Finland: Vappu
Estonia: Volbriöö
Sweden: Valborg
and many more

Nonetheless, they all serve similar purposes: to drive away evil spirits, to ward off evil, and most importantly to have a good time with your friends and community by a bonfire in Spring.

What is included in the event?

The event will be the same as last year. But if you want a refresher, here's the list of things you can expect.

Bonfire events: Normal Bonfire in Chernarus and Tire Fire in Sakhal (due to it being in a different region)
Seasonal Items: Witch Hats, beloved Witch Hoods, Birch Brooms, Cauldron, Crooked Nose
Return of the Infected Witch

The event will run across all platforms starting from the 21st of April to 7th of May.

Pro tip: You will have plenty of time to hunt that Witch Hood, which can be paired with chainmail coif to have ultimate head protection against melee and infected while medieval-maxxing

Whether it be a moment of respite in your winter journey in Sakhal or a place to scope out freshies being literal moths to a flame in Chernarus and Livonia, we hope you enjoy this event.
Thank you so much for your time.
Best wishes and big love,
The DayZ Team
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3816030/DayZ_Badlands/

DayZ

914

Survive & Thrive Sale

Apr 17

Greetings, Survivors!

We all know it takes more than just learning to keep the stats in white to be able to "make it" in the world of DayZ. You need to develop perseverance, grit, community, and infinite adaptability to be able to call yourself "thriving." Hence, we'd like to celebrate you, the survivors, who have taken and will continue to take on the challenges of the unforgiving world of DayZ and thrive! As part of the Survive & Thrive sale, DayZ and its bundles will be on sale with up to 55% off.

What is DayZ?

The post-soviet countries of Chernarus and Livonia are struck by an unknown virus, turning the majority population into frenzied infected. Fighting over resources has bred a hostile mentality among survivors, driving what’s left of humanity to collapse. You are one of the few immune to the virus - how far will you go to survive?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/221100/DayZ/Update 1.29 has now been released, bringing a much-needed server performance improvement as well as an audio overhaul for all automatic rifles and pistols. You can read more about it, as well as the exciting things we are cooking for the year 2026, in the release article below.

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/221100/view/511861552615262777?l=englishOne thing to highlight from this article would be better terrain blending and the largest pack of winter-themed clothing specifically for DayZ Frostline, which is also now on sale for 40% off.

What is DayZ Frostline?

Sakhal harbors both beauty and danger, offering an experience DayZ fans have never seen before. As you explore, hunt, survive, and unfurl the mysteries hidden beneath the frost line. Unite with fellow survivors or forge your path alone; the choice is yours in this perilous winter wonderland. Preparation is the key to survival, and as the frost sets in, only those with Ice in their veins and Fire in their hearts will endure.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2968040/DayZ_Frostline/Deluxe Edition & Cool Edition More comprehensive versions of DayZ in the Deluxe and Cool Editions are also on sale with up to 50% and 40% off, respectively.

Our most ambitious project, DayZ Badlands, is shaping up to be quite the feat! A prime example of this is the fact that DayZ Badlands is bringing 4 times more assets than we did for DayZ Frostline. You can read more about the scope, the terrain's narrative background, and the glimpse into Nasdara province below with our very first Dev Blog!

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/221100/view/491596622545813805?l=englishWhat better time to jump into DayZ than now, with the new update, new items, and new terrain coming up on the horizon. So wishlist now for more DayZ Badlands news!
https://store.steampowered.com/app/3816030/DayZ_Badlands/Heed our warning to bring your friends and hone your skills for DayZ Badlands, since it's bringing a brand-new way to survive and thrive in DayZ.

Best of luck, and we love you.
The DayZ Team

DayZ

303

DayZ Badlands | Dev Blog (Week 63) | Wishlist now!

Apr 15

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3816030

Greetings Survivors!

The first ever dev blog for DayZ Badlands is officially here! Before we kick off, we'd like to introduce what dev blogs are, what you can expect from them, and how often we’ll be publishing them.

Dev blogs are essentially articles, accompanied by various visual aids, to give you, the community, a glimpse into our development process. Everything you’ll see in them is a work in progress and subject to change. While the primary goal of the dev blog is to foster trust and transparency between the development team and the community, it can also serve as a means for us to collect feedback and insights. The blogs will be written directly by the developers themselves, with the editorial support of our marketing team. It's important to keep in mind that what you are going to see in these dev blogs is only a taste of the DayZ Badlands expansion. That’s because we’d like to keep some things under wraps before it becomes available. The dev blogs are scheduled to come out once a month until DayZ Badlands is released, though the frequency may change if we have more topics to cover. Without further ado, here is our Creative Lead, Adam, ushering in the DayZ Badlands dev blogs with "A Glimpse into Nasdara."

Disclaimer The information shared in our development blog reflects a work in progress. The details discussed are subject to change before release. We intend to share these progress updates to provide some insights into the development process and foster community trust. Thank you for joining us on the road to Nasdara!

Nasdara Province

The crown jewel of our upcoming expansion is a new terrain called Nasdara Province. A land-locked region, the province is part of a much bigger country some players may recognize - Takistan. While it firmly sits within the terrain of Takistan, this isn't the Takistan you may know from Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead, but a brand new one. From a narrative point of view, having Nasdara positioned within Takistan means we have a solid background to build the environment’s storytelling on. Neighboring Chernarus also offers a familiarity that otherwise wouldn't be possible.

Located at the western border with Ardistan, Nasdara Province has had a turbulent history. Stuck between British and Russian empires, it was annexed by the USSR, ruled by a dictatorship, then taken down by western coalition forces. This was followed by years of various militant groups fighting PMCs and each other before the infection knocked everyone down.

We have done our research and explored Nasdara from all angles to ensure the experience is as fresh as it can be. This means animals, clothes, infected, and a variety of new items, including regional firearms. Stay tuned for future dev blogs!

Landscape of the province

There were two main streams of inspiration while building Nasdara:

Real regions within Central Asia (think Afghanistan), as well as countries in the Middle East (think Iran, or even Turkey)
Work done by the Arma team during Arma 2: Operation Arrowhead

Overall, Nasdara will feel very different to seasoned players of DayZ. Typical landscapes with tall forests and rolling hills have been replaced by sparse vegetation, along with deep valleys and sizeable ridges. The landscape’s general openness will certainly challenge anyone who chooses to travel carelessly. Settlements will also feel very different as most are composed from mud, while stone houses will often have their lines of sight interrupted by tall walls made of the same material. But the overall density of settlements (and other points of interest) is similar to what you are used to in Chernarus.

With the Dasht-e Sarman desert creeping in from the east, and border mountains splitting the two countries in the west, the landscape is generally considered very arid, with greenery mostly present around the major watercourses of the Sefid Darya and Siyah Darya rivers.

We also wanted to finalize the "cycle of seasons" by introducing the last missing season which hasn’t been covered in any of our terrains - springtime. We like that the spring season brings a lot of interesting colors in an otherwise same-ish looking desert environment. Nasdara Province is our largest terrain yet, spanning over 267km2. We chose this size for two main reasons:

Arid landscapes are generally vast
Any landlocked landscape requires a natural transition into the outside landscape to ensure players won’t easily go outside the playable area

Speaking of the outside landscape, we wanted to avoid situations like the ones that are present in Livonia, where a lot of the environment’s features (roads, powerlines, etc.) lead to the edge of the landscape and confuse players who follow them. In Nasdara, you will encounter the buffer zone before you reach the actual edge of the landscape. If you follow a road, it may be buried within the sand, a broken bridge, or a landslide. If you follow powerlines, you will see them destroyed as you get closer to the edge. Finally, object density will slowly be reduced as you travel over the border mountain ridge or through the eastern desert. This will give you enough time to realize there’s nothing in this direction.

Exploring the province

As we mentioned in the beginning, Takistan has a very rich history. Players will get to discover ancient ruins, leftovers of monarchies, derelict Soviet installations, wounds of recent battles, signs of a careless oil industry, and even investment projects from western countries like a massive highway running across the entire southern section and crossing the Takistan-Ardistan border, where a massive Dar-e Ardis border crossing is located.

The Takistani population speaks Persian (Farsi). We are aware that this is an added complexity for most of our playerbase (even when compared to Chernarus or Sakhal). That’s why we integrated a multilingual approach that includes both English and Farsi for any important navigational signs.

A lot of time was invested in making sure the environment has many interesting places to explore. The result is 400% more new custom assets than the DayZ Frostline expansion. We will do a deeper dive into environment assets in future dev blogs, so be on the lookout for that!

Surviving the province

With Sakhal we explored the means to stay warm. Players will have to change their mindset in Nasdara, however, as the days are warm. Your choice of gear, as well as its prolonged exposure to the sun, will also have to be considered. And unlike the usual spring times in Nasdara province, the combination of a strong drought, a damaged Sadd-e Marek reservoir, and the general lack of maintenance has led to a serious lack of water within the province. That means players will need to figure out new ways of getting to the water. This includes reviving some of the old ways of getting water in arid regions around the world.

We hope that Nasdara will provide a nice alternative experience to what the base game and DayZ Frostline offers. Stay tuned for more details on individual survival elements in future dev blogs.

That's all folks! Hope you enjoyed what you've seen here. Please try to wishlist to show your interest in DayZ Badlands. It really helps us out. Wishlist below!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3816030Since we primarily talked about how vast Nasdara is this time around, for next month's Dev Blog, we will go over some of the obstacles you have to keep in mind with every playthrough while traversing this massive terrain.

Thank you and see you next month.

The DayZ Team

DayZ

2,017

152

DayZ | 1.29 Stable Update - Out Now & DayZ in 2026

Apr 8

Greetings Survivors,

Update 1.29 is now live on all platforms. Thank you for your patience throughout the extended experimental phase and the delays. Originally planned as a smaller release, it grew into a broader update that adds new assets and tackles long-standing technical debt, including major improvements to server stability and performance. Let us give you a refresher on what update 1.29 has to offer. Find the full patch notes here[forums.dayz.com].

One interesting improvement is our work on terrain blending. Up until this update, Sakhal suffered most from a lack of this feature, producing blocky textures between terrain transitions that unfortunately made things less immersive. That is no longer the case. It’s important to note that the reason this wasn’t as big of an issue in Livonia or Chernarus is because of the abundance of thick foliage and the lack of varied terrain. Sakhal, however, with its general lack of foliage and more varied terrain, demanded a new method of blending detailed terrain surfaces. This will be the same for Nasdara, where there should be even less foliage than on all existing maps.

Our audio team finally completed the firearm sound overhaul, this time focusing on all automatic rifles and pistols. This is a tremendous feat for our audio team, and a hurdle that needed to be cleared, since it’s something that has been in our backlog for a while. It was definitely a worthwhile task, as it should provide a nuanced and fresh start for those who have learned the sound of firearms from afar as a meta gameplay element. Speaking of which, based on your feedback, we increased the types of firearms you can identify, and extended the audibility of firearms to beyond 100 meters. Although the previous change was justified as making it more immersive (since, in reality, sounds often become muddled by echoes), we decided to keep the subtle differences in sound in order to cherish the community’s unique approach to the game. We also fixed a bug that affected the range of shooting sounds indoors, and made sure they now match the range of shooting sounds in outdoor environments.

Aside from the technicalities, update 1.29 still offers a great amount of content, especially to DayZ Frostline. In order to prepare you for your run in Sakhal, we are introducing the largest pack of winter-themed character cosmetics ever: coats, boots, sweaters, and more. We also added a high-tier gear item - the long-haul backpack - which we’re certain will become a favorite of yours. To match the wolf headdress that came with Sakhal, we have also added a bear headdress and a fox headdress. The latter is craftable with the fox pelt and a leather sewing kit. For the bear headdress, much like the wolf, you’ll simply need to avoid hitting the bear in the head. Good luck with that.

DayZ in 2026

2026 is shaping up to be an important year for DayZ, and we’re ready to talk about the outlines of our plan. DayZ is now more than 13 years old, yet still growing, both in terms of the player base and the game itself. The team has also grown exponentially over the last year, and the game’s reach has expanded to new regions. You can read more about those in the DayZ in 2025 article. As always, our goal for DayZ’s future is to continue expanding and refining DayZ’s core experience for the long run.

What does this mean for 2026? Let’s get into it.

DayZ Badlands: Road to Nasdara

As you may already know, DayZ Badlands is slated to arrive this year. We’re not disclosing which quarter just yet. For now, this year will be a different kind of year compared to previous years (but don't worry, you'll see why). After 1.29, we have planned an additional, relatively minor update to 1.29 later in the year, dubbed "The Road to Badlands Update." This update will serve as a bridge, where you will be able to enjoy a taste of some assets and events from DayZ Badlands prior to its release with 1.30.
While plans may evolve along the way, the fact remains that DayZ Badlands is shaping up to be one of the biggest feats we have taken on since 1.0. Here are some of the key focuses for DayZ Badlands:

Nasdara: the largest original terrain we have ever worked on, featuring many new assets
The first-ever two-wheeled vehicles, including a moped and a dirt bike, along with the physics and mechanics to support them
Tons of new character cosmetics, assets, and firearms true to the region
Animals and infected types that are authentic to the setting
Extreme environmental challenges of an arid desert region
Dynamic ways to obtain valuable loot (think real-life communication skills that could potentially give you an edge)
A new take on base building, with new tools and systems that help you repair and reclaim the war-torn landscape

Much like with DayZ Frostline, the base game will also reap the benefits from our work on the DayZ Badlands expansion. Of course, this is only scratching the surface since we are not revealing too much for now. We plan to release in-depth dev blogs starting next week. Wishlist DayZ Badlands Now!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3816030/DayZ_Badlands/Stability, Stability, Stability

The overall stability of the game remains a top priority. We are hoping update 1.29 brings much needed stability to server performance. It doesn’t end there, of course. We are already on standby to support the update with hotfixes in the coming weeks after the release. Here's the link to the feedback tracker, should you encounter any issues. Of course, we will also be closely monitoring your experience and will continue making improvements throughout the year.

Continuing Support for Community Endeavors

As a game that came out of the community, it’s important for us to continue supporting our community. This year, we are looking into making significant improvements to our modding tool workbench.

Seasonal Event Support

We kicked off the first event of the year with the Valentine’s Event, and we hope it brought much needed chaos to the stable servers. We do plan to expand on this event in the coming years, so make sure to submit your suggestions through the official channels. You can expect all the seasonal events this year. That means Walpurgis, Halloween, and Christmas!

2026 is bound to be yet another interesting and major year for us. We’d like to show you more, but where’s the fun in that? We will be utilizing the DayZ Badlands dev blog to slowly roll out what we have in store for you. The dev blogs will run every month starting from the coming week. We are sure you’ll like what you’re going to see.

We sincerely thank and appreciate you all for your infinite patience and continued support.

Enjoy the teaser, and let’s have yet another fantastic year of DayZ!

On behalf of the DayZ team,
Lynn

DayZ

5,350

299

Spring Sale

Mar 19

Hey Survivors,

Spring has sprung, and what better way to usher in a new season than with a discount? DayZ and its bundles are now on sale with up to 50% off. The Steam Spring Sale will be running until the 26th of March.

What is DayZ?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/221100/DayZ/We are currently in the experimental phase for the 1.29 update, which is bringing much-needed performance improvements to the game. Not only that, DayZ's snow expansion, DayZ Frostline, is also getting the largest pack of winter clothing and better blending of terrain surfaces to eliminate the blocky textures. All in all, 1.29 is slated to be a larger update than we anticipated. You can read more with the experimental release article below.
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/221100/view/512983651355460313?l=englishWhat is DayZ Frostline?

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2968040/DayZ_Frostline/More comprehensive versions of DayZ in Deluxe and Cool Editions are also on sale with up to 50% and 40% off, respectively.

Our development for DayZ Badlands, the largest project that we have taken on so far, is coming along quite nicely. We are also ready to reveal some of the elements of this first-ever official desert map with more than 267km² of arid expanse in the borderland of Nasdara. So, stay tuned for the dev blogs coming very soon. Push that wishlist button and stay up to date!

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3816030/DayZ_Badlands/2026 is shaping up to be an interesting and ambitious year! DayZ. 1.29 is just around the corner, and we have prepared the DayZ in 2026 article along with the 1.29 release article.

Stay tuned, bring your friends, and enjoy the sale.

We love you.
The DayZ Team

DayZ

247

1.29 Experimental Release (2026)

Feb 19

Hello Survivors! We hope you are having a great start to the year. We are happy to announce that update 1.29 is now re-entering the experimental phase on PC.
We reverted this update last year to further improve and focus on the stability of the build. The long delay was unprecedented for us in recent years, and we appreciate all your patience and support during this period. But now that update 1.29 is back in the experimental cycle, let’s jump into what you can expect. Here are some of the notable improvements, changes, and additions to the game:

Torso wear with color variants: Long Coat, Military Sweater, Gulag Jacket, and Pilot Jacket
Long Haul Backpack with variants
Animal headwear: Fox Hat and Bear Hat
New footwear: Traditional Boots and Cold Operation Boots
Extension to the bunker on Sakhal and an additional entrance into the bunker
Better blending of terrain surfaces across all maps
Audio overhaul for assault rifles and pistols

You can read more about this in the experimental release article we published last year, written by our creative lead, Adam.[dayz.com]

There is some outdated information that we need to update regarding the central economy (CE) changes we tested last year—specifically for 1.30 and DayZ Badlands. In short, we were experimenting with a different approach to CE that was focused on the scarcity of firearms and gear. Thank you to everyone who provided feedback. These changes will not be present in the 1.29 experimental or stable release. However, if you would like to see these changes revisited in the future, please let us know via DMs on our socials or, even better, through the feedback tracker.[feedback.bistudio.com]

We tackled the aspects of the game that cause performance issues, especially on high-population servers. The main problems were with how the game handled physics and player data; both were inefficient and heavy on performance. To fix these, we extended the experimental period to over two months. Thanks to our team and extensive, large-scale playtests, we identified key issues and implemented impactful optimizations that increased the servers' performance by 400%. In the beginning, servers under heavy stress tests were running at just 9 FPS. By the end, they reached 50 FPS (see the graphics below). You should now notice significantly less lag, fewer performance warnings, and smoother gameplay overall. If you’d like to learn more, check out this stream highlight with our programmer, Filip.

The group respawn system has been updated, so spawning in the same location should happen less often and spawning will be more random. This is still a work in progress and we plan on making further balancing changes in the future. Your feedback is greatly appreciated, so please let us know your thoughts. In addition, there are several measures to address various exploits, some of which you can find with the changelog.[forums.dayz.com]

Rejoice, Modders! We have added significant updates to our modding tools, specifically to our animation editor, as well as many more changes and improvements for the modding community. One important thing to address is that with the release of 1.29, some of the changes we’ve made to the game will affect mods and framework mods. This means many of them may not function properly at first. We are in close contact with several mod owners, and there should be test versions of their mods available on the Steam Workshop that are compatible with the experimental version. For server owners, we highly recommend reviewing your dependencies and checking in with the respective mod authors. This experimental period will serve as a buffer for the PC modding community, giving everyone time to identify and address any issues with mod compatibility.

As with previous update cycles, the stable release is expected to follow 4–6 weeks after the experimental build's launch. We will communicate with you if there are any changes. The DayZ in 2026 article will come with the stable release, and we are planning to put out the DayZ Badlands Dev Blogs by end of March at the latest. In the meantime, we cordially invite you to test the experimental branch and share your feedback.

Once again, we must extend our apologies for the long delays, periods of silence, and changes to our plans in recent months. This level of unpredictability has been unprecedented for DayZ and for us in the past few years. It has served as a much-needed reality check as we address technical debt, upcoming platform support, and, most importantly, the game's stability. We will try to do better and to communicate better.

We love you and thank you for your continued support and infinite patience.
On behalf of the DayZ Team,
Lynn

DayZ

3,355

236

DayZ, Dying Light 2 Stay Human, and Dying Light Bundle!

Feb 5

Survivors Rejoice!

We're bringing two legendary titles together in the ultimate survival bundle. The perfect partners deserve the perfect theme, and there's no pairing more iconic than DayZ and the Dying Light series.

We're thrilled to announce that we've partnered with Dying Light for an epic Steam sale. Now you can secure Dying Light 2 Stay Human, the original Dying Light, and DayZ in one powerful bundle at a massive discount.

It's just in time for Valentine's Day. What better way to test your partnership than by surviving the apocalypse together?

Get em all and rule the wasteland together before this offer ends on February 18th.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/66813/DayZ__Dying_Light/Dying Light

First-person action survival game set in a post-apocalyptic open world overrun by flesh-hungry zombies. Roam a city devastated by a mysterious virus epidemic. Scavenge for supplies, craft weapons, and face hordes of the infected.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/239140/Dying_Light/Dying Light 2 Stay Human:

Humanity is fighting a losing battle against the virus. Experience a post-apocalyptic open world overrun by hordes of zombies, where your parkour and combat skills are key to survival. Traverse the City freely during the day, but watch the monsters take over during the night. Show no mercy, for it will not be shown to you.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/534380/Dying_Light_2_Stay_Human_Reloaded_Edition/DayZ

How long can you survive a post-apocalyptic world? A land overrun with an infected "zombie" population, where you compete with other survivors for limited resources. Will you team up with strangers and stay strong together? Or play as a lone wolf to avoid betrayal? This is DayZ – this is your story.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/221100/DayZ/

DayZ

324

2026 DayZ Valentine Event | 1.29 Status Report

Feb 5

Survivors,
Hope you had a lovely start to the year. January served as a quieter launchpad for the incredibly busy year ahead for the DayZ team. They have been hard at work on the 1.29 update, which will bring much-needed stability and performance improvements to the game. We will be re-entering the experimental phase in the coming weeks. We are preparing a stream, an exp release article, and a Q&A podcast with our project lead , where we will go over all the details about 1.29 and beyond. Additionally, a full wipe will be deployed once the stable build goes live. While we cannot yet confirm when the stable release will be, a safe rule of thumb is 4 to 6 weeks after the release of the experimental build. Of course, we will communicate any changes if they occur.

For now, we are bringing back the Valentine’s DayZ event. It will run until February 19th on all stable servers across all platforms. The main items in the event are the valentine eye mask and the Cupid bolt, which is an incredibly powerful tool to have in your arsenal, as it cures all illnesses in-game (yes, including that one). The only catch is that you can only use the bolt on others, not on yourself. So, perish the thought of F11-ing with the bolt or shooting it in the air so that it lands on you, because that is not going to happen.

However, we are still anticipating a form of controlled chaos. We will be closely monitoring how this impacts your normal gameplay, as we have not run this event on stable servers before. As stated above, the stable servers will be wiped once the 1.29 update goes live, so you will not keep these bolts.

All we can say now is, “Go nuts!”
Warm regards,

The DayZ Team

DayZ

1,950

121

See More Content

No more content. So sad.

You can help: share a screenshot, make a video, or start a new discussion!

Returning to where you were last on this page...

Cancel