生存

Bohemia Interactive say DayZ Badlands is the largest expansion so far for the popular open-world zombie survival game.
Read the full article here: https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2026/07/dayz-badlands-gets-a-fresh-teaser-and-its-set-to-launch-in-october/

Hey Survivors, 

Welcome to Dev Blog 5 - Week 76 of the DayZ Badlands expansion. 

This dev blog was written by our colleagues from the design team, along with editorial support from our art and marketing teams. It’s focused on a major feature that is coming to DayZ Badlands: the rebuilding system, specifically in regard to base building. 

Before we start, we’d like you to know that the team is actively following your reaction to the dev blogs, collecting feedback, and having a blast while doing so. We thank you for all your love and opinions. We really enjoy putting these together and hope you’ll wishlist DayZ Badlands here.  

This is an interesting one, so buckle up! 

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!

The Goal of Rebuilding 

We hinted at this a long time ago when we first published our DayZ Badlands Steam store page. Some of you may have speculated then, and now we are confirming it. Here is the teaser we showcased at Convergence Fest yesterday.

Having a base in Nasdara will be a significantly unique experience. Instead of just placing modular fences with gates in open fields, you will also be able to rebuild and/or barricade a selection of houses. Nasdara being a disputed territory/borderland prone to armed conflicts allows us to justify scattering some of these broken down structures throughout the terrain. It should make sense aesthetically and functionally.

The overarching goal of rebuilding mechanics on bases is for every server to tell a different story over time. On one server, a town not far from the spawn point could be fully restored and fiercely defended. On another, the same town could still be rubble. On one server, a building could be fully restored and used by a squad and fenced around the perimeter as a full-on base. On another, the same building could be partially blockaded by a single player holding on to their dear loot. Players will be able to shape the environment just by playing, and no two servers will feel the same after a few days. This also applies to wells! Some wells may be fully restored, while others need your labor and the labor of another friendly you met, to be able to get drinking water. Or maybe you are a giving person who’d restore wells for the convenience of all players (we hope you’ve all met such players).

But we digress. Let’s get specific about base building.  

Rebuildable Bases 

Once you jump into Nasdara, we are sure you will instantly know which houses are rebuildable. That’s what we observed at the LAN party we recently held for our content creators. At first, you’ll likely discover these when you open your inventory indoors. Then you’ll learn to differentiate later on down the line. There are approximately 20 variants of these broken down houses. 

There are specifically two types: mud houses and stone houses as shown below. Both will have varying degrees of destruction. They will also reflect the socio-economic background of the previous owners. Stone houses were owned by more affluent people and tend to have different stories, whereas mud ones were owned by commoners. This will be just a cosmetic difference. 

This does not extend to the level of durability or “the raid-ability” of the houses. The durability is largely dependent on the materials you will use to restore the houses (discussed further in the section below). The amount of materials you need also depends on how destroyed the structures are (i.e. the degree of destruction). Some houses may need a heap of materials to restore everything, including some parts of the roof. Meanwhile, others may only need you to add a door and windows.

Another interesting thing about rebuilding is that it is completely optional if you don’t want to entirely rebuild the structure. You can choose a room, block off an entrance fully, put the doors in another, put in the window, and call it a day. You can limit and manage as much as you want.  Here’s an example video of us restoring a two-storied house.

There are over 5,000 rebuildable houses strategically placed around Nasdara. As you move further from the cities and into more of a back-country setting, you will see houses that are more torn down, houses that are in need of a lot of materials to restore. This is intentional in order to keep these damaged buildings further away from areas with potential foot traffic and in smaller and more rural locations. Essentially, it’s harder to repair them, but they are in the most ideal locations for bases. You might be wondering, “Why bother restoring buildings when I can stick to a house in its default state?” Aside from bragging rights, and having a base in a sweet location, cleaning out the rubble of torn down houses can yield a certain number of building materials. Speaking of which...

Building Materials 

You may have already noticed the trowel in our teaser above. This is a new tool to accompany new materials: brick and mortar. In addition to these, you can still use previous regular materials like logs, planks, and metal sheets to restore.

There are a few distinct ways to restore and barricade houses: 

•
wooden restoration

•
brick restoration

•
wooden + sheet metals for windows and doors

•
brick wall to barricade the door

Of course, it’s not an either-or situation, as you can mix and match all of the available resources you can get your hands on. As we said above, since the damaged state of the houses can vary, and you have to manage your resources, you really have to consider your choices of building rooms that you'd want as your base. The picture below shows the same model of a house in various states.

The Code Lock 

The code lock is probably the most requested community item, and now we are finally caving in. It feels relevant to introduce this with Nasdara, given its history and the setting of the land, but we won’t be revealing too much yet. Base building will be the primary usage, of course, both on the new rebuildable doors and on existing fences. 

If you are on PC, you know by now that the community has already done a great job modding this. It is similar to that community code lock, but with the additional work on input handlings for controllers, which makes it accessible for console players. You will also need a charged V9 battery for it to work. It will stop working and automatically unlock if the battery power runs out, which can be observed on the back of the lock indoors. This means you will need to check the batteries from time to time and maintain the code lock to keep it functional. 

The code lock can be damaged if it is not attached to a door. If it ends up damaged, you’ll need to repair it with electronic kits.  As long as it is attached to a door, it should be indestructible. The code lock also has features like "brute force protection," so that other players cannot repeatedly guess the PIN without any consequences. The protection period starts after a certain number of wrong PIN attempts. That’s when the lock will temporarily refuse new code entries and give a warning response instead. This protection escalates with continued failed attempts, but resets after a correct PIN, after enough time has passed, or when the lock is unlocked from within.

Thank you very much for reading.

This dev blog is a little different from the others as we didn’t discuss our work on the feature, but rather the feature itself. We know this is what you’ve been waiting for, so excuse us for cutting to the chase and dumping a bunch of info. Hope you are as excited as we are. We can’t wait to see what you’ll do with the new rebuilding mechanics on Nasdara. We haven’t decided on the topic of the next dev blog yet. We’ll get back to you on this very soon.

For now, please wishlist DayZ Badlands! Tell your friends to wishlist DayZ Badlands! Hold up other survivors at gunpoint and tell them to wishlist DayZ Badlands! You know what you need to do! Tell them the devs sent you.

And in case you haven’t heard, the release window for DayZ Badlands is in October.

Big love,  
The DayZ Team

Contributors

The Goal of Rebuilding: Özgür, Lynn
Rebuildable Bases: Revu, Lynn
Building Materials: Özgür, Lynn
The Code Lock: Steve, Lynn
Capture Support Screenshots: Lynn
Capture Support Video: Mark
Editorial Support: Özgür, Tom, Lynn

Hey Survivors,

The 1.29 Road to Badlands update has officially landed across all platforms!

Just to recap the Experimental Article: Road to Badlands is not merely a pit stop to address technical issues. It’s a regular-sized update. In essence, we are utilizing the summer update window to bring assets from DayZ Badlands to the community ahead of time. So there aren’t just the usual bug fixes. There’s brand new content to enjoy! Here’s what you can look forward to in the Road to Badlands update: 

•
SCR-17 Battle Rifle (with additional Black variant for Sakhal) 

•
2 Buttstocks and a magazine for SCR-17

•
Holo Sights 

•
Tanker Helmets 

•
Military Caps 

•
Brass Knuckles and a special new variant

•
Nasdara Military Convoy on Chernarus and Livonia

•
Desert Camo variants for Combat Backpack and Plate Carrier Vest

If you want to learn more about some of these assets, we discussed them in detail in the experimental article. Here are the patch notes for Steam.

There are also a few things we didn’t go over in that article. The most notable of these is the knuckle duster with the word "Friendly" engraved on it. This was done in collaboration with our friends at AWE me and Man at Arms: Reforged, a collective of blacksmiths and craftsmen who re-create various weapons from pop-culture and gaming. Check out their amazing channel and Man at Arms: Reforged series on YouTube if you haven’t! And stay tuned for the recreation of the "Friendly" brass knuckle! In addition, along with the Nasdara convoys, we’re also introducing the female variant of the infected soldier since there has generally been a lack of variety in that regard. 

For our dedicated Experimental players, you might remember us testing a unique Central Economy setup back in April of last year. The original intention for this was to get a perspective on what loot and flow for Nasdara will look like, but also to emphasize survival elements of our other maps. With 1.29, we will be implementing some of those changes we made back then to our live environment. We are hoping the changes will slightly slow down the gameplay and bring more focus on resource management and general character upkeep. This should result in more importance being placed on how you loot areas early after you spawn.

We have also adjusted where players are able to find certain guns and rifles. While players can still expect to find them at their usual locations, like hunting camps or military bases, there should be more intent to their placement now. Rather than having a choice of firearms, players might have to work with what they find. Other gear, like vests and helmets, has also been made rarer to reflect this change. You might also start finding items at locations where you did not previously. Some examples of this could be some weapons/firearms now spawning exclusively around farms, and NBC items spawning outside of only Medical Centers, Fire Stations, and high-tier military areas. We recognize these changes might be significant to some of you, so please share your feedback with us on our new feedback tracker, as we are more than keen to make changes and adjustments in the future.

As with all roads, we hope this Road to Badlands will lead us to its destination: the eventual release of DayZ Badlands. The question is "when?" We would like to announce the release window for DayZ Badlands and we have prepared another teaser for it. Stay tuned as we’ll be airing it tomorrow on Convergence Indie Showcase at 20:00 CEST. Keep in mind that this is still a release window. We'll confirm the exact date later on down the line. Meanwhile, Dev Blog 5 for DayZ Badlands will be dropping on July 17th, so definitely stay tuned for that as well. 

Some of you may already know that we invited a selection of community leaders and content creators to Prague for various activities, including a LAN party to try out DayZ Badlands. So if you need more info on DayZ Badlands, you may pester the creators in the image below. Thank you to all who visited us here. It was a blast to see you!  Shout out to HollyRex, Slexify, Fresh Spawns John, Fresh Spawns George, Happybombs, WOBO, RunningManZ, Soursweet, Taskforcegaming, M1ndr. (Not in the photo) JLK, Kaitiac,  Lottie. Ladyadventure, GeekFPS, TopeREC, Playguy, 9TSIXTH, and MB93.

We’d like to thank you, the general community, as well for your unwavering support and infinite patience. Working on Nasdara has been an immersive experience (with the European heatwaves), and we’re so excited for you to see DayZ Badlands.

Please wishlist it if you haven’t already.And please stay safe and hydrated!

On behalf of the DayZ Team,
Lynn

P.S. Enjoy the teaser for the update!

Greetings, Steam Survivors!
A few years back, we introduced a few basic community items, including badges, trading cards, profile backgrounds, and emoticons. This time, we are expanding the collection with new items you can purchase on the Steam Points Shop!With these items, you will be able to customize your Steam profile with DayZ visuals to the fullest. Here are the types of items you can now get from our Points Shop:

•
Animated avatars

•
Animated backgrounds

•
Animated profile frames

•
Animated emotes

Get Em Here!
To state the obvious, the operative word here is “animated!”
We also kept most of the visual elements of these items as close to the game as we could. For example, there are two types of animated frames: window frames taken directly from the three maps, and frames based on your character’s progression and playstyle. They all should have their own unqiue animation. The avatars are also taken directly from the game, featuring actions and emotes you can perform in-game.

Emotes are the only category where we allowed ourselves to be a bit looser, hand-drawn, and cartoonish. Because, why not!? Even though we pride ourselves on being gritty and rooted in realism, we also like to pay tribute to the lighter side of DayZ, where the community takes itself a little less seriously and goes on goofy runs with randos and/or friends. That is why we added our iconic “friendly wiggle.” Its extension, the Chicken Wiggle, should be attributed to our resident chicken expert, Joito. 

There are also two animated backgrounds for each of our maps, all with their own uniqueness. (Edit: Chernarus: Rest in the Moutains is still in submission) Think Livonia Rain, Sakhal’s oppressive snow, and Chernarus’s desolation. We do have something planned for Nasdara as well, but it is a bit too revealing as a spoiler, so we are holding it back until the release of DayZ Badlands. (Psst, wishlist it if you have not! Big love!)

All in all, we hope you like these items! Feel free to send screenshots of your customized DayZ profiles to our socials.
All the best,
The DayZ Team

Hey Survivors,
We are back with a summer update!
We’re happy to announce that the 1.29 Road to Badlands update is entering its experimental phase. 

Before we go further, let us clarify what the Road to Badlands is. Simply put, it’s an additional update to 1.29, where selected assets from DayZ Badlands are made available for you to enjoy ahead of its release. You may have noticed that this update is still an update to the 1.29 version. This is because we have already allocated the 1.30 version for DayZ Badlands and its accompanying main game update. But rest assured that Road to Badlands contains an amount of content and fixes that’s comparable to many of our regular game updates. Hence, the update has been dubbed "Road to Badlands".

Let's jump right into what Road to Badlands has in store for you!

One thing that you will quickly notice once you start hunting down the convoy crashes is that they are completely different. This is because we have replaced every convoy event asset with wrecks from Nasdara. They will still be in the same "dynamic locations" as before, and their tier should be relatively the same. This also means that Sakhal will not be seeing the convoys since it does not have a land equivalent to these events. Instead, there should be unique loot specifically for Sakhal. Speaking of which, let’s get into the goodies.

We’re certain that many of you will be excited about the crown jewel of this update: the SCR-17. It’s one of the community’s most requested firearms, and DayZ Badlands and Nasdara provide the perfect setting to introduce this battle rifle. Chambered in .308 with a 20-round magazine, the SCR-17 is highly modular and features two distinct buttstocks: a default variant and a precision buttstock, rivaling the versatility of the LAR. Players can mount all western optics on the SCR-17, alongside the new non-magnifying Holo Sights, which are also compatible with other western firearms. The weapon comes in two color variants: a default tan version and a special black version. The black variant is reserved for Sakhal, as it is more aesthetically suited to the region.

Following the character cosmetic and headwear tradition of update 1.29, we have added a tanker helmet with color variants and a military cap with color variants. There will also be a combat backpack and plate carrier vest, which have been Nasdara-fied with desert camo. There are a few more assets that we’ll leave you to discover on your own.

Moving away from the assets, we also had a chance to mitigate various exploits, crashes, and bugs that were prevalent in update 1.29. A few examples of these bugs include issues related to firearm zeroing (on Xbox K&M servers), stamina not returning after weighted items are dropped, and players unable to dig up stashes buried next to player-built walls. For the full list of fixes, you can find them in the patch notes here!

As always, the experimental period for Road to Badlands will take 2–4 weeks before it is released on stable across all platforms. Please send your thoughts through the feedback tracker. Speaking of which, we have a new and improved feedback tracker! Starting with this experimental update, you should be able to send your reports and feedback through the new one here. 

We hope you’re as excited as we are to be on the journey to the Badlands! Please remember to wishlist DayZ Badlands if you haven’t already! 
Thank you all for your support.
Big love,
The DayZ Team

Hey Survivors,

Welcome to Dev Blog Week 73 of the DayZ Badlands Expansion.
This 4th dev blog is brought to you by our colleagues from the environment team. They’re going to give you an overview of what PvP might look like in Nasdara, as well as the nitty-gritty on how some of the environment assets in Nasdara are made.

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. 

This is a hefty one, so let’s just jump right in.

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!

PvP in Environment Overview 

Long-range sniper battles in DayZ tend to create unique, engaging, high-intensity duels that players know and love. Whether it’s landing the perfect 500m shot or hearing a round crack overhead and scrambling to escape, those moments define the tension that makes DayZ so memorable. 

But Nasdara isn't just about sniper gameplay through empty valleys. On the contrary, this terrain is densely packed with farmland housing, small settlements, large villages, and cities. Many of these POIs offer tight CQB gameplay in urban environments, and feature more gameplay focus on interior spaces, multi-story apartments, and rooftop access to spice things up. 

We try to strike a good balance. While taking the high ground may feel rewarding, you have the same chance if you are stuck below. The terrain complexity will offer flanking possibilities, the rocks  will offer cover, and the foliage will offer concealment. Smart movement now matters more than ever. So let us get into more details. 

Inspiration for the Environment 

Many empires and countries fought in places like Afghanistan and Iraq, which Nasdara takes a lot of inspiration from. Afghanistan in particular can be referred to as the “Graveyard of Empires” due to historical examples of foreign powers invading the country. The likes of the British Empire and the Soviet Union found long-term occupation and political control to be more difficult than anticipated. Military forces over the past century have spoken about the harsh atmosphere that a desert environment entails. Not only due to bodily needs, but also because of the varying transitions between open areas which allow snipers to dominate, as well as the cluttered maze-like streets that enable easy ambushes.  

Nasdara draws a lot of inspiration from real-life geography and events, but gameplay balance is important to the core of DayZ. Whilst there is less vegetation compared to other maps, there is still plenty of bush coverage. There are also trees, walls, and fences that provide cover across fields. The dried-up rivers of Sefid-Darya and Siyah-Darya also allow for a natural path of protection throughout the landscape. Whereas many assets are used to block line-of-sight and provide cover in urban areas, escaping through back alleys is a viable option, as is hiding in a nearby building or using your tools and surroundings to survive. 

The city of Kabul has been described as a labyrinth. We wanted to replicate a similar feeling with the cities in Nasdara. Streets are packed with life. Street vendors, vehicles, and other clutter can be found in the civilized areas of the map. You will get lost in the alleys of building blocks or the dense market areas. But they can also provide an easy escape from pursuers by using your surroundings to hide, provide cover, or break the line of sight. 

PvP In Practice 

Verticality has always played a massive part in the core gameplay of DayZ. Whilst the odd apartment block or any tall building helped players overcome their opponent on previous maps, Nasdara offers this in a new way of focused urban combat. Blocks of buildings reach up higher than ever before. City housing dwarfs the streets and makes urban areas feel like a concrete jungle. 

Players must use these new buildings to their advantage or to simply take in the views and scout ahead. We know players like to camp in buildings, and with the introduction of more vertical structures, these locations are sure to attract players who prefer that playstyle. What is the counter to this? Don’t worry, more vertical structures will not entirely favor those who prefer to camp at these locations. There will be neighboring structures, or even taller ones nearby, to potentially give you the edge over your opponent. Not only will other structures help, but using your surroundings will provide you with a better approach. Certain buildings that will definitely be occupied by campers have structures or props in place to assist you in dealing with these players. So watch your back if you begin to make yourself comfortable in a building. 

Another aspect of urban settings that we are fully taking advantage of are the interconnecting rooftops. They also provide an overview of the busy streets below, where players can easily be picked out. A game of cat and mouse may occur where players below will have many options for cover due to the cluttered surface. Traversing rooftops isn’t just a bonus for PvP. They provide quick access to neighboring buildings, allowing you to enter them from a different area, speeding up how fast you loot or hunt. It may be safer or it may not. You will have to learn as you play.  

Bazaar Assets

The Bazaar is a set of modular buildings based on traditional Middle Eastern covered markets. There are six pieces that connect together, including an entrance, straight sections, turns, and a corner, all of which allow for different market layouts. Inside, you'll find arched walkways, domed ceilings, various shopfronts, and details like hanging signs, carpets, and scattered goods. One of the shop types is a fortified gun store that spawns military loot. The whole set is meant to give Nasdara's towns a more authentic feel, while also providing interesting spaces for players to explore and fight through.

Research

During the research phase, we took a look at a lot of real-world locations across the Middle East and Central/South Asia:

•
 Muy Mubarak Masjid (Kandahar, Afghanistan) – A palace and shops complex that features an inner courtyard, with stores facing outward and along interior paths.

•
Haji Bahudin Market (Kandahar) – A modern shopping market with a similar concept.

•
Taktak Street Bazar (Kandahar) – A street market full of carts, shops, and bird sellers with cages.

•
Marko Bazar (Pakistan) – Studied via drone footage; notable for solar panels on rooftops.

•
Dara Adamkhel (Pakistan) – A famous gun market where weapons are sold and manufactured; features U-shaped shop clusters and street-level stores.

•
Turkish street bazaars (Istanbul) – Temporary weekly markets that transform parking areas on specific days.

Blockout

Based on real-world research, we settled on a modular approach for the bazaar system and defined it first as a 2D layout as seen below:

This decision was driven by several key factors:

•
A modular kit (Entrance, Flat, Flat Half, Right, Left, Corner) allows environment designers to assemble bazaars of varying sizes and configurations. By adding variations of the Flat piece, larger bazaars can be built without looking repetitive.

•
Our research revealed that real-world bazaars in the Middle East/Central Asia share common structural DNA: covered corridors, arched entrances, interior courtyards, and rooftops with domes - a key and instantly recognizable silhouette element. 

•
The design incorporates elements critical to DayZ's gameplay: ladders for rooftop access and verticality, openable doors and gates, and gun shops as distinct loot points that players can identify through signage. The rooftop ladder heights were chosen to match with neighboring assets, enabling traversal across connected rooftops of different heights.

•
The bazaar pieces were also designed to sit alone or alongside existing assets (e.g. House_2C2), allowing us to create even more variations of different bazaar configurations.

Blockout Concepting

Before sending the bazaar blockouts to our artists, we tested several variants in our engine, just as quick and dirty blockouts, mainly to answer the following questions:

•
How wide should the corridors be?

•
How tall do the arches need to be to feel right?

•
Where do players naturally expect to find entrances, shops, and rooftop access?

•
How do different piece combinations read when placed in the context of different towns?

Pictured below: early inner courtyard concept based on one of the refs. We ultimately decided against this because it made the inner courtyard feel more like a palace rather than a chaotic marketplace.

Final Blockout

After answering these design questions, we created final to-scale blockouts. These final versions were modelled on a grid with repeating, same-sized elements, allowing artists to reuse pieces and save time.

Top down view of a bazaar piece blockout showing modular proportions and the roof dome fitting logically into the building structure:

Example of final environment designer blockout vs final asset:

We also introduced windows from the domes and a few enterable interior apartments, creating extra tension and gameplay opportunities.

Feedback

During our feedback rounds, we generally focus on gameplay, asset believability, and occasionally touch on art topics as well. With these assets, we focused on keeping them consistent with each other as they are designed to be used together. We also made sure the artists pay special attention to the insides of the building, which are generally not seen when connected to a second bazaar piece. Sometimes we like to place the bazaar as a single standing structure without any adjoining bazaar piece. So it was important that the inside wall also looks somewhat good.

Other examples of feedback we gave:

•
Making sure all unopenable doors are barricaded

•
All windows are broken or barricaded

•
Architectural believability (ceiling material, shape, roof trims, pillars)

•
Clear player paths for comfortable navigation and looting

Screenshot from WIP assets reviewing material consistency:

Texturing before/after feedback:

Player path cleanup:

Addition of more shops

Our initial asset request only featured gun shops and a few residential apartments in one of the variants.

During an internal playtest, we noticed that the bazaars could use more deliberate spots that focus on loot, so we requested extra shops be added.

The generic shops feature mostly generic loot, while the gun shops feature military loot. There is also some loot that spawns along the corridor, thus rewarding exploration.

Pictured: regular shop vs gun shop. Note the signs with guns on them which mark the gun shops, as well as the iron bars on gun shop windows. These elements help distinguish the gun shops from regular shops.

Thank you so much for reading!

We hope this has given you some insight into what you can look forward to in DayZ Badlands. Speaking of things to look forward to, you’ll be able to enjoy some of the assets in Nasdara, namely one of the firearms (SCR-17) featured in this blog, as soon as the 1st of July next week with the Experimental branch of the Road to Badlands update. Stay tuned to learn more about it in upcoming release articles.

A lot of things are happening, and will be happening over the coming weeks. This week, we invited some community members to Prague to try out DayZ Badlands (amongst other things). We’re also planning to discuss a new interesting feature in the next dev blog on July 17. You're going to like this one for sure.

As always, big love from us!

The DayZ Team

Contributors

Since multiple people usually contribute to the environment, and most of the screenshots include their work, here’s a special shoutout to Florian, Jacques, Katie, Mike, Nejc, Ramiro & Suvi.

PvP in Environment Overview: Mike Docherty
Inspiration for the Environment + PVP in Practice: Jacques Bellamy
Bazaar Assets: Nejc Kokalj
Capture Support: Lynn
Editorial Support: Özgür, Tom, Lynn

Hey Survivors,

Summer is finally here in all its rage. And rage on, we shall. That’s why we’re extending the sale of DayZ and its bundles as part of Steam’s Summer Sale. With discounts on Steam at an all-time low of up to 50%, the sale will end on July 9th. There’s no better time to get DayZ than now!

The summer update for DayZ, Road to Badlands, is just around the corner. The experimental period begins on July 1st. This update will bridge the summer gap between 1.29 and the release of DayZ Badlands with 1.30. More importantly, it will bring new content for you to enjoy. For example, all convoys in the base game have been updated with assets from DayZ Badlands, and you’ll be getting a powerful new firearm to hunt down at the convoys.

We also had a stream about this on Monday. Watch it here to get more info from our community manager.

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?

If the oppressive heat of summer is bumming you out, it’s the perfect time to cool down with the oppressive cold of DayZ Frostline, which is also now 50% 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.

Deluxe Edition & Cool Edition

More comprehensive versions of DayZ, the Deluxe Edition and Cool Edition, are also on sale with up to 50% and 40% off, respectively. These bundles provide better overall value across a variety of packages.

We are also publishing the fourth DayZ Badlands Dev Blog tomorrow, so stay tuned if you’re interested in PvP prospects and a breakdown of how we make some of our environmental assets. Click the wishlist button for DayZ Badlands if you haven’t already! 

Stay hydrated and stay safe!

Big love,

DayZ Team

Greetings from Bohemia, Survivors!  

DayZ and its bundles are, once again, at an all-time low of up to 55% on Steam as part of the Publisher Sale!  The sale will go on until 25th of June.

It’s genuinely an exciting time for DayZ right now, with DayZ Badlands coming up on the horizon and the 1.29 Road to Badlands update just around the corner! We are also publishing dev blogs for DayZ Badlands every three weeks. You can read the latest one below!

Click the wishlist button for DayZ Badlands if you haven’t already!  

If you were around for the DayZ Frostline release, you already know that DayZ Badlands will also be bringing interesting things to the base game. Get a hold of DayZ while it’s at a great price!  

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?

DayZ Frostline is now 50% off, which is also an all-time low! It’s a great summer deal if you want to get ahead of winter and pick up DayZ Frostline. The current 1.29 updates have also brought more warm clothing and gear to DayZ Frostline, as well as terrain visual upgrades for Sakhal!  

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.

Deluxe Edition & Cool Edition 

More comprehensive versions of DayZ, the Deluxe Edition and Cool Edition, are also on sale with up to 50% and 40% off, respectively. These bundles provide better overall value across a variety of packages.  

The 1.29 Road to Badlands update, the bridge between now and the release of DayZ Badlands, is also coming up fast, where you will be able to enjoy some extra content in the base game. Hope this will help liven up your summer DayZ runs!  

A Publisher Sale means our comrades on other projects are also having great deals. Check out legendary titles like Arma Reforger, or if you’d like to explore our incubator titles, check out Everwind.  

Hope you are having a lovely summer!  

All the best,  
DayZ Team 

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, 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.

A short-sleeved uniform shirt

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.

OBR Uniforms

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.

FNO Night Desert Camo Uniform

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.

Regional Military Infected

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.

Regional Police Infected

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.

Regional Civilian Infected

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.

Variety of Infected (Without color variants)

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.

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.

From left to right: Scimitar Sword, Döner Knife, Police Baton, Jambiya Dagger

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.

The Jambiya Dagger

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.

The Akinaka Dagger

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.

The Scimitar in Action

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.

First revision of the Jambiya

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.

Stealth-takedown with Jambiya Dagger

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

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

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

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: Expats.cz & Praha 6

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

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?

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.

One 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.

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!

What 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!
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

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!

Since 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

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.

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!

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

When you think of genre defining games, for me, DayZ immediately comes to mind. As survival games have continued to arrive thick and fast in recent years, the impact Bohemia's zombie-stomper has had, alongside the likes of Rust, cannot be overstated. Years after we first heard Bohemia Interactive was potentially working on a sequel, a DayZ 2 trademark has today officially been filed.

Read the rest of the story...

RELATED LINKS:

DayZ's Badlands expansion adds the survival game's biggest, most brutal map yet

The best DayZ servers 2026

Legendary survival game DayZ hits new highs following second expansion launch