DayZ patch notes are weird, new experimental build coming Monday
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Every Friday
GamesRadar+
Your weekly update on everything you could ever want to know about the games you already love, games we know you're going to love in the near future, and tales from the communities that surround them.
Every Thursday
GTA 6 O'clock
Our special GTA 6 newsletter, with breaking news, insider info, and rumor analysis from the award-winning GTA 6 O'clock experts.
Every Friday
Knowledge
From the creators of Edge: A weekly videogame industry newsletter with analysis from expert writers, guidance from professionals, and insight into what's on the horizon.
Every Thursday
The Setup
Hardware nerds unite, sign up to our free tech newsletter for a weekly digest of the hottest new tech, the latest gadgets on the test bench, and much more.
Every Wednesday
Switch 2 Spotlight
Sign up to our new Switch 2 newsletter, where we bring you the latest talking points on Nintendo's new console each week, bring you up to date on the news, and recommend what games to play.
Every Saturday
The Watchlist
Subscribe for a weekly digest of the movie and TV news that matters, direct to your inbox. From first-look trailers, interviews, reviews and explainers, we've got you covered.
Once a month
SFX
Get sneak previews, exclusive competitions and details of special events each month!
Dean Hall has posted the details about an experimental build of DayZ he and his team have been preparing over the last two weeks. It might be the first patch to have ever balanced a game's “stomach capacity.” DayZ is weird.
Here are a few other changes in the upcoming build that underline what a strange and terrifying game DayZ is:
- “Saline transfusion doesn't refill full blood.”
- “Charcoal and Tetracycline tablets won't give sick badge if you aren't actually sick.”
- “Players can't pile backpacks inside of other backpacks, backpack-inception style. You can only put one backpack inside of another backpack if the backpack that is being put inside is empty.”
Notable additions to the build are the ability to edit the character's name in the main menu, the coastal harbor town of Svetloyarsk (and surrounding areas), and a sawed-off shotgun recipe. Oh, and you can also pick berries now. The thought of some player leisurely picking berries on an island filled with zombies and deranged maniacs chasing each other around with axes somehow manages to make DayZ even scarier.
Overall, aside from bug fixes and balancing changes, it seems as if this build will lower your chances of finding firearms in the game, with the number of .357 Pythons and M4A1 rifles spawning lowered.
This experimental build should arrive on Monday, January 20. You can try it by going to DayZ's Steam application settings and choosing the “beta branch.” Be warned though, only a few number of servers run the experimental build, so they'll be harder to get into. Once it looks like the new build doesn't break everything about the game, it will be made available to everyone. You can find the full patch notes here .
If you want to observe the madness, be sure to check out the videos of our PC Gamer UK staff being hunted by the internet .
Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team.

