The best DayZ videos so far: the gentleman bandit, heroic high fives and more

DayZ has surpassed 400,000 sales after less than a month in alpha. That's enough players to generate plenty of horrifying and hilarious survival stories. Luckily for us, a few have been caught on camera. We've picked out a few of our favourites and gathered them below to offer a glimpse of the weirder side of Bohemia's survival horror sandbox. Read on to see one man's grand quest for a DayZ high five, and an encounter with a nightmarish musical killer.

The quest for a high-five in DayZ

Some have entered DayZ determined to survive at any cost, others just want to spread happiness up high, down low and on the rebound. 1TimeGames posted his attempt to high five a guy coming out of Grishino. The response was non-violent, but predictable, and perfectly timed.

Fortunately Koto and Sen picked up where his predecessor left off, and traveled the island recording the varying reactions to his quest for a high five. A noble cause in a post-apocalyptic world.

The Gentleman Bandit

Banditry is a way of life in DayZ. The best way to stay in supply is to take what you need from other players, but there's no need to be a dick about it, as Joab Gilroy demonstrates. His methodical robbery of a poorly armed player is so reasonably executed that his victim asks to team up.

An Agonising Execution

You've encountered a man with a broken leg dragging himself across the road in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. Do you A) laugh at him and run off or B) put the poor guy out of his misery so he can respawn and play again. Lir Ik makes the humane decision in the end, but his well intentioned attempts to axe murder a wounded and immobile man is more horrifying than it ever needed to be.

Dean "Rocket" Hall ambushed by a bandit

Not even DayZ's creators are safe from other players. In the middle of a livestream DayZ designer Dean Hall and his pals are ambushed by an unseen bandit in the dark. They hole up in a building, panicking, enjoying the same fear that all DayZ players have felt at some point in their careers.

An encounter with a psychopath

There are lots of murderers in DayZ, of course, but they're ordinary murderers who kill others for understandable reasons with conventional weaponry, like axes and assault rifles. It's rare to find a killer with a theatrical knack for menace, but this player did on one dark, quiet night.

Survivor Sonic

Also some players have started doing this. Nobody knows quite why.

The Wiggle Cultists

Is the collective raving of the Wiggle cultists some form of defence mechanism, like the squid spraying ink on predators? Or do they believe in the dark power of wiggling? It's impossible to tell, and nearly impossible not to giggle at the ranting and raving that greets this group of bandits.

More will surely surface in the months to come as DayZ grows and grows. Got some favourite DayZ videos and moments of your own? Share them in the comments.

Tom Senior

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.