DayZ Will Get New Livonia Map Expansion in November

DayZ Will Get New Livonia Map Expansion in November

Bohemia has revealed that DayZ will receive its first official map expansion with the addition of Livonia featuring 163 square kilometers of new terrain.

It hasn’t been too long since DayZ went gold with its 1.0 release late last year. It has, however, been a very long time since I’ve been excited about Bohemia Interactive’s controversial title. Since its initial early access release in 2013, it’s one of my most played games, with almost all of those hundreds of hours coming in the first few years. Nothing has enticed me to come back until now. Bohemia Interactive have announced DayZ’s first official DLC in the form of DayZ Livonia.

DayZ Livonia Map DLC Trailer

This official DLC map will be released alongside the planned DayZ 1.06 update and include the Livonia map. This region was first developed by Bohemia Interactive for the Arma 3 Contact expansion and has since been repurposed to meet the post-apocalyptic challenges of DayZ. It will feature an impressive 163 square kilometers of lush green landscapes, dense forests, lakes, and for the first time, rivers. Amongst the existing challenges of infected and other players, bears will be added to the game. This should provide not only a new challenge for travelers but also new opportunities for hunters.

The landscape, however, won’t be the only change of pace for DayZ players. The temperate late summer climate of Livonia will bring frequent rainfall and thunderstorms, providing players with additional environmental challenges during their travels – and making protective gear and shelter more important than ever. And, of course, with a new wilderness comes new wildlife. Most prominently, there is a new predator roaming the forests of Livonia – bears! – and they won’t take kindly to human-shaped threats. Survivors will have to be well-equipped to effectively deal with these grizzly foes.

I’ll be the first to admit that I haven’t been pleased with much of the design choices that have gone into DayZ in the past, but I am looking forward to exploring something new. It’s more enticing than all the previous changes to the game, and hopefully, it can rekindle some of that spirit that has made DayZ cement itself on my all-time favorite games list.

While Bohemia didn’t provide us with a specific release date, the official Xbox Twitter account revealed that DayZ Livonia would arrive on Xbox One on November 13th. It would be reasonable to assume that the release on PC will match or even preceed that. A version for the PlayStation 4 was also announced. No word yet on pricing, but we’ll keep you updated. Now, time to start convincing my friends to head back into DayZ!