The new survival shooter Deadside was released on April 14, 2020 on Steam in the early access program. And apparently the release went smoother than many other survival games. Almost 2,000 players have already rated Deadside on Steam and the average is now 78 percent positive reviews.
Already many simultaneously active players: Deadside's current user peak is 8,547 (via Steam Charts). It thus achieves around half the number of players that survival competitor DayZ was last able to gather on average in March 2020.
Stronger than DayZ on Twitch: Twitch has around 3,200 deadside viewers while streaming, while DayZ can only get 1,600 fans to watch. It is of course not surprising that a new game attracts more interest from viewers than a product that has been established for years. Still a decent feat for a new early access game.
A new challenger
Deadside viewers will immediately notice the parallels to the genre forefather DayZ. We fight in Deadside also in third person or first person perspective on one Eastern European game world for survival.
We use it authentic weapons and have to ensure our food supply. Both games largely dispense with a story – players tell their stories almost by themselves, by teaming up with others, surviving together or fighting each other.
1:02
The new DayZ competitor Deadside shows its game world in the release trailer
The big difference between Deadside and DayZ: There are no zombies in Deadside. We are instead fighting human NPCs that appear in the game world in the form of different factions. This can even lead to large PvEvP battles where groups of players join the factions.
You can also Accept missions and thereby defend an area against AI opponents, for example. In return, Deadside will reward you with money that you can invest in better equipment.
That happens in safe zoneswhere trading with NPC vendors and other players is possible. In addition, Deadside wants to offer a place to rest, tired of fighting.
Deadside – view screenshots
What do the first player reviews say?
What players like about Deadside:
Deadside is well received by the majority of Steam players who have rated it. Players often praise the smooth release and satisfactory performance of the game. Player Clone Snow, for example, writes:
"I'm very surprised to get more than 60 FPS in an early access game."
Especially when it comes to optimization and server functionality, survival fans are suffering from the often bumpy early access releases. We remember, for example, the problematic release of Last Oasis. Here the developers had to switch off the servers completely before the problems could be solved.
more on the subject
Plus report on games in early access: super or overrated?
At Deadside, the Russian developer Bad Pixel has obviously done a good job in this regard, technical problems only occasionally appear in the Steam reviews. However, are often praised the attractive world design and the pretty unreal engine graphics. The general focus and combat gameplay also meet with approval and praise.
Players don't like Deadside:
However, criticism of Deadside also appears on Steam. For example, some players feel the movements as too slow and unguided. Player Kumab writes:
"At first glance, the game seems to be fun, like a new breath of DayZ air. But running around and having a few shootouts just doesn't feel that great, and the interface is annoying."
Despite some negative votes, the basic tenor of the majority of players remains positive. Deadside is supposed to 12 to 18 months in early access stay and cost 17 euros in the basic version, for the supporter edition with double storage capacity and a set of cosmetic items you pay 24 euros.
Table of Contents
