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‘H1Z1’ Finally exits Early Access, Debuts New Mode
It’s taken a long while, but Daybreak Game Company’s battle royale game H1Z1 is finally out of Early Access. In addition to finally launching, the game also comes with a new Auto Royale mode, a Twisted Metal-influenced mode where up to 30 teams of four duke it out to be last vehicle standing. The maps are littered with powerups and health, so expect to have those flashbacks. According to H1Z1 general manager Anthony Castoro, “Auto Royale doesn’t rinse and repeat what is currently available on the market, it turns the genre on its head with a fresh approach — arcadey, vehicle-only battle royale unlike anything anyone has experienced before.”
Other changes in the full game include a heat map that displays the locations of other players before you parachute in, increased airdrops, a mini-map to help navigate, and other such goodies that you can check out here. Grab the game on Steam for $19.99. No word yet on when H1Z1‘s sister game, the zombie apocalypse-tinged Just Survive, will be following its sibling out of Early Access.
In the grim darkness of the far future there is only war, but it was a cheerful illustrator from England who helped to define the terrifying war-torn imagery that inspired what we now know as Grimdark (a hybrid genre combining horror with sci-fi/fantasy).
Unfortunately for fans of Warhammer 40,000, Trench Crusade and countless other sources of Grimdark thrills, veteran artist John Blanche passed away this week after struggling with health issues for the past few years.
While the artist retired back in 2023, he leaves us with an enormous legacy of iconic artwork that continues to inspire gamers and storytellers around the world to this very day.
The news is especially gloomy as it was only last year that Daniel Lowman and Napoleon Dynamite himself Jon Heder released The Grim & the Dark: The Search for John Blanche, a documentary following Heder’s exploration of the Grimdark genre culminating in a heartwarming encounter with Blanche in his own home.
Below is one of my favorite pieces by Blanche, his highly influential depiction of Warhammer 40k’s God-Emperor of Mankind on his Golden Throne.
We send our deepest condolences to John Blanche’s family, friends, and fans.
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