Battle Royale Game H1Z1 Includes Cars-Only Mode With Official Launch On PC

H1Z1 has been in early access on Steam since 2015, but the game officially releases with version 1.0 today, February 28. Originally, H1Z1 was a survival game with a separate battle royale mode, but was eventually split into two games in 2016 between Just Survive (survival) and King of the Kill (battle royale). However, battle royale spawned a huge following and the mode was rebranded as just H1Z1, which is now out of early access.

One of the more notable features is the all-new Auto Royale mode; a twist on traditional battle royale that sticks a team of four players into a vehicle against up to 29 other teams (limit of 120 players total). Players cannot leave the vehicle and must take down enemy teams by shooting out of the car while one person drives. The result is a hectic car combat game in the normal H1Z1 map, but with power-ups, weapon pick-ups, and high-flying ramps scattered across the map. Think of it as Twisted Metal meets team-based battle royale.

Teams choose between an armored vehicle (ARV) or a more nimble sedan at the start, and then drive across the map to find color-coded pick ups for fuel, land mines, smoke screens, oil slicks, and weapons (like the brand new light machine gun) that spice up the fight. Just like battle royale, this mode features an ever-shrinking circle that forces players into smaller zones. Developer Daybreak Games stated that it tweaked the map so a few more objects and structures are easier to drive through which helps prevent vehicles from getting stuck. In addition, ramps provide a way to jump between buildings and land atop structures for even more power-ups.

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Although Auto Royale is a separate queue in H1Z1, the car combat mode is currently in beta and will be tweaked based on community feedback, according to Daybreak. With the official release of the standard battle royale game, however, comes a slew of gameplay tweaks and quality-of-life improvements. One new feature in the base game is tactical deployment, which lets players choose where to parachute in at the start in addition to providing a heat map that gives players an idea of where others chose to spawn. Airdrops have also increased in frequency and will contain more valuable loot. There's a new in-game scoring algorithm to reward aggressive play-styles, not just top 10 match placements, which wraps into the start of the first in-game competitive season for H1Z1.

H1Z1 is a PC exclusive available now on Steam for $20 USD. Console versions were being worked on but development went on hiatus back in 2016. For more on battle royale games, you can check out our comparison of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Fortnite: Battle Royale.