Title Picture |Dark Zone Breakout
Author |Eel.
On February 2nd, the "Dark Zone Breakout" fuse version ushered in an update, and the Elmira Mining Area, which can be called the largest map in the Dark Zone, was launched with a new vehicle system. As soon as the new version was released, it quickly sparked a lot of discussion among players.
According to the huge number of calculations, the keyword search index of Dark Zone Breakthrough has reached a new high when it is launched in the new version, and related topics have successively appeared on the hot search lists of Douyin and Kuaishou. This seemingly niche gameplay does not stay in its own circle, but the popularity of the game is still rising.
Tactical gambling - this category that was not favored at first, due to its own hardcore attributes, there have always been doubts about the niche gameplay and the difficulty of gathering a large number of players. But seeing that "Dark Zone Breakout" produced by Tencent Rubik's Cube Studio Group is becoming more and more popular, a question also arises - how did this hardcore game get rid of the niche curse?
When we cast our eyes on the game community: the Dark Zone Terrier Encyclopedia produced by players on Station B, the plot analysis and the gameplay teaching shared by Tieba Weibo, all point to one word: diversification. In the game "Dark Zone Breakout", the player's gameplay is diverse, and different types of players can get different fun in the game; Players are culturally diverse, and they can discuss content in the community and create memes.
Thanks to this diversification, the game's popularity and player base have been increasing since its launch in July 2022. According to QuestMobile data, the number of monthly active users of Dark Zone Breakout has remained stable at around 10 million since its launch. In 2023, the official game has announced the results of registered users, exceeding 50 million in April, 80 million in August, and 100 million registered users worldwide in December. It is also listed as the most popular game of 2023 by Google Play.
Whether it is at the level of gameplay or the level of player ecology, "Dark Zone Breakout" is gradually diversifying. If the development of FPS mobile games is about to move to the next stage, then "Dark Zone Breakout" seems to be the pioneer of that category exploration.
Upward expansion + downward compatibility, multiple gameplay to help the dark zone break through
Different from the common FPS gameplay, "Dark Zone Breakout" incorporates gameplay elements such as collection, evacuation, and sandbox, and shooting battles are only one of the means, not victory conditions, which also makes players' action modes in "Dark Zone Breakout" more diverse.
In the new version of Dark Zone Breakout, which has been updated recently, the addition of new maps and vehicle systems has further enriched players' tactical choices, allowing players with different preferences to have a fun gaming experience. For example, the updated Elmira mining area has the characteristics of a wider area, more rugged terrain, and more abundant materials than in the past.
Based on this, players with different playstyles will likely present a distinct genre, and they can choose any way to play - players who like to play against each other still know that it will be easier to meet other players at resource points, so they may choose to focus on the Prisson Mine area with narrow terrain but high material density, and experience the high-intensity CQB (indoor close-quarters combat) while defeating the boy team, looting materials, and achieving the game's winning goal.
Players who tend to avoid battles will spend more time running maps and looting, and with the opening of the Elmira Mining Area, which is 5 times larger than the North Mountain map, players will have more room to play tactics and form a more diverse strategy.
At the same time, the launch of the new high-fidelity vehicle system will also push players back to think of more diverse tactical decision-making ideas, or to quickly shuttle around the map to improve the efficiency of material collection; Or to set up sniper traps to steal other people's materials in order to wait for work. These new gameplay dimensions provide the game with a richer set of game variables.
As more gameplay and elements of the new version are developed, the player base of "Dark Zone Breakout" will also present a more diverse composition, such as the hot fighting faction who is obsessed with guns, the rat people who are happy to be yin, or the Buddhist players who love leisure, and the hurricane party who longs for the cool feeling of flying cars.
In fact, this vein of innovation can be traced from the new version all the way to the product launch. On the basis of tactical game gameplay, new content is constantly added to enrich the game experience of players. For example, the change in the terrain in the version of Operation Gungang magnified the game in the street fighting; In the North Mountain Assault event, faction confrontation was introduced, and it was more of a team competition. These gameplay methods are all derivative explorations made on the basic looting and evacuation gameplay, or increase the game dimension, or enrich the gameplay experience, and fill in the basic gameplay.
Even though the core gameplay remains the same, players will be able to enjoy a different gameplay experience in these new modes and maps with each version update. Judging from the basic setting of not using the season as the time limit for wealth emptying and not deleting files by season at the beginning of the game's launch, the subsequent updates have been extended on the basis of not departing from the core gameplay, enriching players' choices.
Focusing on the goal of survival and evacuation, "Dark Zone Breakout" has been making new attempts, providing a growing soil for diversified gameplay strategies. On the other hand, "Dark Zone Breakout" has also gained the recognition of many players after continuously introducing new content, and players have spontaneously researched creative gameplay ideas. The two-way circulation between the official and the player in terms of content has made "Dark Zone Breakout" form a solid game ecology, attract more players, and the player base is becoming larger and larger.
Players and officials go both ways to create a diversified content ecology
Based on the diverse gameplay choices of "Dark Zone Breakout", a variety of gameplay genres were born, so that players have a lot of room to discuss, thus forming a good community atmosphere and a unique meme culture. Famous stalks such as Mouse Man and Knife Boy are now familiar to the player community.
After the update of the new map, due to the messy scene of the Prisson Mine, it is more conducive to the Yin of the Mouse Player, and even senior old players give a strategy, listing the location of the Mouse Man in the mining area in detail, and many players began to call the Mouse Man the version of the answer on social platforms.
A vigorous rodent extermination operation kicked off. The dark zone stalks related to this event also quickly broke the circle, and a player-made pseudo-hot search map has been circulating in the player base since the beginning of February. The players took great pains to write an essay against the rat people and list several sins of the rat people one by one, although it is nonsensical, but it is better than fun, and the language is funny, which is conducive to spreading. The ability of players in "Dark Zone Breakout" to create memes can be seen in the tube.
Because of the abundant capacity of stalks, there are a large number of encyclopedias of stalks in the dark area on station B to explain the meaning of these stalks for players.
Not only do players love to share game content and create memes, but the official "Dark Zone Breakout" is also good at using content to increase player stickiness. On the one hand, the official storytelling ability is first-class, and the PV and plot quality are extremely high.
In previous updates, Dark Zone Breakout has created a companion world and story for new maps and characters. Players can no longer just experience the game itself, but also immerse themselves in the story. The world view has become something that players talk about. On station b, some up masters will sort out and analyze the plot, and even spontaneously create fan** and micro movies.
Take, for example, the new version of PV Fuse: Beast's Trap. In the PV, the story of the protagonists Borrero and Stephen unfolds further, and the protagonists fight in the mines and finally break up. and promoted the main plot of "Dark Zone Breakout", which led to the location of the mining area.
As of January 31, ** has received more than 200,000 ** times on station B, and it has been included in the weekly must-see. In the barrage, players jokingly say "Welcome to the Rubik's Cube Film Factory", as we all know, the Rubik's Cube is actually a movie.
Although the worldview in the game is not like PV, which uses a linear narrative to tell a complete story, it still builds a complete story across multiple forces and multiple versions for players through fragmented narratives such as plot copywriting, prop descriptions, costume texts and even scene descriptions. For example, the character Doss in "Dark Zone Breakout" spans multiple versions, in various forms such as PV, game props, and game plots, gradually unveiling his own mystery under the official guidance, and players have gradually learned about Doss's family background, sphere of influence, and the reason for returning to the valley in the plot.
Not only character building, but also in the expansion of the entire world view and plot advancement, "Dark Zone Breakout" also makes good use of the grass snake gray line. A year after the game was launched, some players found that the Tvera coins mentioned in the first season event laid the groundwork for the subsequent plot and gameplay.
It is this kind of non-linear narrative and a large amount of foreshadowing content that creates the enthusiasm of players to be detectives, and invisibly promotes the prosperity of the community atmosphere and the cultural ecology of players.
On the other hand, the official is also very good at enlivening the atmosphere of active players, establishing a good community ecology, and feeding back the player meme culture.
On station b, you can see that the official account has produced different types of collections such as Golden Lion Records, Dark Zone Billboard, Dark Zone to Live, etc., and the creative direction covers the second creation of songs, plot animation, etc.
Although it is a meme, these short and concise pieces of content often reflect the characteristics of the game. For example, using the "Cat and Mouse" scene to show different player genres, or using the classic "Troubled Times" to set the soundtrack for Stephen's character. These official contents are both interesting and informative, and have been concerned and discussed by players for a long time.
With the help of a long-term living atmosphere, "Dark Zone Breakout" is officially able to mingle with the player base. Based on the player's diverse gameplay, a very rich player cultural ecology was born. The official also has the courage to go down to work, love to play, can play, and play, so it has promoted the rapid maturity of this once immature category.
With the help of the creativity of officials and players, this positive cycle allows the influence of Dark Zone Breakout to flow to other areas. For example, there are many ** books with the world view of "Dark Zone Breakout" at the starting point, and many of them have been updated with hundreds of thousands or even millions of words. The second creation works in the form of mini-games, fandom, comics, etc., have all driven the IP out of the circle.
Looking back on the development of the FPS category, from the early team competition, blasting mode, tactical competition, to the tactical game represented by "Dark Zone Breakout", players are less and less constrained in FPS, and the degree of freedom of gameplay is getting higher and higher.
Last year, Zhang Hanjin, president of the Rubik's Cube Studio Group, mentioned in an interview that FPS gamers need a more immersive shooting experience and more intense gameplay, and the demand for games in this area continues to grow. The increasingly diverse gameplay of Dark Zone Breakout seized this opportunity.
If the FPS mobile game is moving towards 40 direction iteration, then "Dark Zone Breakout" seems to be located in this hot field. After a year and a half of iterations, "Dark Zone Breakout" has summed up its own unique gameplay understanding, and it is also leading the development direction of this category.
And now that gamers have better mobile performance and more diverse game needs, Dark Zone Breakout still has room for growth. After the idea of content iteration has been verified, "Dark Zone Breakout" is still in the process of steady growth.