Reality check

Rea was a moderator in DayZ’s original forums, and is almost certain he played Project Reality in the same circles as Dean ‘Rocket’ Hall – since Rea is Australian, and Hall a New Zealander. “The line in the sand where traditional wisdom for gameplay pacing got destroyed was DayZ in 2012,” Rea says. “The popularity of it showed everyone that players didn’t need to be caught in a 30-second loop – they could be given that tension and that time. It was like seeing Project Reality go wide-scale.” DayZ ultimately birthed battle royale, which in turn gives players the framework to understand Hell Let Loose. “The narrative that games like PUBG gave people is what was so exciting: tedium for 30 minutes, and then one car chase for 45 seconds.”