Someone said this isn't by the Day-Z guy despite looking similar, so I finally gave in to the peer pressure (the game is ALL CAPS on my friends list, so when I see 5 people playing it, my feeble mind cannot resist) and purchased it.
We will now document how long it takes me to become an expert. Currently I'm experiencing the joys of a Microsoft VC Redist Package and checking the OP for guides.
Report after match #1:
I got thrown into some sort of warmup where everyone ran into a tunnel and blindly bumped into walls, weaponless. Then someone came in and started shooting. This was apparently not the real game. I promptly realized that a male avatar was not the only choice, and regretted that I've been locked into a male body until I earn 3000 BP. Also, there's no Katniss Everdeen hair, and the colors for hair shown don't seem to match the actual model hair color.
After that, the real game started. I promptly learned to regret my choice of bald head, since it captures the sun's glowing rays. I can again correct this mistake after a 3000 BP of progress.
The game itself felt very much like Day-Z, but with one massive improvement. Day-Z was a game where you got dropped onto an island, held down W for 25 minutes in the dark while trying to meet your friends, and then died to a physics glitch or zombie. In this game, you don't HAVE to hold down W, because there's an auto-run key! This is an amazing feature that massively reduces the game's carpal tunnel impact. Also you have no friends, so meeting them is not a concern.
Unfortunately, there's still a big missing feature. If you want to have any sort of situational awareness, you need to use third-person view and freelook. You have to hold down Alt for this. Also, if you're sneaking by crawling or walking, you have to hold down Ctrl. So effectively, you trade holding down W several minutes for holding down Ctrl / Alt off and on for several minutes.
Buildings seemed large and scary, so I avoided them. I saw maybe 2-3 people running around. At a distance, they appeared to be running anime-style, with their arms streaming behind them.
I saw some red circles. I don't know what those are, but I'm guessing something bad happens to you Hunger Games style if you stay in them. I also saw a bomber fly over and drop a blinking package. Maybe it was a prize, but I didn't get near to check.
Eventually, having found no items and crawled near the middle of the map, I was shot a few times by someone I couldn't see and died prone in the grass. I was #24 / 94 left alive, so I'm close to pro already.
