Bohemia Interactive has officially revealed DayZ’s upcoming expansion: DayZ: Badlands. The expansion will bring a whole new region to DayZ in 2026, and will also add new challenges that will keep the experience fresh for longtime players.
Originally started as a mod for Arma 2, DayZ has been in development since 2012. The game received an official release for PC in 2018, with last-gen consoles following in the next year, and it has often been hailed as one of the best survival games of all time. DayZ is set in a fictional post-Soviet republic called Chernarus, based on the Czech Republic, and it became incredibly popular by mixing hardcore survival elements with a zombie apocalypse setting. Since its release, DayZ has been receiving continued support from Bohemia Interactive, including major content expansions.
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PostsNow, Bohemia Interactive has officially announced the DayZ: Badlands expansion, which will be out in 2026. Set in the Nasdara Province, which has 267km² of arid terrain, the expansion is set to be quite a big change of scenery compared to DayZ’s Frostline expansion. According to the devs, the Nasdara Province is a desert region scarred by war where thirst is lethal, and droughts are frequent, so players will have to face new challenges to survive. As expected, the expansion will also bring more weapons and new infected variants, too. In the images shown from the area so far, it seems that the Nasdara Province will have abandoned oil fields, dense towns, and vast desertic hills.
DayZ Announces Badlands Expansion for 2026
While the expansion does not have an official release date yet, it could potentially come out in the first half of 2026. In 2024, DayZ unveiled the Frostline expansion in May and then released it in October, so many players believe that Badlands could be released in a similar timeframe.
Interestingly, DayZ: Badlands seems like the polar opposite of the DayZ: Frostline DLC. The previous expansion was set in Sakhal, a freezing region in which one of the biggest challenges gamers had to face was the cold while trying to survive against infected enemies.
CloseSoon after the release of the Frostline expansion, DayZ reached a new peak player count on Steam, reaching over 73,000 active users. The upcoming DLC may also find a similar level of popularity when it’s finally released, and the survival game may have a sort of revival, making it a great time to return to it and see what’s new.
