It has now been well over one year since Dean “Rocket” Hall announced that DayZ will be released as a standalone title. Since that time, fans of the ARMA 2 Mod have been impatiently pouring over regular updates about the game’s development.

Today Bohemia Interactive officially released DayZ in an alpha state. That means that players can experience the game as-is while it is still being developed. The game can be purchased for $30 (30€) via the Bohemia website or via Steam as an Early Access title.

DayZ is the game that helped to kick off the recent trend in zombie survival games. Originally an ambitious mod for military simulator ARMA 2, the game caught on during the summer of 2012 for its sandbox gameplay, persistent character progression, and permanent character death. Gamers were pitted against zombie hordes and each other in an attempt to survive a bleak zombie apocalypse.

The standalone version of the game promises many upgrades from the mod, most notably improved animations and a more robust server architecture. Players will now be able to a more in-depth crafting system to upgrade weapons and clothing. The complex inventory system from ARMA 2 has been replaced with a more streamlined menu and inventory bar system.

Most of these new features can be seen in the launch trailer for the game, which was posted today by Hall. In addition to the new DayZ standalone features the trailer does show off the extreme violence of the game and is probably NSFW:

According tot the game’s Steam page, Hall and his fellow developers believe it will take more than one year for the game to even reach the beta stage. Fans with $30 and an eagerness to dive into the unfinished game, however, can now do so.