Who needs a map? H1Z1’s Points of Interest could be all the help you need

When I last spoke with the developers of H1Z1 they told me they were still in the process of determining how they should handle maps in the game. As an open-world game, there's obviously a lot of places you can travel and, therefore, lots of ways you can get lost. A map would obviously be the easiest solution, but, remember, SOE doesn't want to make this too easy on you. It is a survival game, after all.

So in the event there are no maps, what do you do? Memorize the points of interest, like these here water towers.

"In H1Z1 we have littered the map with Points of Interest, or POIs, as they are generally called. In early iterations of the game we noticed that people would call out to their friends “Hey meet me at the water tower!” only to find out they are on opposite corners of the map with similar looking water towers. In order to alleviate this confusion, our art team set out to make distinctly different looking towers," explained Sony Online Entertainment's Greg 'Legion' Henninger.

 Study them. Learn them. Remember them. Most importantly, use them. Because these water towers could just save your life.

Of course, these are just one example of Points of Interest in H1Z1. SOE says you'll be able to find things all over the map that will help you determine your location and meet up with friends. Unfortunately, actually getting to them is an entirely different subject.

As for an early access release date? Ha, keep dreamin'.