DayZ: Chernarus Should Have Been Much Bigger - This Happened to Utes Island

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The well-known map Chernarus from the survival game DayZ was originally supposed to be much larger. In an early phase of the game, the landmass "Utes", south of Skalisty Island already existed -- but suddenly the island was gone, what happened there?

What is missing there? DayZ was once supposed to be much bigger: The map Chernarus was supposed to get such a large island in the south, which expanded the map and was intended as a late-game destination. Unfortunately, nothing came of it. We've been wondering for a long time why Utes Island didn't make it into the finished game. If you don't have the necessary geography knowledge, check out the interactive DayZ Map!

Utes Maps topographic

Utes Island should be in the south - now it is in the data grave

What is Utes Island? Just like Chernarus, Utes is a map from the game Arma 2. The military simulation ArmA (Armed Assault) is the biggest draw for Czech developer Bohemia Interactive, along with DayZ. Although Utes is located south of Chernarus in the game's lore, the two maps were only playable separately in Arma 2 and the DayZ mod.

Utes in numbers:

• The island of Utes is 5x5 kilometers in size
• There are only two villages on Utes, in one of them there is a destroyed church
• The main focus is the airfield in the middle of the map.
• A military base is directly adjacent to the airfield.

With DayZ Standalone, the developers wanted to change exactly that. In a panel for the presentation of the map, a user asked whether Utes will also be included in the standalone. The developers answered with a conditional yes. Internally, however, they were never sure whether they wanted to include Utes or a new island in DayZ.

This is what is left of Utes: Today we know that Utes did not make it into the standalone. So, by implication, there must be another island -- Storozh Island, the prison island. A good alternative in our opinion, but the island doesn't fill the gap left by Utes.

Utes could have been the Sector B of the DayZ Standalone.

A large island with the best loot, maybe even exclusive spawn for helicopters or planes, would have been great. A real end-game objective away from building a base or fighting in military zones.

Let's remember Sector B, for those who don't know it, pay attention for a moment: Sector B is a sealed-off island on the DayZ: Origins map Taviana. You can only get here if you already have a boat, helicopter or plane. To be found in Sector B, besides the best loot on the map, are NPC soldiers defending the island.

We have replacements: as a consolation prize for the late-game area, we got the Tisy military base a few years ago. To put it in new and hip terms, Tisy is Sector B ordered on Wish.

Now, of course, DayZ has no NPC soldiers, but they found their way into the game thanks to a terrific mod (via Guided.news): Mod for DayZ brings NPC soldiers & bandits and missions