The upcoming World War Z game has received another trailer that’s heavy on story-telling and narrative beats, introducing ex-criminal Hiroji and his long journey home to defend the country that abandoned him from the zombie apocalypse. Hiroji is just one of several playable characters who have been given a detailed back story covering who they were before and after the undead outbreak began.
World War Z is an upcoming four-player co-operative shooter based on the 2013 movie adaptation of Max Brooks’ bestselling novel. The game tells the stories of several groups of survivors in different locations, giving players different perspectives on the outbreak as it occurs. The game follows different teams as they move through post-apocalyptic representations of famous cities like New York and Tokyo, while gameplay centers on completing mission objectives while battling huge hordes of zombies.
World War Z’s most recent trailer focuses on Hiroji. Hiroji grew up railing against what he perceived to be a black-and-white ordering of Japanese culture: either children grew up to be salarymen or, as he puts it, “failures.” Hiroji embraced the seedier side of Japan, and as a result was shipped off to family members overseas in the hope that it would help him clean up his life.
Instead, Hiroji found that the United States was much more receptive to his life philosophy, allowing him to thrive as a criminal. When the zombie outbreak occurs, Hiroji is a talented combatant with a stocked arsenal—something that he notes is rare in Japan, which evacuated the country because it didn’t have the stockpile of weapons needed to defend it from zombies. While the reasons are left vague in the trailer, Hiroji decides to head back to Japan to defend his homeland, bringing with him all the weapons and expertise he has accumulated over his time spent in the United States.
Hiroji is yet another example of the kind of intriguing character development we’ll be getting alongside the zombie slaying action that World War Z promises. The motivation behind Hiroji’s decision and whether or not he’ll be able to properly defend Japan from the rising tide of undead monstrosities is almost as compelling as mowing down zombies by the dozen with his tantalizingly large arsenal of tools. With only two days left before fans finally get to experience World War Z for themselves, Hiroji might be the most interesting character yet.
World War Z is due to be released for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on April 16, 2019. For more information, visit the official website: https://wwzgame.com/