State of Decay 2: First Impressions

Covered in blood and guts, my chosen hero just about manages to escape a house filled with hungry zombies after destroying a Plague Heart. Scrambling and limping, he climbs into a nearby vehicle only to drive straight into the eager arms of a Juggernaut.

Zombies 1, humans 0.

Scenarios like this should sound quite familiar to the many millions of Xbox gamers who got into the original State of Decay, and with the sequel, State of Decay 2, slowly creeping up for its May 22 release, anticipation and excitement are already building.

Geek Culture recently had to chance to join Undead Labs’ founder Jeff Strain for a preview of State of Decay 2, and suffice to say, death and decay have never been more fun.

Developed using Unreal Engine 4 instead of CryEngine, the team is looking forward to bringing “more polish and visual fidelity” to gamers, and with the new dynamic narrative system in SOD2, Unreal has been a priceless tool. The variety of toolsets allowed Undead Labs to rapidly iterate, and create a world that is truly living and reacting to each player’s actions.

As the studio’s “first love,” the success of the first State of Decay (over five million copies sold) certainly did not surprise them. The whole process of “creating something truly unique, and to give players that unique experience, breeds passion” and that continually drives Undead Labs to keep doing what they do best. And with State of Decay 2, it seems to be paying off.

And for those clamouring for a true co-op experience that was sorely missing in the first game, the drop-in drop-out system present in SOD2 will not disappoint you.

Very specifically, when players told us they wanted to play State of Decay with my friends, they weren’t asking for PvP, they weren’t asking for Battle Royale, or an MMO. They wanted to play SOD cooperatively. So that’s what we had to build around, and as painless as possible. So we develop a very simple, drop-in drop-out experience where players get to help one another, and get rewarded for it.

Jeff Strain, founder of Undead Labs

And in true State of Decay‘s fashion, it is a risk, but the game “actively seeks to reward you for playing in others’ worlds.” You can even play entirely in another friend’s world, have access to all their facilities, and whatever you find, you keep. But if you die, the outcome is the same – that character is gone forever.

Even when playing solo, you will meet plenty of colourful characters with their own traits and quirks (tens of thousands), and trying to fashion a community out of a procedurally generated roster of characters remains a huge draw for fans.

The balancing act of weighing pros and cons is more emphasised in SOD2 and people management is one skill you will have to master quickly to survive.

Speaking of community, the base building aspect has also been greatly expanded and enhanced with more options, and more pitfalls.

In our studio, we have this huge, long table, chest high, and is often the first you see when you walk in. In the early stages of development, we decided to make card or board games out of every core mechanic. The notion was that if the mechanic in-game could not be expressed elegantly through a card game or board game, then it was too complicated. The character traits system, the way morale works, the whole community and base systems were all prototyped through eight, nine iterations before we had something that truly got the mechanics right.

Meeting the needs of people will often time fly in the face of survival, an extra bed could cost you the ability to craft better weapons for instance. Furthermore, resources are often scarce and precious, which only makes your task even harder. The two systems work wonderfully together, and will definitely make for some interesting times deeper into the game.

Ultimately, State of Decay 2 remains a game about people in the zombie apocalypse. Get your community up and running, before the zombies take over. And the Freaks take centre stage, with the Bloater, Feral, Screamer, and Juggernauts all returning to make your life hell. A new addition to the series, Plague Hearts, required much more firepower to take down, and such locations are crawling with the infected dead.

Imagine more aggressive killing monsters, and you will get the idea. Taking them down will be one of your most important and daunting tasks.

Undead Labs are not letting you off easy, promising much smarter behaviour for the Freaks, and zombies as a whole, and offering “different tactical scenarios that force you to evaluate how you deal with them with the resources you have got.”

“We do have a lot of surprises that have not been announced yet, but the bulk of the challenge stems from the more sophisticated AI and deeply modelled behaviour of the creatures of the world, and you will have to be pretty smart to get out of those situations,” Strain teases.

For new players and returning veterans, Strain also warns that State of Decay 2 is not “an easy game, nor a simple game.” While Undead Labs have planned to “gradually expose players to the depth of the simulation and the RPG elements, to make players understand that the systems are there than just going out to shoot zombies.”

State of Decay 2 “is a game that rewards investment, for people to sink their teeth into and a rewarding experience.”

For fans dying to get their hands on Undead Labs’ next game, remember, it is “only because of the hardcore State of Decay fans that (we) were able to develop State of Decay 2. It is a love letter to SOD fans, and it is a game you asked for, and hopefully, Undead Labs deliver.”

And as a fan, May 22 cannot come soon enough, and for that awesome price (free with Xbox Game Pass), State of Decay 2 is simply a must-play game for any gamer looking for a deep, detailed world of survival and the walking dead.