I know what you’re thinking: “Oh great another zombie game, that’s all we need don’t we?” Come to think of it, yes we do. As Microsoft’s latest exclusive State of Decay dives into the deep end of bloodthirsty survival gameplay as an innovative zombie saga that infuses intellectual survival gameplay and dynamic mechanics to enhance its horrifying end of the world experience.
Originally released back in 2013 for the Xbox 360 and Steam with high acclaim, Undead Labs has finally brought us a remaster for the Xbox One two years later with additional “improvements.” But is it worth obtaining for the second time around or for new players?
Players will explore ideas that aren’t normally seen in many zombie games and focus more on the survival and tragedy rather, than combat or action. Set in the southern United States, zombies have engulfed the land while humanity is pushed to near extinction. An interesting twist is that you’ll start off with a particular character, an average Joe of sorts, but after the inductions you are able to switch between a large host of characters and progress through the game. You’re never stuck with just one male or female character, but anyone you like to use for your scavenging needs. This helps to overcome the obstacle of tiredness and fatigue after vast amounts of exploration and game progression – a struggle that becomes more threatening than any zombie.
Another major concept this mechanic introduces is the permanent death of those who run out of HP. This means if the survivor you’ve been controlling dies, they are gone forever and there are no respawns to bring them back. An incredibly harsh factor that will certainly get under the skin of many players who work hard to build up a worthy singular character, but this also increases the level of compassion you’ll have for your survivors. This is a fantastic – if not devastating – way to increase the tension throughout the game, making for a true survival experience.
Another important gameplay feature in State of Decay allows players to build their own camps and safe havens for their safety, and that of their fellow survivors. Players will need to explore the vast open world in order to obtain vital supplies to improve their chances of survival and also to help upgrade their camps and provide better support to the community.
There’s a fantastic level of depth when exploring and huge amount of freedom as players search various structures like houses, warehouses, hospitals, and shops. Each have their own items to acquire either by your hand or by organizing scouting parties to do it for you. You can also use vehicles in order to cover more ground, and also as a means of killing off hoards of undead foes. Trust me, cars are so helpful here they’re a vital tool to survive.
Resource management becomes a major factor in building trust between survivors, as managing medication, food, and ammo allows survivors to bond together. At times there will be problems and it’s everyone’s job to help resolve these issues. This is an intelligent way to keep the needs of others and your own in check with scavenging, and support for your fellow survivors.
This type of gameplay has rarely been seen or developed to such as high level of interaction, which makes State of Decay one of the most enriching and immersive survival games to date. The level of interaction brings hours of gameplay that benefits more nurturing players, and those who enjoy working hard in order to ensure survival from the enemy NPCs. I find fault with the constant and generic missions that pop up, having to make players deal with angry or fearful NPCs that might start a crisis within the safe haven. This always comes down to “Talk to person, head to a location in the middle of nowhere, kill zombies, and tell the NPC they’re a jerk and should lighten up.”
There wasn’t a lot of mission variety that link up to resolving troubles within the camp. There are only one or two moments where you had to choose to kill infected members of the community to help ensure survival. These moments are brilliant, but sadly infrequent compared to the boring encounters with angry or scared survivors at breaking point.
The game boasts a simple story with a lot of side quests to take part in. One interesting feature is that many side quests are timed, and once they’ve expired, that’s it. You have to continue the game on without having the chance to complete the quest or reap the rewards it held. It’s a tough choice on the player’s part since you won’t have the time to do everything and game knows it. This is another means of pushing players to the extreme and creating tough choices to follow. Whether you go on and risk your character or supplies for the rewards that would help everyone in the long run – or to stay and play it safe, knowing another chance like this won’t come again.
State of Decay looks pretty good on the Xbox One console from its migration from 360. However, there are some minor framerate issues and a few graphical glitches and bugs that often pop up. It’s nothing too damaging to the game’s flow, but at times these frame rate issues and graphical bugs do become a little irritating, as this is a remaster on the current-gen consoles.
State of Decay’s a brutal experience as rewarding as it’s enriching to players who enjoy a survival game. This is well worth the price tag, as players get all the content from the previous release plus the additional game modes – Lifeline and Breakdown – which both bring their own unique experience relating more to survival or action orientated gameplay. This also means there will be plenty of additional hours of gameplay on top of the main campaign. I do wish there was multiplayer feature to expand and thrive the overall experience, but State of Decay‘s still a great game.