This title has just been released on XBOX Live and a PC release is pending but no date is yet known.
State of Decay is a 3rd-person open-world action-RPG survival-horror game. Breathe! The game opens up shortly after a zombie outbreak. Whether it's global is unknown but it cannot have happened too long ago as your initial character is suddenly finding this all out as you start the game. I say initial character as you can recruit other survivors to join your merry band and build up a base/hideout/safezone. You then have the option of carrying out missions which are essentially you carrying out the suggestions of your comrades such as your looking spotting something in the distance and asking if you want to go and check it out, or alternatively you can just leave the safety of the base and go explore on your own initiative, but being in contact with the folks back at base via radio means mission areas can pop up on the map as you explore.
I say missions but they're not self-contained. They're like quests in Skyrim - they exist in tandem with the living sandbox world and you can ignore or investigate as you see fit. While you're out and about you can scale vantage points such as radio towers and then reconnoiter the area by focusing on question marks on your HUD - this will identify those question marks to reveal things such as vehicles, buildings worth searching, potential safehouses, as well as threats such as roaming zombie hoards or special infected - one which I know is referred to as a Screamer, how lovely! Then, these newly-identified points of interest will appear on your main and mini map for future reference. Next thing to do is go investigate one.
If you're inside a building you can move around and rummage through cabinets and bags etc but be careful! You can search quicker but risk making noise that will attract unwanted attention. The items you find range from weapons both melee and ranged, ammunition, food and medical supplies and other assorted items - I've seen an alarm clock that can be used as a distraction/lure. I imagine there are other bits and bobs for use in crafting or for activities at your base such as resources for upgrading - eg. a perimeter fence or watchtower, workshops and more.
Back at base you have a stash in which to store your supplies. The more you store, the greater your influence which is a bit like a form of currency you utilize for base upgrades and possibly interactions with other survivors (I'm guessing!). As you take items out of the stash (when gearing up for a supply run or scouting) that influence diminishes until you restock the stash.
As for the zombies themselves - combat isn't something to welcome! The game has permadeath. Also, you can earn character skills such as higher proficiency with weapons or higher stamina etc. So if a well-developed character dies, it's time to take control of o0ne of the other, possibly less-developed survivors. Also the gear your fallen comrade had on them is gone - unless you fancy heading out to find the corpse and reclaim any goodies they were carrying when they snuffed it. I believe you can take NPC's with you when you leave your base, so make sure you look after them while you're out and about. Zombies can take several attacks to drop, but I think you have some kind of critical strike chance which can take their head off. You also have the ability to knock them down - while they're on the floor you can execute a... er... execution whereby you stand over their body and with an almighty swing of whatever melee weapon you're holding you free their decaying brains from their skull. As I said, there are ranged weapons. I've only seen a hunting rifle in action and the shots attract a lot of zombies! Stealth is also an option - you can crouch to sneak by zombies who have yet to notice you, and stealth takedowns are possible if you can get behind them.
Vehicles are present. To what extend I don't know but I've seen a station wagon, a police car, a truck and some kind of sports car but I'm awful when it comes to automobile knowledgification.
The open world itself is quite big considering this is an XBOX Live title. It's certainly not a short romp through a zombie-infested forest. There seems to be multiple towns dotted about the place. It's no Grand Theft Auto but the area you get to play in is pretty substantial. I don't know the full extend of it; there may be a lake, maybe even boats to cruise around that lake on, who knows!? I doubt there are air vehicles but I could see something like a hanglider working nicely.
If you have an XBOX and have been waiting for an open-world zombie survival game with base building and scavenging in it, check out State of Decay. I'm having to sate my hunger with Youtube vidoes since I'm waiting on the PC version!
Speaking of Youtube videos, here's one from IGN that gives a nice intro to the game.
But maybe search for a more generic trailer if you don't want to start playing for yourself with advanced knowledge of what to expect.
Last edited by Peter McCoy; Jun 7th, 2013 at 08:02:23 PM.
As with the original Borderlands, I couldn't wait for the PC release. I'm i. Town with the missus and while she was in a clothes shop I popped in to game and the XBOX Live State if Decay points card was staring at me. I'll still get it for PC when it comes put but for the price of a trip to the cinema I have all the open-world zombie-survival-RPG awesomeness I need! Yay!
I've played this for about 5 or 6 hours now and I'm loving it. Outside of you yourself actually playing the game - driving around town, searching houses, scavenging for supplies, killing zombies etc - your base will be ticking away in the background. Every day resources are being depleted at a rate based on how many survivors you have in your group. The five resources are as follows:
Food & Water
Medical Supplies
Ammunition
Building Materials
Fuel
The first four resources are consumed daily - food and water to stay alive, medical supplies for treating injuries and sickness in general, ammunition for general protection, and building materials for the upkeep of the base. Fuel is used in special projects I've yet to delve into but I already have a decent supply. Medical Supplies (the resource) is simply needed at base, they're not something you can use to directly restore health, instead you use painkillers and (I assume eventually) medkits. As for Ammunition (the resource), that's separate from actual bullets you can find for use with the weapons to may or may not have to hand. The idea is the ammo supplies are used by the characters you're currently not controlling in defending the base when zombies get too close or even inside the perimeter.
Building Materials can be used directly beyond the daily consumption - in the construction of additions and upgrades to your base. Here's an example I've learned the hard way...
You can build a sleeping area with several cots, enough for 8 bed spaces. That means that if you have more than 8 people, at any given time at least one of them will be tired since they can't rest - this manifests as reduced stamina which is very bad in combat since every melee swing uses up stamina. If you run out of stamina in the middle of a fight, your attacks will be extremely slow and cumbersome with poor recovery time. And you won't be able to so much as hobble away from danger so if you're on your own you're fucked! But when your current character gets tired, you can switch to someone who isn't tired. But, there's a catch! Even though your base may have 12 survivors like me, you can only control those who are considered Friends. For a while I never had a Friend, so I had to play as the same character for about 3 days straight and my stamina was awful and I almost died several times, only escaping by the skin of my teeth. But then as soon as I got a new Friend I switched over to them. But I soon realized that my first character had nowhere to sleep and so remained tired until both these Friends were tired. So the only playable characters I had were low on stamina until I could build more beds. But first I needed the materials to construct a workshop, which in turn allowed me to upgrade my sleeping area to a bunk dorm. Now, while the initial sleeping area took just 10 minutes to construct, the upgrade takes an hour. And the day and night both last an hour each. So as it is I think I still have 30-ish minutes before that's completed. But once it is, I'm in a very good position as far as fatigue is concerned. I now have 4 playable characters (Friends) and am keeping an eye out for opportunities on how to gain more Friends. For instance, I was alerted to a mission/quest relating to one characters low morale and the mission involved taking them out Zed Hunting as a kind of bonding experience. Not only did I raise their morale by making them do something productive away from the confines of the base, but the experience brought them closed together and she became my first Friend. Well actually my second - my first is injured after an attack and currently resting in the makeshift medbay (the church garden). I have a mission to go find a well-known doctor who can help him but I haven't gotten to that yet, I'm too busy dealing with zombie hordes and beseiged survivors in nearby homes, Ed will just have to wit a bit longer.
Anybody who may get this game - my advice would be to plan ahead regarding base upgrades. Base Resources are nearer than you may first think so stock up and get upgrading early because your survivor population can raise by 3 in one go (I saved three people from a nearby farm and protected them while they searched their home for useful items before we piled into my truck and hauled ass back to the church - that mission itself gained me a Friend - yay!)
The other cool thing is the radio. Both in a story/mission sense and a gameplay sense. There's a survivor at the church who operates the radio - she keeps in contact with you when you're out and about, asking about your progress etc. But she also alerts you to contacts she's made, such as other survivors with a radio asking for help or offering assistance/trade opportunities, as well as alerting you to events such as zombie movements or distant activity such as gunshots you may wish to investigate. And you can use your radio in a more direct way. When you find a resource cache, you can carry one load. But you may find more than one. This means you can either come back for it later, or radio for a supply runner to come and get it. This itself has the possibility to gain trust with the runner since if they come under attack while en route to or from your location and you help them, your standing with them increases.
I really never expected this game to be so in-depth but now after playing all night I realise this isn't just some quick XBOX Live Arcade affair, this is a full-blown RPG with upgrade choices and consequences. It's fucking brilliant and I'm annoyed that my own fatigue has necessitated a break in play (it's now almost 6am and the sun is shining outside.) It's just a shame I don't have another Peter here who I can switch to and carry on playing while my first self gets some sleep. Although knowing my luck, even if I did have another me we probably wouldn't be Friends so I couldn't switch to him even if I wanted to. What an antisocial twat I am!
After playing for a few more hours today, my love for this game has grown. I've now relocated fron my church base to almost the opposite side of the world map to a truck depot/warehouse which offers much more space for constructing additional facilities. After rebuilding the bunkhouse for vital bedspace I can build the medbag and guard tower and still have room for a garden and workshop. The garden lets you grow your own food so you get a daily bonus to your food rations, and the workshop allows you to repair weapons. And with the upgrade for the workshop you can even repair vehicles that you leave overnight in the parking area.
State of Decay
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