Undead Labs has returned with a pretty anticipated game for 2018, State of Decay 2. In most zombie games, you mainly try to keep yourself alive. This game focuses more on keeping a set group of people alive, but it still fits in the survival category. Accomplishing this will take scavenging for supplies, as well as building on to the territory of your choice.
At this point in the post apocalyptic universe of State of Decay 2, your members which are followed in a third person view, are at the tale end of the zombie crisis. Even now, zombies are beginning to break down the last remnants of human society. You will not go quietly however. Building a home and saving as many people as you can becomes top priority. The story isn’t as clear as it could be which is a bummer but, characters get to choose their dialogue which helps progress their story in a small way. But as an overall, the task is to save survivors lost among the zombies.
Considering the typical zombie lore, State of Decay 2 has given us other scenarios to work with. This game offers their own unique take on this genre. The zombies, called in the game “Zeds”, do not immediately infect people once they bite. Certain zombies infect people with a sickness called the “blood plague.” This seems like a relatively new occurrence since the player does not know about this when they first encounter one of these blood plague zombies.
Since the world has fallen due to the zombie outbreak, we can expect nothing less than a merciless fight. The game just wouldn’t be itself without this mechanic. Zombies are plentiful in the game and come from all areas just to pick a fight with your characters (expect this a lot actually). They must be prepared with weapons and backup weapons in order to get to their next checkpoint. The durability of your weapon is displayed with a yellow icon at the bottom of the screen, when the weapon turns yellow the item you’ve chosen to defend yourself will break. So, you will need to continuously search everything you can find in order to build a decent defense.
Other points of the game is the sound quality and graphics. This game is much like Dying Light and that’s ok. State of Decay 2 is still immersive, just not as much as, for example, God of War. The voice acting is alright, nothing too much to say about that part, and the sounds are exactly what you would expect when hitting an enemy or shooting a gun. Guns will alert those around you so this something I like. There are a couple drawbacks that I found too, such as the amount of time required to search. Since supplies are needed for yourself and your territory, everything needs to be examined. This takes a ridiculous amount of time however and slows down the flow. Along with this is the construction and additions to your territory. When “removing rubble” or some other task, there is a time amount where you have to just stand there while the clock runs down as if you were doing the task. Again, this slows down the flow and makes the game stop for a bit making either for a really nice break or a dreaded halt while playing.
So here are my thoughts on State of Decay 2; the game is playable especially if you really like killing zombies. Graphically everything is decent and still gets the point across of the task at hand. The plot of the game could use some work. I was expecting more of a story line or a point where the game explained in detail what needed to be done or what I would be looking forward to. Mechanically I feel like the game has a bit of button mashing but overall is status quo. Lastly, I feel like people should give the game a shot and just have fun with the different characters but not get their hopes too terribly high.
7/10
Available on: Xbox One and Windows 10
