The traditional video game sequel gives you more of the original, but bigger and, ideally, better. Sometimes this results in a stale product that doesn’t recapture the magic of the original. But other times -- like with State of Decay 2, the follow-up to the open-world zombie survival action-RPG -- the sequel’s refinement helps the concept live up to its full potential.
State of Decay captivated so many players because it successfully blended so many gameplay elements and systems into its own unique amalgam. The downside was that the technical execution was, well...messy. State of Decay 2 adds to the formula with deeper character systems (read: more traits and emotions), deeper base-building, and a 3X larger game world. And the move to Xbox One -- along with more expertise, a new game engine, and what is no doubt a much larger budget -- will hopefully help make this sequel the best it can be.
You invite friends into State of Decay 2 by firing a flare gun into the air.
The gameplay demo I saw behind closed doors at E3 would be completely familiar to anyone who’s played the original -- in a good way. In our procedurally generated group were Tiffany, a groundskeeper with a gardening expertise who has guilt issues but never gets sick; and Matt, an action choreographer who’s great at fighting but causes noise and sleep deprivation for the rest of the group because he snores. His skill, work schedule, gives a bonus to your HQ’s available labor.
In order to take advantage of Tiffany’s gardening ability -- which meant we could build a farm that would give a boost to our community’s Food stat -- we needed seeds to build our farm. Into town we went. And yes, I said “we” because the demo featured two-player co-op (the final game will be four-player through online only; no split-screen is supported). You invite friends into State of Decay 2 by firing a flare gun into the air; anyone on your Xbox Live Friends list who’s set themselves to be available in State of Decay will be brought in.
We began construction on the farm, but that put our noise level into dangerous territory. Sure enough, a horde attacked our base.
We drove into town, searched a few buildings (remember that you can search slowly but quietly or quickly but loudly, the latter of which risks drawing a zombie horde), and finally found the seeds. Then we cleared out and reclaimed the nearby police station as an outpost -- a home away from home that, again, will be familiar to anyone who played the first SoD. Seeds in hand, we began construction on the farm, but that put our noise level into dangerous territory. Sure enough, a horde attacked our base.
We raced home to help. We managed to fend them off, human co-op players fighting alongside the NPC allies of the community, with no serious injuries. We only suffered fatigue, which limits your overall stamina until you can sufficiently rest. We’d put everyone at risk in order to construct the farm, but the reward was a Food boost for the entire community. It was a classic State of Decay kind of role-playing/survival encounter.
Meanwhile, the UI has been completely redone, the Community screen now shows head-to-toe models of your community members rather than the little portrait cards like the first game, and, according to Undead Labs studio head Jeff Strain, “inputs and outputs in State of Decay 2 are a lot more clear,” i.e. it’s more obvious what is affecting what. It’s a usual assortment of sequel improvements, but that’s all State of Decay 2 needs. That, and the polish the first game lacked. The former is well on its way. Hopefully the latter will have stepped up its game for the sequel too.
Ryan McCaffrey is IGN’s Executive Editor of Previews and Xbox Guru-in-Chief. Follow him on Twitter at @DMC_Ryan, catch him on Unlocked, and drop-ship him Taylor Ham sandwiches from New Jersey whenever possible.
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