State of Decay - Xbox Live Arcade, Wednesday June 5th, 2013

S

Scott_Arm

Legend
State of Decay comes out on Xbox Live this week. I'm a little disappointed to read it doesn't have multiplayer, but apparently there is an MMO version in the works (Xbox One exclusive, Microsoft Games?). I'm also a little tired of the zombie thing, but at least they have a bit of a new spin on it.

Anyway, this is an open-world zombie survival game made with Cryengine 3. Their take on it includes world building, where you can create a base and bring NPCs you save to live in your camp. You have to gather food and resources. You can order NPCs to do tasks for you, like patrol or collect resources. You can make raiding parties with your NPCs to gather supplies.

Guy who started the new development company is Jeff Strain, and he seems to have good credentials.



http://www.youtube.com/user/UndeadLabsOfficial/videos?view=0&flow=grid
 
RancidLunchmeat said:
huh. I Thought the whole point was that it was going to be multiplayer and the 360's answer to Day Z?

Bummer.
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I was reading about the company and they do have an MMO in the works, which I'm guessing is an MMO version of the same game. I imagine this release was basically a way for them to make some money during the development of their MMO.
 
Graphics are not very good, but the game is pretty fun. It can get pretty tense if your weapon breaks and your loaded down with a rucksack full of food, and there are two zombie hordes nearby, forcing you to cut through unexplored houses to stay out of sight.
 
Scott_Arm said:
Graphics are not very good, but the game is pretty fun. It can get pretty tense if your weapon breaks and your loaded down with a rucksack full of food, and there are two zombie hordes nearby, forcing you to cut through unexplored houses to stay out of sight.
Click to expand...

So you've purchased it? I was going to do so tonight, but then I made the cardinal sin of reading the official forums. Timed missions? Ugh. Escort missions? Ugh. Timed Escort Missions? Ugh Ugh.

Also there's quite a bit of threads about how after you spend all the time leveling up your NPC's skills so they can be useful, they'll just randomly leave your secured area for no reason and wander around until they are slaughtered.

Does that mesh with your experiences?
 
I put maybe four hours in. I'm just at the first real community you start with. So far, I have not had any community members leave to get slaughtered. Might happen. You get all kinds of feedback about the "happiness" of your community, and I think they will leave if they feel unsafe.

There do seem to be timed missions and a lot of escort missions. A lot of the design of the game seems to be about choosing different options. You can't save everyone. You can't secure every home. As for escorts, well, you have to bring people you find back to your camp. Not sure how else they'd get there. Seems like you are guaranteed to have people die on you. At some point I have a feeling my base will be overrun, because I won't be able to keep supplies going for everyone I try to save. You have to worry about food, overcrowding and other supplies.

Every character you find has different skills and traits. You can upgrade your camp based on the skill sets of the people you bring in. So far, it's pretty interesting even though it's kind of ugly and a little clunky. Stealthing around is kind of intense. You get tired pretty fast while fighting or running. The risk of being overrun is great. If you find a group of survivors and ask them to come with you, they will pack up all their stuff into bags before you move out. That means they're slow. They may not even have weapons.

Sometimes you head out on a mission and suddenly bump into some new survivors. Do you finish your mission or rescue the new survivors? You may not be able to bring them with you, or bring them back to your camp in time to go back and finish your original mission.

The game is definitely designed to be played more than once over. If they turn it into an MMO, it could be incredibly interesting. As it is, I think it's worth the $20.
 
I have not encountered any escort or timed missions so far.
I think the lighting is really nice.
Some stuff like framerate could be better but over all it's a fun game.
 
messyman said:
I have not encountered any escort or timed missions so far.
I think the lighting is really nice.
Some stuff like framerate could be better but over all it's a fun game.
Click to expand...

Well, I think the escort missions are rescuing survivors and bringing them back to your camp.
 
Scott_Arm said:
The game is definitely designed to be played more than once over. If they turn it into an MMO, it could be incredibly interesting. As it is, I think it's worth the $20.
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Ahh, okay. Well, you've got me rethinking it then. :)

Yes, and now that I read your description of the escort missions along with Messy's statements, I guess what I really dislike about escort missions is that if they fail, you typically have to do them over and over again in order to proceed. Where it seems like here, if your survivor dies that sucks but you then just go try to save some more later without getting stuck doing the same thing until you succeed.

So, I'll give it some more thought. It really seemed quite interesting. Still bummed at the lack of MMO or at least co-op. Although there was a rumor that co-op might still be added, which would be bitchin'

Do you have to find parts to repair your vehicles and stuff, or if your vehicles get bashed up you have to find another?

Also.. how big and open world is the map? Can you just get in a car and drive anywhere or walk where ever you want as long as you don't get turned into lunch? Or are there areas you can't get to until you finish a mission?
 
Vehicle repair is an automatic function of your base if you have built the right facility for it. The first base I'm in, which is a church, is able to repair a vehicle if you leave it in the parking space out front. There is no micromanagement of that function, in terms of bringing parts. I haven't built any new functions, or upgraded any functions of the base, so I don't know what kinds of materials are required for that. Each room can have a function, and each function can be upgraded a few times. So larger structures would obviously be able to support more functionality. What I've seen so far is medical, barracks, lookout and a parking space.

I'm not sure what happens when you die. You can control different survivors from your base, but there is a character you start with. I'm not sure if the game ends if he dies. Other survivors can die at any time. So if you find a group of survivors and they all get killed as you're bringing them back to base, you're not forced to restart. They're just dead. The game autosaves and there isn't a reload function, so you really do feel the urgency of situations. I haven't had any survivors get killed off yet, but I'm sure it will, especially when I start building outposts. Pretty much any building you explore can be deployed as an outpost. I thought about turning a house into an outpost, but it seemed pretty sketchy and difficult to defend. I'll probably pick some type of shop and start with that. Not sure how supply lines work. I thought I saw that mentioned in some descriptions of the game.
 
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