State of Decay

Open-World Zombie Nightmare

An in-depth look at the building, driving, and human emotion in the upcoming XBLA survival game.

At first look, it might seem like State of Decay is just another action game set in a zombie-infested town. Snooze, right? But below the surface, so many systems are working in concert that it managed keep me – someone who is bored to death with the undead – completely enthralled for the entire four hours I spent playing it. With the deluge of zombie games on the market, it can be hard for something new to stand out, but Seattle startup Undead Labs’ creation seems to be doing just that.

When you start, you’re immediately thrown into the action. No cinematics introduce your character or give you any idea of what’s going on. I found myself in a field, with another man screaming for his life. After helping him dispatch the “psychopaths” that attacked him, I learned his name is Ed, and that one of the odd beings tried to bite him. As a player, I know these are zombies, but my character, whose name is Marcus, doesn’t know what’s going on just yet.

It’s All About Who You Know

Ed and I make our way up a hill, and it becomes apparent that we’re at a camping ground. We head for the ranger station in hope of finding someone who knows what the hell is going on. After battling a few more zombies on the way, we find some people holed up, and one of them appears to know what’s happening, but he doesn’t give us any details. Instead he sends us to scour the surrounding cabins and tents for other survivors.

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Scavenging takes time and makes some noise, which can attract the zombies, but it’s the only way you can get medicine, food, weapons, and ammunition.

I hear someone else screaming in one of the cabins, but unfortunately, I didn’t make it in time. If I had, I might have been able to get him safely to the ranger station. Instead Ed and I take out the zombies in the cabin and search for supplies. The combat feels similar to most other action games, with a variety of guns and melee weapons available for use. But, per the Zombie Survival Guide tradition, destruction of the head is a must in State of Decay. Shooting a zombie in the chest is not going to kill him, no matter how much you do it.
Meanwhile, searching for supplies is a key component of the game. Scavenging takes time and makes some noise, which can attract the zombies, but it’s the only way you can get medicine, food, weapons, and ammunition. I opt for the longer, but quieter search and uncover a few necessities. State of Decay does a good job letting you know where to search and when you’ve found everything in a specific area, so you’re not wasting a lot of time looking for something that’s not there.

After scouring the entire campsite and finding no survivors, Ed and I head back to the ranger station and climb up a water tower to do some surveying. From this height, I can identify a number of locations and add their details to my map for future reference. This is handy because I can see, at a glance, the best places to get specific supplies like food or medicine. We scamper down and hear some gunshots in the distance. After checking them out, we finally find another survivor, a woman named Maya who’s spent some time in the Army. At this point I have the option of switching from Marcus to Maya as the playable character.

Drop Dead Ed

This is another way State of Decay is unique. Throughout the game you can choose to play as almost anyone you befriend, with the exception of a few story characters. In order to recruit folks into your social circle, first you have to earn their trust by rescuing them or helping them out on missions.
I decide to switch to Maya because she seems like a bit more of a badass than Marcus, and the three of us – Marcus is now AI-controlled – head back up to the ranger station for an unpleasant surprise. The zombies have broken in and killed everyone, and in the process of defending ourselves, Ed gets bitten. We take some keys and a walkie-talkie that one of the men had been using and call for help. The woman on the other end gets us up to speed on what’s going on and tells us that a group of survivors has taken refuge in a church, so we head in that direction. The keys were for a pickup truck we happen upon along the way, so we hop in and outrun the zombies. The vehicle gameplay is pretty standard. You can hop in and out of any ride, but inflicting damage on the car will cause it to explode. Once a vehicle is totaled, it’s gone for good, but State of Decay will gradually introduce new vehicles, so you’ll never find yourself without any transportation.

When we reach the church, we’re greeted by Lily, the woman we spoke to on the walkie-talkie. There’s a small group survivors living here, and they’re in desperate need of medicine. They agree to let us join their group if we go to a veterinary office to acquire the meds. Two from their lot plan to meet us at the office. We have to leave Ed behind because of his injury. Needless to say we run into zombies at the office and have to defend ourselves while one of us searches the place. With our lives intact and the meds acquired, we escort them back to the church and officially join the group there.

Permanent Repercussions

At this point, the game really begins to open up. Missions are still available, but more of my focus is on finding supplies, gaining the trust of others in my community, establishing outposts, and trying to find more survivors, which increases the number of characters I can switch to. Sounds a little RPG-ish, doesn’t it? That’s a good thing, as far as I’m concerned.

I spend a good amount of time simply searching the surrounding houses and buildings, battling zombies when necessary, but trying to avoid them if I can. This enables me to make some friends. I soon learn how important friends are, when I decide to jump into a mission without enough supplies or weapons. This leads to the tragic death of Maya, and another unique State of Decay scenario: Once a character dies, he or she is gone forever. No do-overs. You’ll automatically switch to another character in your group, however. If the fallen avatar had any supplies on him, those are lost as well, unless you send another character to retrieve them.

Zombie Survival: It’s Your Job

As my gameplay time was drawing to a close, I was just beginning to be advised about building out areas of the church in order to make our little survivor colony stronger. Though I didn’t get a chance to do this, the developers at Undead Labs hinted at all sorts of things to build, such as an infirmary, a workshop, a kitchen, and even a garden!
If my four hours are any indication, State of Decay is amazingly deep, especially for an Xbox Live Arcade game. The fact I honestly didn’t want to stop playing when my time was up only reinforced this notion. I did run into a few graphical glitches, where zombies would run through walls, and I could see through some of the other characters if I had the camera at the right angle, but the depth of the experience makes those little issues pretty forgivable. At this point, I’m very optimistic about State of Decay’s massive ambition and scope. If this isn’t headlining the annual Summer of Arcade promotion, then Microsoft is doing something wrong.