State of Decay is very simple, you are in charge of survivors following a zombie outbreak. This is played out in a third-person perspective, as you flee a camp site with other survivors to a nearby town to a church where other survivors are holed up; making it a home base. You control one survivor at any one time but you can switch to other survivors that you save and make as your friends; allowing you to play between two - eight different survivors, so you are not constantly using the same survivors who are tired, injured or ill.
I did not understand this option until about six hours into my first play through of the game, and discovering this and other elements to the game including upgrading and building facilities in your home base, which again I never understood properly until about four hours into the game. There are many elements to State of Decay that you will learn on the move, you will not understand them immediately so be prepared to either quickly using them or starting the game again to get early use of them - which is what I plan to do, and play my second play through.
The resources system can cause problems but can also be quite fun as you search the towns and outlying countryside for resources including food, medicine, ammunition, building materials, and fuel which are required for your survivors. This forces you to search the area for these resources, and attract zombie hordes to your presence which can force you to flee with only some of those resources for the sake of your life. This can be quite hectic, yet realistic - this does play out like The Walking Dead but as a third-person survival-horror with strategy and RPG elements.
You have to care about your survivors, some quests even involve talking to some of those in your camp who are having personal issues, and having trouble of integrating into the community. At other times you are asked to find some of your survivors who have gone missing on supply runs, or to find new survivors who are barricaded in houses nearby. Finally you are on a main-plot mission, that can be played at any time you like if you want to just play side-quests and scavenge for supplies for your base.
With over 30 melee weapons, and up to 99 firearm weapons to find, and use there are so many different types of weapons, and ammunition types you'll come across - and again it requires prioritizing your needs and weigh them against additional loot you also find. There is also emphasis on stealth, as rushing into a building and being reckless in searching for loot can alert zombies to your presence and so you need to be smart, and concise.
Up to the point of writing this review, I am over six hours into the game but have found myself in difficulty as I have stripped the nearby town of almost all resources, and weapons when I should have been more organised and thought ahead of my initial decisions - and so I am now going to start the game again and do my second play through of the game. I do not feel angry that all of what I have discovered of the game's features came too late, as State of Decay has much replay value to it, and you can play it over and over again trying different tactics.
The Good:
- Very good open-world environment to play in, with nearby towns and camp sites.
- RPG, Strategy elements make State of Decay more in depth, and can make you think about your decisions, and the repercussions of them.
- Over 30 melee weapons to find or loot and use, and 99 guns to find and loot as well add a lot of strategy to your experience - as you have to decide what ammunition to search for, and what weapons and ammo to conserve for worst-case scenarios.
- There is so much to do in State of Decay without having to follow the main-plot missions; there are many side quests and missions, as well as the general scavenging for supplies needed for your base and community.
- Hours of game play to enjoy, and a lot replay value to the game as you can replay the game to attempt different tactics or actions.
- Very realistic of an end-of-the-world scenario, requiring resources and supplies - you must prioritize your requirements for your community against your personal wants.
The Bad:
- Once you have looted any of the nearby towns or countryside of supplies, loot and resources - the game can get extremely hard as you have guns but no ammunition for them.
All in all State of Decay is well worth 1600 Microsoft points, as it has many hours of game-play to enjoy but it also gives fans of The Walking Dead and Post-Apocalypse games and literature a chance to play out their fantasies with their survivors. Give it a try if you're a fan of any of the above, or just a fan of open-sandbox games.