Seeing i poured more hours into this game than the average review-writing player, i figured i should write my own review as well. There might be spoilers.
So here goes:

I'm not a fan of most zombie games, which seem to revolve around "shoot millions of zombies to win". There is no "winning" State of decay. The zombies are everywhere and the horde is endless. The base game ends when your survivors manage to leave Trumbull Valley and you are left wondering "How long will they last without my help?"
And this is exactly what i love about State of Decay.

The game & DLC's in a nutshell:

State of Decay:
You and your buddy went on your annual fishing trip, while you were gone large swaths of the US have been overrun by zombies. You get attacked as soon as you tie off your boat. Fighting them off is easy enough but now need to figure out what happened and where you can find a safe place to stay. Jump in the nearest car and meet up with fellow survivors holed up at a church. Then the game begins for real and answers are gradually given.

Breakdown:
Same map, alternate storyline. Several weeks after the outbreak, you and Lily are the last 2 survivors of an enclave and you know you wont last much longer on your own. While you look for another enclave to join, Lily packs up and will meet you there with whatever supplies are left. Once settled it's back to basics: survive for as long as you can. You quickly realize resources are dwindling while zombie numbers increase. Eventually it's time to move on: you pack all equipment in the RV, load up your most important survivors and look for a new home. Your new home is on the exact same map, but with fresh resources and.. more zombies.

Lifeline:
New map. You are in command of the last military outpost in the overrun city of Danforth. You must secure your base, shore up your defenses and start the search for various survivors. The brass will direct you to high-value assets: scientists, doctors and their families whose expertise might be crucial to find an eventual cure. Along the way stranded survivors cry out for help and you're the only one with the means to respond. Your actions will decide the fate of not only Danforth, but possibly the whole world.


I'll do a short pros and cons but there are a few things i should really point out first. State of Decay is not about killing lots of zombies. It is about people trying to survive the zombie apocalypse. There are endless zombies but finite resources. Sure, it is great fun to smash your truck into a few zombie hordes or grab a machine gun and go on a killing spree, but that's not the intention of the game. When you're done a good truck will be broken, perhaps beyond repair. Or a lot of bullets will have been wasted on ever respawning zombies. So when you clear an area of zombies, you damn better scavenge as much as you can.

When you scavenge you may find resources you can use to improve your base or tools for zombie killing. Food and various painkillers/stimulants are also often found. There are a few possible home sites (bases) in the game for you to eventually choose from. Each of them has certain requisites and advantages/disadvantages, but larger is better :). Always you have to make tough choices: will i go for a workshop to repair weapons & cars, or rather a field hospital to aid the people who will inevitably fall sick? No one wants to go down with Black Fever.. trust me. Maybe i can have both IF i sacrifice room for the workout area, but then all survivors will have less stamina and fighting skills.. Choices.
Over the course of the game missions will pop up: help scavenging, clear out an infestation, save a survivor, trade resources with your neighbours, kill a freak zombie.

Unfortunately most of these missions can be boiled down to a simple fact: your fellow survivors have the mental capacity and survival skill of a baked potato. You are the only one who's good at it, and it's up to you to do ALL the work. I found this annoying when i first played the game and put it aside for a few weeks for that reason only. However, if you accept that's just how it is, embrace it, and you'll still have a most enjoyable game.
A few other points of light irritation:
- Graphics: good enough for a game of this price, but definately not top notch.
- Controls: especially car controls feel sluggish.
- Clipping: zombies occasionally clip trough solid objects. Not a problem if it's just a regular zombie, a bit more annoying when it's a Big Un or Feral in an enclosed space.
- Useless survivors: Plenty of them and no "clean" way to get rid of them.

The pros:
Open world game: You go where you want, when you want.
Permadeath: Your survivor got ambushed and killed? He's dead, no reloading an earlier save.
Stamina & carry capacity: The game's way of saying you're just an average Joe, not Rambo.
Traits and Skills: The game's way of taking the "average" out of "average Joe"
Soundtrack: Composed by Jesper Kyd. 'Nuff said.
Mods: Don't like this or that? Maybe want to see more of that other stuff? Check out the modding community, or find out how to do it yourself. Besides tweaking Breakdown to make it more enjoyable, i also added myself as a playable character. Much fun was had.

All in all i found this a very enjoyable game and the DLC's are definately worth it. Has been on sale several times @ -66% orso.
Even grabbed back to it a few months after i finished it.

I recently bought State of Decay from Steam’s summer sale for around 4€ and I don’t think I’ve ever been happier with a game purchase. I’ve heard/read people saying it’s a good game but didn’t realise it was SO addicting too.

Let’s start by explaining what the whole game is about, without spoilers of course. It’s zombie apocalypse time and you are one of the survivors. You aid other survivors, build a community, search for supplies like food, gas, ammunition and weapons to survive.

You have the freedom to move around the open world how you like, set up a base (home) in various locations, choose what kind of services your base has (medical room, library to study, mechanics to fix cars & gear etc.)

You can build watch tower in your base, order men to practice shooting, extend the safe zone around your map by sniping everyone around your base, train other neighbouring survivors in your camp in exchange of goods.

You can take over empty buildings like gas stations, cafeterias etc. and build outposts there. Outpost have a ‘safe zone’ around them, where zombies will not spawn so it’s a good place to have a breather. Outpost also grant you access to your base supplies, so you can quickly switch weapons and other gear there.

Your base has a radio that helps you keeping in contact with other survivors and NPCs in the world. This is also how you will get most of your quests, distress calls etc. You can contact your base via radio and ask them to track specific supplies for you - or you can just scavenge around and search houses and buildings for everything usefull.

You can load stuff you find in your backbag and in trunk of a car. When you can’t carry more, you can ask base to send runners who will make their way to your location and loot the place. You can wait for the runner and aid him in returning the goods back home, or go your merry way and let them do it without you. They are usually quite handy with their weapons, though it all depends on what gear you are giving to your community.

Sometimes they chew more than they can handle and might end up surrounded by zombies, trapped in house etc. If you like your buddies, you go and help ‘em - or let them struggle alone. If you don’t offer any help, that has an impact in your own reputation within the group. So basically, don’t ♥♥♥♥ around and help your own men. Also helping neighbours and other communities has it’s benefits.

The more people you have living in your base, the more rations they take up per day. The more people you have, the more security you have. The more people you have, the more inner problems you have. People will occasionally get mad at each other, have sleeping problems, fear the outside world. Quite often you can solve these issues - but there’s bound to happen something nasty eventually.

You start the game by controlling one person. After a while you gain more friends and allies and you can then control them too. Once a person is too badly wounded or too tired, you can then switch to another person and keep doing the tasks required to survive, while others rest and keep up the base. (Guard the perimeter, cook food, hunt for supplies, fix broken equipment, manufacture traps, silencers, bullets etc.)

The world inside State of Decay goes on, even when you are offline. The event gradually slow down, the more time you are away from game and in three (3) days the time will be almost at stand still. So, if you have a real life too and log in the game next day, be prepared. Something might have happened to your community while you were away.

If you are into zombie/post apocalyptic game this game is a must buy. I highly recommend it. Oh and remember, if you ♥♥♥♥ up and someone dies, he/she is dead for good. I was saddened to see my favorite guy die just because I was too cheap with healing kits.

After about 17 hours I finished the campaign, and I enjoyed this game very much!

Let me give you all some pros and cons from my perspective:

Your mission is to survive and make your stand with others like you, gather supplies and look for shelter is the first thing that comes to mind, and also try to kill everything in a specific area to try and create a "safe zone", which is actually impossible since the zombies will eventually spawn there again. I saw a horde spawn right next to me right after I got out of the car once, I disliked this aspect of the game to say the truth, it killed the "sneaking" feeling of hunting down and intercepting enemies before they reach the area you just cleared.

A car is your best friend in this game, they are just ridiculously over powered. Once you unlock the vehicle delivery radio assistance you are pretty much invincible, that makes the game really fun because you can go out playing bowling simulator with zombies in the streets... But it's a huge con in my opinion, the game gets too easy. A fuel system would be a good idea to implement, and also a specialization system to turn the cars on, it feels really weird that every car in the city is open, with infinite gas and the keys just sitting there in the ignition...

When you die you die for real, and since there's not a manual save option in the game make sure to press f4 when you see you're not going to make it... When you die you switch to another survivor from your group which is friendly to you, or if you don't have any friends you just get a random guy. I died once and decided to restart the game, learned my lesson the hard way.

Once you progress enough in the game you can relocate your base, the best option is the Snyder Trucking Warehouse. You need at least 12 people in your group to move there, and once it's up and running you are going to feel untouchable, since you can have up to 8 outposts, and the consequence of that is a very big safe zone for you to chill during the zombie apocalypse.

Regarding the other survivor groups that appears during the game, the only thing that ♥♥♥♥ed me off is the fact that you lose trust with them, if for example you approach them with a car, you get a penalty for "reckless driving" and they also can catch on fire if you throw a molotov near them, don't even think about using guns, unless you are alone, they will get in your way and get hit. But if you swing a machete or a sledgehammer in their head nothing will happen... It would also be really cool if other survivor groups could attack you, trying to steal your supplies or even your base.

You lose stamina and even health as time goes on, the only option to get better is to switch characters and let the other one rest. But most people really don't want to go out playing with another survivor, there should be an option to rest and wake up rested the next day.

It's also much more difficult to play in the night, you do have a flashlight, but other than that everything else is completely dark, all you can see are the red eyes of the zombies, and that's awesome! I remember one time when I went on a mission to retrieve a watch for one of the survivors, I had to go to the starting area of the game, and I went there after the sunset and managed to explode my car trying to jump a broken bridge, which attracted a lot of zombies, and there wasn't any other vehicle nearby. All I had with me was an axe and some firecrackers, I had to sneak all my way through the woods, and use the firecrackers to get the attention of the nearby hordes so I could get the damn watch and gtfo of there, I felt like I was in the game at that moment, and that's when I thought, this game is awesome! Totally recommended!

Found the game very enjoyable but became burnt out on it very quickly, its incredibly repetetive with a very short storyline surrounded by filler side missions (mostly involving useless AI's that cant do ♥♥♥♥ for themselves). Combat is fun, the feeling of survival is VERY strong and immersive and the range of weapons (both ranged and melee) are pretty darn impressive. Not to mention for all those people who love their eye candy.. fairly good graphics

The main thing that gets me with this game however is that the survivors you work with overall are just... useless. Your base's radio operator is constantly spamming you with messages about how "so and so has wandered into a horde of zombies like a dumbass and you need to save them!", you go and save his/her ♥♥♥ and then another message comes in about another idiot who's achieved the same thing (sometimes even the same guy! xD) Ultimately you dont really connect with any of the characters in that most of the lines and voices (there is very little variety in this regard) are just copy and pastes from one person to another, all in all i would estimate about 5 voices for each gender.

One thing i always like in my games especially open-world ones are the mods! there are quite a lot of different mods for this game involving things like little tweaks to zombies, combat, vehicles ect and big stuff like base overhauls and porting weapons and vehicles from the DLC into the main game. Probably put an extra 20 hours into the game thanks to this.

The game is certainly worth buying for a zombie fan if you've got cash to spare or it's on sale but dont expect to be playing it for months to come, its a very short but sweet playthrough for most people i have spoken to despite the flaws

I would rate this game a 7/10 and i hope that people find this review i made useful

This game is truely unique and great fun, unlike a lot of other zombie survival games you are in fact controlling a entire community of people, you can pick which one of them you will use or use multiple people for one mission.

So plot, well story there really isnt much of, the world has gone to hell, zombies everywhere and you are one of the last few survivors that has to try and make it, via a bunch of missions and gathering you have to build your community and try and make it out of there, rather stright forward and easy plot wise. However the way they made the gameplay makes the game feel unique and amazing as every little thing you do in fact effects more than just you, it effects all survivors there is.
Missions range from simple kill this dude to building parts for your base to save a poor soul who messed up and is about to die.

I´ve spent quite a lot of time on State of Decay and will return to it to farm achivements for sure, it is one of those games where you just NEED another 15 mins to try and fix something within the game and before you know it you lost your entire day in the game.

Now State of Decay is suffering from some minor bugs, such as zombies beeing half in walls and below ground which now and then makes it rather tricky to play but nothing a restart of the game cannot fix.

This game is well worth the money and so are the DLC`s wait untill the nearest sale and grap it for sure, I´m however wondering why no one has made a multiplayer mod for this game or prehaps i just didnt find it, coz that would bring the game from beeing awesome to freaking amazing!

In all honestly, even with graphics and gameplay glitches here and there, this is one of the most immersive and realistic zombie survival games out there. There is nothing like that satisfying TWACK with a baseball bat and the constant perilous and VERY dangerous surprise of a Feral Zombie. I have gotten an unreal number of hours of thrilling gameplay from this title and it's DL content. As a horror gamer and creator, I give the highest recommendation for State of Decay and eagerly anticipate Undead Lab's continuing the series as an open world MMORPG. FIVE STARS

For all of you looking for a true zombie survival game, you've come to the right place. You're going to spend a ridiculous amount of time having stories to share with your friends unfold before your eyes.

The base game has an enjoyable story, though it's the sandboxy feel that goes along with it that makes this game an excellent one. You are continually capable of working toward your next story goal at your own pace, though if you're like me you'll find the majority of the game is spent exploring, collecting supplies, building up your base, dealing with other survivor groups, gaining skills for you survivors, etc. Every character has a unique backstory and there are -a lot- of survivors out there that you might run into and have join you.

The base building is simple, yet very enjoyable as well. Depending on what skills your survivors have, different options are available and you have plenty of options available to you. Do you want to be able to support more survivors? Build a bunkhouse and a garden so that they have a comfortable place to sleep and food to eat if your scavenged supplies run low. Looking to cut back on the sneaking around and really take the fight to the zombies? An infirmary will keep your survivors healthy and a munitions shop will keep them well armed. Just remember, even healthy, well armed survivors might run into a challenge when facing off against the 'freaks' or special zombies.

The Breakdown DLC removes the deep story aspect of the the vanilla campaign, though it adds a brand new achievement system that unlocks 'hero' survivors that, more often than not, are more capable than your average survivor. This mode also has 'Breakdown Levels', each time you complete one you move on to the next, more challenging phase, with new survivor achievements to unlock.

I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys the zombie survival genre. I'd been looking for a game like this for a very long time and was extremely happy when I installed it and truly learned what it was all about. Enjoy and I'd love to hear your stories!

At first you may thought that...typical "owh, it's another generic zombie game" ... but don't... it's not, it's better... Have you watch/read/play the Walking Dead series? No? than you should...if yes, feel it's different than other zombie genre? cause that's how State of Decay will make you feel.

Have you try DayZ? or Rust, or Borderlands or other apocalyptic games. which most of it focus on 'multiplayer' or 'coop'. If that what you digg, than good for you. What if you didn't? what if you want to play a single player experience and proceed at your own pace. Without having to deal with 'a**hat' in online game, that will ruins your game by killing you at the glimpse of your body. Than, this is your game. A single player experience of zombie game that you never play before.

This game is not about all out killing zombies. It's more of a base management simulation. When it make you feel/think how to survive day and night, while managing a group of survivors. Like how Rick have to, in Walking Dead. Gathering resources is not because you want to, but only just because you need. Take only what you have to, and leave the rest for later. Resources are scatter.. and limited for the whole map. No respawn of resources. You may see the map kinda small, but after you travel, it is really big. Lot of places to scavange. Lot of story to unfold. Roleplay a bit on your journey. It will make the game better. Take the limitation in game as a challenges, on what you can do in order to overcome those obstacles, such as storage limits etc. Feel the need to survive, in this State of Decay.

While those interested in the burgeoning zombie survival sandbox genre have no shortage of titles to partake of, those seeking a solo experience have been left with few options, particularly on the PC. Multiplayer games inspired by the Arma 2 mod, Dayz, seem to be popping up everywhere but the appreciable potential for a singleplayer game that focuses on PvE rather than PvP has on the platform gone unfulfilled. State of Decay looks to cash in on this opening, offering up a sizable chunk of game world populated by zombies, AI survivors and lots of loot-filled buildings to scour. While there are more than a few rough edges in State of Decay and a lack of the heart-stopping tension found in Dayz, there is an engrossing and enjoyable game here with a lot of things to do given the low cost of entry.

The start of the game sees you fighting zombies and completing simple fetch quests for a small group of survivors garrisoned in a ranger station. You are introduced to the combat and looting mechanics, but these only garnish the more engaging aspects of the experience. Soon you find yourself entwined with a larger group of survivors holed up in a church just outside a small town. This will serve as your base throughout most of the game as you earn the trust of fellow survivors, fortify your encampment and go out in search of supplies. Ensuring the well being of this group of survivors is ultimately what keeps State of Decay moving forward, as it provides good incentive for you to engage in the gameplay tasks which without context would be fairly banal.

After the opening sequence of the game, the constant flood of missions that you are informed of via radio chatter take a back seat to exploration and looting. Ensuring that your group of survivors have enough food and medical supplies will be the most pressing issue, and can be remedied by searching through houses which may contain zombies, supplies or occasionally survivors who can be convinced to join your group. You can climb tall objects and 'survey' the surrounding area, revealing locations of interest. Once inside a building, objects which contain items must be searched, and this takes several seconds to complete. Whether you try and sneak around avoiding combat with the walking undead, quietly scavenging what you need, or go in swinging to clear a house of its decrepit occupants before searching for goodies remains entirely up to you. You can radio home to request an AI survivor come out and pick up the supplies for you, but this requires clearing a location of all zombies first.

If you decide to clear a location of zombies before poking around for loot, the combat is functional but uninspired. With a melee weapon you swing away until either you run out of stamina, the zombies' heads explode or your weapon breaks. If you manage to knock a zombie down you can finish it off with a brutal swing of your chosen instrument of death, but most of the challenge lies in ensuring you don't get surrounded or backed into a corner. Firearms are straightforward and satisfying to use, although ammunition isn't readily available and firing a unsilenced weapon will attract nearby zombies, meaning they are best used only when the situation gets out of hand. Sneaking around zombies is a viable method, particularly when dealing with larger groups, and can be accomplished by takedowns from behind, distracting zombies with objects or using firearms with home-made silencers that only last for a set number of shots.

The zombies themselves shamble around convincingly enough, at least until they get stuck in the terrain which happens all too frequently. The undead will hop through windows, climb fences and grab you from behind as they endeavor to end your life. Special zombie types eventually start showing up, which range from the bullet-proof SWAT zombies to ones that explode in a cloud of poisonous gas when killed to hulking beasts that charge like bulls and sponge up a lot of firepower before going down.

If you do get killed, which happens very infrequently, rather than reverting to an old save you will start playing as another survivor in your group. It is in your best interest to keep survivors alive for as long as possible since you gradually gain passive improvements to a character over time, such as improved stamina, melee damage and increased health. If you are out and about with one character for too long, their maximum stamina will be decreased until they go back to the base and rest. When you do this, you will take control of a different survivor, meaning you will end up playing as many different characters throughout the game.

While the explorable area in State of Decay isn't huge, you can enter and drive vehicles left lying around which are all conveniently unlocked with keys in the ignition. Driving a car feels responsive and light almost to a fault; if you crash into an object at speed your vehicle will go flying in some pretty crazy ways. Running over zombies is a very effective way of killing them, although cars will become damaged in the process. Zombie hordes roam the streets, and running into them at full speed will be as damaging to your vehicle as it will be to the shambling flesh-eaters.

The amount of time you spend on State of Decay is linked directly to how invested you become in the well-being of your survivor group as well as your tolerance for repetition given there is no real end to the game but the random objectives start repeating. It takes a good amount of time and scavenging to fully upgrade your survivor camp with an infirmary, vehicle-repair station and watchtowers among other fortifications, but if you don't buy into the well being of your AI dependants you will struggle to care enough to go through the trouble of collecting all the required materials.

If you have been looking for a zombie-themed survival sandbox but don't want to contend with bandits and hackers in online games, State of Decay will scratch that itch. The lack of tension in exploration is vindicated by fairly complex mechanics surrounding the well-being of a group of survivors you must watch over. State of Decay succeeds in its ambitions and despite some rough edges provides a compelling open world experience.


Be sure to check out Nerd House Gaming for more reviews!

This game is realistic urban life simulator, you play as a black gentleman who breaks into people's houses, steals their valuables and proceeds to beat the owner of the house with a baseball bat. 10/10 would get eaten by zombies again.

State of Decay certainly doesn't waste any time. Mere seconds past the Start screen, it throws you headlong into a zombie apocalypse in full bloom. Tree branch in hand, you clobber the shambling corpses attempting to munch on your screaming camping buddy, and then seek out the few remaining survivors while scrounging for supplies, weapons, and ever-safer home bases. That's just the first 20 minutes, but the core of State of Decay's gameplay never changes as you make your way through its open world and battle an endless cast of zombies. State of Decay finds its soul in the dreary repetition of apocalyptic survival.State of Decay's open world manages a substantial degree of immersion, complete with an expansive and occasionally intimidating map and the ability to drive cars freely across the landscape. The cars handle poorly, but the ability to use them to mow down roving zombie swarms offers a malicious satisfaction. You quickly learn to fight zombies only if you absolutely have to in State of Decay, and therein lies much of its appeal. This is not a game about Bruce Campbell badassing about in Evil Dead; it's a celebration of the normal person and all of his or her associated weaknesses. Some of the characters you come across have no combat experience at all.Death is permanent in State of Decay, which means that even characters with fully voiced storylines and unique dialogue die forever if you let them get overrun. From there, you can only continue through the eyes of another character you've befriended.Few things add more tension to State of Decay than the terrifying noise guns make, because a single foolish shot can bring an unmanageable horde upon you.Permanent death is a smart addition, though, since losing characters with high skills across the board carries with it a real sense of loss, particularly if their voice quests and customized responses in some quests led you to believe they were an essential character. Sometimes they don't even have to die in the field; if a character you've been controlling sustains enough injuries--a few undead chomps don't result in instant zombification in State of Decay--he'll lie bedridden and useless at your home base. The good news is that the need to rest and switch out characters results in you amassing a balanced group of playable characters anyway.It's a bit strange that a game that places such a heavy emphasis on interpersonal relationships should have no cooperative mode. You spend your time with State of Decay alone, joining up with other NPCs only for specialized quests and escort missions that bring other survivors back to your current base camp. It's especially odd since State of Decay starts out with a party of two, suggesting that you'll always have a buddy at your side if need be.State of Decay serves up a near constant barrage of suspense and immersion that leaves even the briefest jaunts away from your home base tinged with the threat of death. Its flaws are numerous and impossible to ignore, but in spite of them, State of Decay is a captivating survival adventure set in a bleak and harrowing world.

Yet another zombie survival game. Oh, don't we see them so often? The answer is: Yes, HOWEVER, this game takes a new and interesting approach to the apocolypse. Nevermind finding a cure or trying to leave town to some place nice and quiet; State of Decay forces you into a world where the main focus is to fortify a home/base and to live off the surrounding, sometimes desolate buildings. Find food, feed your community members. Find materials, upgrade your base. Find oil, power your generator. Find ammo, defend yourselves from the shambling remains of what used to be your average Joe. Find and rescue other survivors, convince them to join your community. Survive as long as you could as a community. This game makes it clear you need a hand in the end of the world. Now, let's not get too off-topic - this is a review. This brings the question: So why should I get this game?
Well, although this game had a so-so port from Xbox to PC, although it has semi-frequent glitches, and although it has rather repetetive dialogue, the game makes up for this in many other aspects. I can play this for hours on end, but for the sake of my mental health, I keep each session under 4 hours. This game is great fun, and it can seriously get nerve racking at certain points, whether from the plot or from you just scavenging a town alone. There hasn't been one point in this entire game that I didn't enjoy spending time in the destroyed world that remains. After all, you don't choose the world you live in, but you choose what role you will play in said world.
All being said, I highly recommend you give this game a go, and if you like it, get the DLC (but we'll leave the DLC for another review or two).

This came out at the end of last year.

I had to check. There's been such a huge number of zombie games and zombie-related stuff coming out since about 2006, and I'm a fan of the genre. So what, call it a, "Guilty pleasure," as the cliche goes. Zombies are cool, no denying it. The games are either terrible or great, there's usually not much of an inbetween with this genre.

In particular, the third person/first person zombie shooter has become the most overdone thing on the planet. Very nice to see all the same things used again, so many tropes. However, this game has a few things that set it apart, both good and bad. I wouldn't say it's a great game, but it is a fairly solid game. Everyone else is getting in on the zombie-shootin' action, Microsoft may as well, too.

Again, it is a fairly good game. I might even buy the DLC's for it. It's well paced, there's leveling up, there's beating things, shooting things, different actions you take have consequences, other actions you don't take have opposite reactions...There's so much to play around with. Worth the low price tag? Certainly, if you occasionally spend more than $10.00 on games, this should definitely be on your list of must plays. Just be aware that if you've played one game like this, you've pretty much played them all.

The graphics for the time of release feel a little bit dated, and every Microsoft-published game that takes place in third-person view seems to have the most ridiculous camera issues. You can go the stealth route, the rambo route, the baseball bat wielding maniac route - no matter what you take, you're going to be forced to take a step back and make decisions. You will go as far as you can with one character and just keep telling yourself, "One more mission, one more mission, one more mission..." Until your stamina and health are so damaged that you eventually just can't do anything anymore.

Then your character dies, giving a hefty penalty to overall group happiness.

I guess you could say this is almost a mix between the Sims and Dead Island, and I certainly hope that implied combination doesn't result in any frustration or anger toward me for making it. There's even a sub plop featuring what is not explicitely said to be, but is fairly indicative of, a gay male couple. Very progressive of you, Undead labs, very progressive. I do have to give it points for that, because it's the type of risk that you don't normally see being taken in games. Maybe I'm reading too much into it - after all, I'm only five hours into the game and that was in one sitting.

I already feel like I'm fairly far through it, but the temptation to start completely over now? Knowing what I know just from playing a few hours of it - that's very high. After I finish it, though, I probably won't revisit it - other than for the DLC content just to check things out a bit.

The other reviews don't lie, it is a good game, and for the price, it's definitely worthy of dropping a few bucks on a sale, but it's not the best game like this out there. It does execute certain things better, and the voice acting isn't painful.

In short, I played this for five hours straight and only have a few complaints. Occasionally wonky camera action can frustrate you at times when you're having your face eaten. The inclusion of tropes without making them comic relief and utilizing them to the hilt. When the game does make an attempt at comic relief, it fails extremely hard. The game does its best to be progressive by including the gay miniature subplot and by making the multicultured characters walking stereotypes of their respective races. This isn't even funny, it's literally just borderline racist. Still, though, it's not done in a way that's overtly offensive.

7.5/10 - It definitely won't be the last time I play it, and I certainly feel it's worth the full price, but if you're reading reviews for recommendations on a game, you might want to wait until a sale rolls around.

I've been playing Undead Labs's State of Decay for the past several weeks after nabbing it on sale. The game is a single-player third-person zombie apocalypse sandbox of sorts: while the main game has a storyline to follow, you certainly don't need to follow it and the story won't advance until you do, giving you a lot of time to just poke around.

I have enjoyed the game very much. It's certainly interesting enough to play and while it starts out reasonably tame, it can get quite difficult.

The main game begins with your character and a buddy returning to the more civilization-adjacent parts of a national park after a two-week fishing trip only to find that, while you were gone, civilization kind of had a major meltdown. From there, the game focuses on steath and survival by building up friendships with others and establishing a base from which to operate and outposts to reinforce that base and provide small "safe zones".

Criticisms
The criticisms I have are somewhat picky. To start, the story is very simple and somewhat shallow — it would be easy to play through it relatively quickly and then be just done with the game. A lot more could have been done, but, as I understand it this was Undead Labs's first game, and it was made for XBox Arcade with all the limitations that requires -- so we will perhaps see more story development in their next full release.

Second, there just isn't enough information in the tutorial; you feel bombarded with information (because a lot comes in through your Journal) that you can't make much sense of — and then lost because basic information (such as the benefits of establishing an Outpost, or whether it's wise to leave resources in Outposts or loot them thoroughly before setting one up in a location) can be a little difficult to find.

Third, there are too few voice actors, meaning that you end up with the same voice actors' lines being used for several different characters who end up sounding exactly the same while they say (verbatim) the same things; get two of them with the same voice together on a mission and it can get kind of confusing.

Finally: the driving physics and UI need some work. The game was set up for XBox, so maybe this is where PC players like me start to have problems. But while I can play Saints Row and Grand Theft Auto and drive just fine, I find the driving in State of Decay frustrating — especially because the smallest mistake can send a car sailing through the air as though it suddenly weighs nothing. And cars that turn over always explode, so there's that.

Praise
Meanwhile, though, State of Decay is nice to look at: the colors are just muted enough to evoke the proper autumn at the end-of-the-world feeling, and there has been a lot of attention to detail in filling out the large area (Trumbull Valley) in which your character gets to roam. There are three small towns to explore, as well as a lot of countryside, with a lot of interesting things to look at if you appreciate the details.

The game also makes you take a step back and figure out how to survive. Your character can go stealth or maniac, or pretty much anything in between. But don't count on the zombies to cooperate since that's sure to get your favorite character eaten nearly every time. And since death is final, that really makes a difference.

Strategy and sound are important, which I really enjoy, and on top of that there is also resource management to deal with: you've got a base full of survivors who need food, medicine, and ammunition to remain survivors, and construction materials to keep their base up. Scavenging through the zombie-infested, burnt-out world is a constant necessity.

In the end, the game is definitely worth a few bucks (especially if you can catch it on sale), and I look forward to other games from Undead Labs.

Breakdown DLC
I've played several hours of the Breakdown DLC (at level 5, currently), and it's been a lot of fun and a lot of frustration, but the frustration really seems to be the point of it. It's primarily the sandbox version of the base game, with a couple simple tasks to do to "move to the next level". Each level, the zombies get more numerous and more difficult to deal with and the scavenge-able resources get harder to find.

If you don't mind that sort of challenge — the one where you are pretty sure you'll ultimately fail — it can end up being a lot of fun.

State of Decay is a third-person zombie apocalypse survival game developed by Undead Labs and published by Microsoft. State of Decay is a single player only game.

State of Decay gameplay is quite deep, but somewhat repetitive at certain point. At the start of the game, you play as two main characters, Marcus Campbell and Ed Jones as they are ambushed by the living dead. Then you will have a home base where you and other survivors making a stand against the undead. From there, the sandbox play begins. Your home base is where you and your others survivors live, obviously, and it needs supplies to survive. You need to hunt and raid outside to get supplies like foods, medicines, building materials, ammunitions, weapons or fuels. Your home base can also be improved, you can build a workshop, garden, sleeping area and more as long as your home base has the space for them. You can move out from your current home base and find a new bigger or better one too. When you're out there hunting, you may find some neighboring survivors or survivors who may want to join you in your home base. You will also find some driveable civilian vehicles which can also be used as cargo for your scavenged supplies for you to bring home. Your home base will sometimes attacked by approaching zombie hordes. You will need to set up some outpost to defend against these living dead hordes. Outpost will also create a small safe zone outside your home for you to take shelter.

In State of Decay, survivors can become tired, injured or sick. When that happen to survivors you currently play, better get home and switch to another survivors. Yes, you can switch characters when you have become friends with them. If a survivor gets tired, his/her max stamina will decrease, same goes when he/she is injured. Survivors will also gain some experience and skill as you play with them, such as cardio, wits (ability to search faster but quiet), fighting, shooting and more. But beware if your survivors is killed, their death is permanent. Survivors can be equipped with melee or firearms, whichever you prefer, but melee weapons will gets damaged over time and will be destroyed if not repaired. Firearms can also gets damaged and if not repaired, will become jammed but not destroyed.

Graphics of State of Decay is great, looks good, but not one of those next generation thing. Using CryEngine 3, State of Decay does have good environment view, lightning, good textures, physics and effects. Characters animations are great, when dodging zombies, attacking with melee, it's good. Blood and gore effects are also present in this game, in fact, you can see your survivors getting torn in 2 pieces by the zombies.

State of Decay performance is good, but can use more optimization. At maximum setting, the game sometimes but rarely stutters which can ruin your aim when using a gun. Aiming a gun also seems clumsy and quite hard. Otherwise the performance is good and fine.

If you're looking for more friendly zombie apocalypse game, then State of Decay is for you, since the game is single player only, you won't find yourself get shot from the back by somebody when you just spawn in the game. With deep gameplay mechanics, State of Decay can entertain you for many hours. I recommend this.

Rating 9/10

State of Decay.
Now with its two DLCs Breakdown and Lifeline (at the time of this review's writing. Idk if they intend to release more dlcs)

The base game is a fun, gritty experience at a post apocalyptic world where zombies overrun the world and you control survivors and try to tough it out and survive. Your decisions have weight and consequences, whether you choose to handle a situation as soon as you get into it or delay your decision, there are consequences that will affect your game in ways that amaze me. Though i really dislike the fact that the zombies themselves can run, there are mods for that. Sure the unmodded experience is fun too but i feel like mods tend to enhance gameplay. I myself installed several, mostly ones that make the zombie population a lot more dense and force them to shamble and walk towards you.

Adds a lot of tension as you try to mow down zombies with a table leg you just found in a house you were scavenging. Every hit exhausts you, you run and hope they don't catch up. You panic as you keep running to avoid your death at the hands of the zeds.
You get back to your home base, you build more improvements and go over your plans to hit the next few houses for supplies and maybe even radio other survivors. And for a moment, you feel safe and sound. Until a siege comes along.

What i think that this game does best is make the player emotionally invest in the characters.
You grow attached to a certain survivor and you want to see him/her make it out. You grow attached to some survivors and you do everything you can so that they survive. When i had to put down a few survivors because they were infected, that really hit me hard in the feels.
and i was pretty bummed when my chosen survivor got torn in half by a horde during a scavenging mission gone terribly wrong. Good job Undead Labs.

Though after my main survivor died, i kinda didn't touch the game again.
:<

This is a game with a few faults, bugs and glitches yet it's still one of the best zombie games. Survival is the main priority, find a home and upgrade it, build a storage or kitchen, medical center or workshop. Find other survivers to join you. Playing as different characters was fun, looking for supplies in buildings is a nice touch of realism. Melee combat is pretty good but i found the aiming with guns annoying and troublesome. The story was meh and could of been better but overall i'd say it's an awesome game, It focuses on survival and not just killing as many zombies you can which was a nice change.

The overall design of State of Decay is really well done. There's so much potential. Finally, a development team that gets the core design right. All they need to do is build off of this game.

There's a variety of zombies, different animations, and the character models are well done. Imagine what they could have done with a file size bigger than 2GB.

I can't believe I put off buying this game for this long up to the point where I took it off my radar. There are several ideas and concepts that work really well. With co-op online, State of Decay has the opportunity to be the definitive zombie game. It's close enough, yet so far. But like I said, the foundation is there; they just need to build off of this game, improve the mechanics, and execute.

Great zombie video game. I feel it is the best one out there that combines the elements that I am looking for in a zombie game and at the same time it is incredibly fun. It's highly addictive with good reason.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Easily one of the most enjoyable zombie-themed survival games I've played. There's nothing much more to say, everything about the game is fantastic. It's simple enough to get into without frustrating yourself, and deep enough to keep you coming back for quite a long time. The story is good enough that you'll want to continue playing through it, and the free play can keep you entertained for a long, long time.

I've finished campaign after 22 hours (I was doing every side-quest).

If you like show The Walking Dead and playing games then this game is just for you!
Game guides you through the simple story which is not bad as it is from this genre to be expected.
Characters are lovely and combat system isn't bad.

After campaign you have Breakdown and Lifetime DLC.
Both are great and if you have full pack you will spend A LOT time at this game.

I can recommend this game for 100% :)