Which, of course, leads us to State of Decay 2. Though I had beefs with some of the things it did, I really fell in love with the game-especially as an idea that could (and hopefully would) be improved and expanded upon in future iterations.

Then, on top of that, State of Decay delved into territory few previous games had attempted to tackle, most notably its concepts of building up a community, never having one central character, and the risk that-at any time-any (or all) of your group could die for good. All of that was part of a larger gameplay focus of seeing how long you can last (versus carving your way through a complex storyline), which I’ve always thought lent itself better to the zombie apocalypse scenario. The game dropped you into an open-world section of rural America, where finding a location to establish a base, searching abandoned shops and homes for supplies, and helping out other survivors in need were just as important as taking out roaming zombies hordes with a baseball bat, rifle, or the front end of a car.

I’d certainly never say that Undead Labs’ 2013 release State of Decay was exactly what I’ve always wanted in my dream zombie game, but it did tick many of the same boxes. While “zombie games are played out” continues to be a much-expressed sentiment, I keep longing for that one project that’ll satisfy me in terms of survival, exploration, scavenging, and community building (should I get tired of going it alone). For me, that dream game is the perfect zombie adventure. At some point, anyone who has played video games for long enough conjures up images of their dream game-that one idea above all others they desperately hope might someday be released.

State of decay lifeline mods