Somewhere along the way the shambling undead became one of the most popular threats in horror games. It’s at the point where zombies feel almost like a cop out, a cheap excuse for a menace and enemy, one that holds a fairly wide appeal and that has all the lore and character traits already written. So we have to wonder, how can a game like State of Decay, an Xbox Live Arcade title by Undead Labs, manage to stand out in the sea of the walking dead? The short answer is that it manages to combine a slew of genres to create an engaging horror-survival game, one that has you managing a ton of resources, balancing human emotions and physical capabilities, and keeping the undead off your back, all for the purpose of simply staying alive for another day. But we’ll delve into every detail in our State of Decay review, after bringing you some impressions earlier this month.
State of Decay begins immediately after pressing the start button, without any introduction or cinematic. You begin the game as Marcus, a man who had on a fishing trip with his buddy Ed, who finds himself in the middle of a zombie attack. After finding some survivors at a nearby ranger station, losing them to the ravenous undead, and finding a walkie-talkie, you make contact with some of the others still human and wind up in a fortified church. This is your first home base, and here you learn about the people occupying the space and start to put the first few pieces of this puzzle together. There is a zombie apocalypse, and the obvious course of action is to stay alive long enough to figure out how to get out of the situation. There’s a notable lack of sensationalism throughout the whole ordeal, and it’s indicative of how the rest of the game plays out; State of Decay skips any attempt at over the top cut scenes or action in order to evoke emotion or tell the story, and it’s actually refreshing.
There’s an underlying story that you’ll follow involving the military as you figure out the source of the catastrophe and formulate your plans for escape, but saying much more would spoil it. The thing about State of Decay isn’t that the story is incredibly unique, but rather how Undead Labs has taken a tale told so many times, and sculpted a set of genre-defying gameplay mechanics around the clichés. It’s been labeled GTA with zombies, and it does look like one. It has RPG and RTS elements, it’s a sandbox game, and a survival horror game, and combined it’s a true apocalypse sim.
One of the earliest mechanics introduced is the ability to switch between playable characters; it’s also one of the most important features in State of Decay. There is no main character, and you’ll have to devote time to multiple survivors in order to progress. Each has their own set of personal attributes; some are more athletic, others better with guns, and some have bum knees. On top of this, you’re able to level up the each character’s stats simply by playing as them.
The big thing is that each one gets tired and needs to rest after some time. Stamina and health bars will deplete if you push someone too much, and people can get sick and require medical treatment. As you further the plot and explore the world you’ll encounter more survivors, some of which you can assist and bring back to your base. Marcus was my most advanced survivor in terms of skills, but it’s up to the player to decide which group of characters best suits their playstyle, whether it’s focused on guns or melee, fight or flight.
Using your random assortment of pawns you’re tasking with exploring the devastated and infested towns and countryside, engaging in storyline and side missions as you see fit. Activating main missions isn’t required to keep the game moving; instead you’ll have to ensure that you’re well stocked on essentials such as food and medicine, as well as a safe place to house everyone. Resources are scavenged or earned, and because they’re limited to an extent, actions require some understanding of risk vs. reward based on necessity. For example, you can go scrounge for materials or engage in a story mission instead of helping out a survivor in trouble, but there’s always a permanent outcome to your decision. There are a number of upgrades and modifications you can make to your home base, wherever you choose to set it up, and the variety in terms of options does a good job of complimenting the concept of keeping survivors healthy and in peak condition. You always have to a make a choice though, and the game doesn’t always paint a black and white picture of the outcome. Essentially doing one thing over the other comes with sometimes irreversible consequences that have to be taken into consideration.
On top of managing your resources, you’re also tasked with managing the fragile emotional state of the survivors. This is one of the highlights of the game; there’s a constant need to earn people’s trust, while quashing the fears and trying to regulate the anger that develops in many in the face of disaster. It’s an engaging and time-consuming feature, one that adds to the feeling of total responsibility and accountability the game instills.
The sense of responsibility is also drilled home through the permanence of death in State of Decay. Slipping up and letting someone die means they aren’t coming back, and it can be an emotional experience depending on how much you’ve invested in a character. In many cases recklessness can lead to loss; I went to hunt down a large zombie with Karen and got eaten alive because I hadn’t loaded up on pills and snacks, and while playing as Sam I ran from a horde and straight off a cliff into the river below. Losing someone makes you feel as if you’ve really screwed up, which is important for a game that focuses so heavily on the importance of survival and the value of each human life.
To contrast the permanence of death, the game also features a persistent world; time keeps moving even when you aren’t playing. If you’ve left missions unfinished or in a precarious, half-done state, or if people are angry and sad, the game may compensate over time with devastating outcomes for your negligence. It’s a nice feature that adds to the simulation, encouraging you to make sure all loose ends are tied up before you power down your console.
The game works very hard to make you care about this little world you’re tending, and it does do a good job of it. State of Decay combines so many elements though, that some inevitably shine brighter than others. The shooting is adequate, but for the most part isn’t even necessary to complete most tasks. And while there’s a huge variety of melee weapons, each with their own weight penalty, the combat can feel uneven and clunky. This is partially due to technical issues, where the player may suddenly shift positions, or a zombie will start popping through a wall. Another example is the driving, which alone is fine, but is hindered by textures and objects popping in depending on how fast you accelerate. For the most part they’re minor issues, but they can break the mood.
Despite these slight flaws in State of Decay’s fairly large sandbox world, it still shines as one of the best survival games in recent memory. It does a great job at simulating the physical and mental hurdles that a group of people would have to overcome in the face of catastrophe, and makes you feel genuinely responsible for the wellbeing of the characters involved. The game pulls you in and wants you to think hard about your proprieties and choices, and it wants you to experience both the glimmers of hope that hides in the decimated world it presents, as well as the bitter reality of failure.
It’s also a genuine horror title, and not because it tries for cheap scares or because of the zombies per se, but because the game makes you understand the weight of death and how much a loss can affect you. Death is frightening and complicated, and State of Decay is the rare type of game that actually pushes you to grasp this concept and keep it in mind when playing, and to realize that staying alive for another day is accomplishment in a world ravaged by the undead.
