State of Decay (Xbox One/PC) - out now for £20/£13, IGN 8.9

State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition Coming to Xbox One in 2015

When State of Decay debuted on Xbox Live last June, it broke a number of genre gameplay conventions: characters die permanently, story progression isn't pre-scripted, and the world continues to change even when players are offline. Fans responded enthusiastically to this "zombie survival fantasy" spin on the genre, ensuring a bright future for the State of Decay franchise.

So what's next for State of Decay? In Spring 2015, Xbox One owners will have the opportunity to experience the definitive version of State of Decay with the Year-One Survival Edition. Earlier this week, we paid a visit to Undead Labs' studios to learn more:

The State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition will include the original State of Decay, now running in glorious 1080p, previously released Add-on packs Breakdown and Lifeline, as well as some entirely new content. Undead Labs will reveal more on the new content closer to release, and you'll read about it here when they do.

State of Decay deservedly shattered Xbox Live Arcade sales records in 2013: it is a potent mix of RPG gameplay systems that all fuse together to create an unpredictable and tense survival experience. Time hasn’t taken anything away from that for Year One Survival Edition, and though it hasn’t fixed its technical problems either, this zombie-bashing, resource-managing post-apocalyptic gem still stands out from the horde of brainless zombie games.

Still, even after two years, State of Decay remains a unique and singularly successful take on the zombie subgenre — and the new content and retooled systems made enough of a difference to pull me right back in.

Exclusive character Gurubani Kaur rounds off this edition along with a new vehicle and weapon available via airdrop when you start playing. Gurubani has improved stamina, a unique appearance and two awesome Indian sabres that deal massive, lightning-fast damage to zombies. Alongside added challenges, a handful of new weapons and more achievements, there’s a lot here to bring you in even if you played State of Decay on 360. For those who have never played it but enjoy survival sims or zombie games in general, I’d argue that State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition is essential. There’s even an automated DVR that will record achievements and impressive zombie kills for you to share later. The performance enhancements and graphical polish are enough to finally bring State of Decay in-line with Undead Labs’ original ambitions, and provide an exciting, addictive and involving experience that deserves its place in the Xbox One’s line-up.

That aside, State of Decay is still, without a doubt, one of the better zombie games available today. Despite not having all the polish and AAA bells and whistles of a big budget title, it has an original concept, a lot of depth, and a genuine tension evoked by its “no one is ever safe,” atmosphere. If, somehow, you love zombie games, own an Xbox One, but never played this game, buy it, and don’t be put off by the budget presentation. It’s got it where it counts.

State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition is a generously proportioned package (that's not a euphemism), containing a stack of content, a huge open-world packed with ravenous zombies and precious few supplies to see you through. The apocalypse has never looked so damn bleak, although the 1080p upgrade helps bolster the gloomy visuals. State of Decay heralds the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine.

[iup=3549661]Pedz[/iup] wrote:Is this a retail release at full whack? I only ask because of the cover.

[iup=3549669]CitizenErased[/iup] wrote:No Co-op?

Hell yes, we’re making State of Decay for Xbox One!

Man, it felt good to write that. There’s a huge difference between “We think it’s a good idea and we’re seriously considering it”, and “Hell yes, we’re working hard on it right now.” It’s generally a good idea to wait until you can say “hell yes”, because until then, Things Can Change, but we’ve crossed that threshold for State of Decay on Xbox One.

State of Decay is coming to Xbox One via the State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition. While we’re still very much in development, here’s what I can tell you today.

First, we’re remastering the game in glorious 1080p, with sharper textures, a refined user interface, and more environment detail. We’re also taking advantage of the more powerful hardware by remastering and adding new environment effects, and increasing the fidelity and smoothness of character and zombie animations throughout the game. And along with these visual enhancements, we’ll ensure the game runs at a rock-solid frame rate and polish out a few glitches along the way.

Next, we’re creating some new content — not an entire DLC’s worth, but a few cool new mission types, new weapons, vehicles, and perhaps a hero or two. We’ll also be making some of your favorite characters from Lifeline (yes, Sasquatch) available as playable characters in Breakdown, and taking some of the new base options from Lifeline and making them available in Breakdown and the core State of Decay game. And then we’ll throw in half an hour of new music from State of Decay composer Jesper Kyd.

Finally, we’re bundling both Breakdown and Lifeline DLC releases into the game to create the ultimate State of Decay experience.

As of today we have the game up and running on Xbox One (and you may see some video of that coming out of our media announcement at the Lab last night, including this bit from Major Nelson), and it already looks fantastic, but we still have a long way to go to make the visual improvements worthy of Xbox One hardware. We’ll crank on that through the fall, and plan to release State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition, both digitally on Xbox One and PC/Steam, and at retail, in spring 2015.

For those of you who’ve played State of Decay, I know you’ll have lots of questions. Will my characters transfer over? What is the upgrade path for current players? Have the system specs for the PC changed? How much will it cost? I don’t have answers to these questions today, but rest assured we’re working on them, and I’ll let you know as soon as I can. What I can tell you is that we’re always aware the reason we have the opportunity to continue making State of Decay games is because of your support, and that will guide every decision we make.

This is the first of many planned next-gen steps for the State of Decay franchise. We’re working hard on Year One, but rest assured there are other, perhaps bigger, irons in the fire as well. I’ll let you know about those the moment I can say, “Hell yes!”

Jeff

State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition Release Date Announced

Microsoft and Undead Labs have announced that State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition will be available via disc or download on April 28 for $29.99. Those who own State of Decay for Xbox 360 will receive a 33% discount, making Year One Survival Edition $19.99 for them. Existing State of Decay owners also get an exclusive playable character.

The Xbox One version of the game bundles in the Breakdown and Lifeline expansions as well as every patch. It also features a handful of new vehicles, weapons, mission types, and various graphical touch-ups.

State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition

State of Decay is the latest and certainly not the last compendium/re-release of last gen software for next-gen platforms, but it might be one of the most welcome, speaking strictly personally.

When it released in 2013, I was stunned at State of Decay's ability to walk the painfully well-worn ground of a zombie apocalypse with something new and worthwhile to say and do, bringing survivor management and base upkeep to a brutal survival scenario. In fact, its only real problems seemed to be how hard it pushed the aging 360 hardware it launched on, with technical hiccups, an uneven framerate and visuals that featured some fantastic lighting but a lot of jagged edges to go around.

The upcoming re-release on Xbox One (and PC) fixes pretty much all of this. I spent my time with it driving around the fictional Trumbull Valley in the "Lifeline" campaign — one of two pieces of post-release DLC for the original game included with the Year One Survival Edition for its $19.99 asking price (with their additions folded in to the original campaign as well) — which all proved a much smoother experience than its 360 counterpart, with no particular performance issues even as I smashed into errant zombie hordes. The extra horsepower has also allowed developer Undead Labs to amp up the gore, which I'll leave to your imagination.

Think Romero's Day of the Dead.

For existing State of Decay owners, there's some good news with Year One: a 33 percent discount on the new release. For the price, there's a hell of a lot of game there when it launches on Xbox One and PC on April 28, along with my favorite zombie-related thing of the last few years.

[iup=3658629]Buffalo[/iup] wrote:Do you have to register somewhere, or anything to that effect, if you bought the 360 version, or will it just know?

[iup=3549671]Photek[/iup] wrote:

[iup=3549669]CitizenErased[/iup] wrote:No Co-op?

Nope, they have abandoned that as they are still working on SoD MMO.