State of Decay 2: Can Anybody Hear You?

A safe zone devoid of human life, you hear moaning coming from a crate behind. You stay as still as possible and raise the Louisville Slugger in your hand up into the air. You hope you haven’t been heard but no such luck as the figure starts walking towards you with a slow, awkward gimp, skin hanging off its face. You hear it, a blood-curdling noise that would raise the hair on the bravest man’s neck. You swing your bat out of fear more than instinct. The corpse drops to the ground, you hold your bat over his head, dripping blood. Welcome to State of Decay 2, this is our review of the game.

From developer Undead Labs and Publisher Microsoft Studios, comes the long-awaited successor to the original State of Decay game. State of Decay 2 is an open world zombie game where you have to survive, loot, kill, and do whatever you can to make your way through the world infested by the dead. In a game that is as close to The Walking Dead as you can get without the name, you find yourself trying to lead your group of survivors the best you can. You start off by selecting a two-person team, there are a couple of different choices, like a boyfriend and girlfriend duo like I picked. Each character has their own strengths and weaknesses.

Speaking of strength and weaknesses, you are part of a community from the beginning. After the tutorial, you meet up with the first few humans outside of your partner. As you begin your game you find a house that you quickly turn into your first base. Your characters have different skills to help build up the fortifications and everything else you will need. You can build things like bed areas, workshops for repairing and building items needed for the base. You will find books and pages around the area to help you increase your normal stats, such as crafting skills, or fighting skills.

As your character levels up you will automatically get stars towards your skills, once you max out a skill you get the option to specialize in a newer skill. This helps you get stronger and survive longer in the wildness of the dead. As you complete missions your community rank will go up as well. Eventually, the game will want you to pick a leader for your community, someone who will help the group survive and also give special skills and facilities to the base you have. Facilities like shooting ranges and gym training areas become available to help you improve your characters.

Do you like cars? Well, there are plenty of them to drive in this game too. The map is huge and you need to get around quickly. There are military SUVs and there are sports cars, and other vehicles to help you get from point A to point B. The cars are helpful because you can store backpacks full of goods that you need to help your camp get bigger and stay supplied. You can find bags of medical supplies, building materials, food, and so much more.

As you scour the countryside you will get radio transmissions from other survivors asking for help or giving you tips. There are military remnants who are in the area too and some of them you can enlist to run around and kill zombies with you. The more you run around the more people you will get asking for help. Some of the people you help will lead you to new groups and then you will be able to do exchanges with them for gear and food and meds.

Note: Our copy was reviewed on Windows 10 with a code provided by PR.

Summary
State of Decay 2 brings you back into the world Undead Labs created in State of Decay. It has improved the graphics of the game and the skill system as well.It officially launches today, May 22, 2018, at the cost of $29.99 USD for the standard game and $49.99 USD for the Ultimate Edition. SoD2 will give you hours of enjoyment and you will not want to put it down. The game provides you with more than one way to have fun - will you embrace your inner zombie killer?
Good
  • Huge open world
  • Co-Op with your Friends
  • Focus on relationships
  • Skill upgrade system
Bad
  • Driving Vehicles is difficult at first
  • Community Happiness Falters Quickly
9
Amazing
Written by
Long time game enthusiast and writer. I have beta tested a lot of Mmorpg's since I was thirteen including Star Wars Galaxies, Lord of the Rings Online, and Star Wars The Old Republic. Currently attending The Art Institute of Pittsburgh for a degree in Game Art and Technology.

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