In case you’ve been sleeping under a rock (and you might if there’s a zombie apocalypse going on, I guess), Xbox’s State of Decay 3 finally broke cover yesterday.
After many months of radio silence, Undead Labs has confirmed it plans to hold closed alpha tests for State of Decay 3 over the next few weeks and months, as it gears up for its expected 2027 launch landing strip.
As part of the announcement, Undead Labs sat down with an exclusive interview with YouTuber Sunny Games to offer a glimpse at what players can expect from State of Decay 3, and it all sounds incredibly positive.
Studio lead Philip Holt discussed the time period for State of Decay 3, and offered some hints about the game’s general setting. “State of Decay 1 took place maybe like a couple of weeks after the zombie outbreak. State of Decay 2 took place around a year or so after the zombie outbreak, although we’ve sort of been non-specific about the timelines there. This is when the government has fallen apart and you’re really on your own. Your job is to find some other communities or survivors to ally with. State of Decay 3 goes years into the future.
So, you know, the group of survivors has now become a bit more hardened. They’ve seen their share of death. The zombie menace is presenting itself in a new way.”
Holt said that State of Decay 1 had a “heart and soul” with its hand-crafted characters, and State of Decay 2 went deeper into systems and procedural generation. Undead Labs aims to bring the best of both worlds together for State of Decay 3, creating those harrowing zombie-apocalypse story beats while also delivering a deep, systems-driven experience.
Be sure to watch the full and rather excellent interview with Sunny Games here, but here’s a general overview of some of the key points.
- The original State of Decay 3 trailer was put together back when the game was a word document.
- No zombie animals, despite them being in the trailer, sadly.
- State of Decay 3’s communities have a “makeshift culture” of scavenging, crafting, and device building. You’ll see less pre-manufactured weapons seen nearer the start of the outbreak.
- Combat has been a “huge focus” for the game, improved locomotion, responsiveness, accessible but with depth.
- Settlements will have “variety and character” similar to State of Decay 2, with some bases having specific in-built features like more electricity and so on.
- You won’t be able to totally ignore the plague threat in State of Decay 3 and turtle up in your base, as it will grow in power if left unchecked.
- State of Decay 3 wants to “meet player expectations” for online co-op. It’ll be less restrictive than State of Decay 2. One player will be able to start a game, then others can log into the game and manage the communities even when the map creator is offline.
- State of Decay 3 is server-based rather than peer-hosted. There’s no limits on player movement, and “much less” player tethering in State of Decay 3 — although Undead Labs was hesitant to confirm limits. They want to do more testing on their server infrastructure before confirming.
- State of Decay 3 will retain a single player mode, owing to most players choosing to play solo in previous games. State of Decay 3 will scale up in difficulty as more players join a game.
- State of Decay 3 wants to reduce its “loveable” jank, gunning for a more polished launch experience.
- Undead Labs wants to deliver long-term post-launch support for State of Decay 3, as seen with State of Decay 2.
- The core of the State of Decay experience will remain. Undead Labs noted that player engagement actually increased when players lose characters.
- And more!
Don’t sleep on State of Decay 3
While upcoming Xbox games like Fable, Halo, Forza, and Gears of War dominate the headlines, I’m quietly most excited for State of Decay 3.
State of Decay 1 and 2 were both incredibly special games, and as someone partial to a bit of survivalism in my gaming experiences, the State of Decay promise always felt like it couldn’t fully reach its true potential. Whether it was weird co-op tethering in peer-to-peer hosted open worlds, or the game’s notorious sandbox bugs, the move to Microsoft (and Microsoft’s budgets) gave the franchise new promise to think bigger.
I’ve heard development on State of Decay 3 has been incredibly tough, particularly following the studio’s acquisition and navigating through the pandemic era. But it seems the studio has emerged ready to show the world what it can do, with a bolder vision for a PvE systems-driven zombie survival game that is potentially unique in scope and quality here.
There’s no known launch date for State of Decay 3 yet, but if I had to guess, 2027 is looking pretty hot.
Sign up for State of Decay 3’s closed alpha test for a chance to play early, and I suspect we’ll see the game at this year’s Xbox Showcase in June.
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