State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition is a third person, open world, zombie RPG developed by Undead Labs and published by Microsoft Studios as an exclusive for Microsoft platforms on the PC and Xbox One is now available. This new State of Decay is basically a State of Decay Game of the Year Edition with improved visuals, mechanics, new items, and all the old DLC bundled together.
“The end is here. Life as you knew it has gone to hell after the mother of all zombie outbreaks. Now you and the few scattered survivors must band together to survive and rebuild in a 3rd-person action game set in a dynamic open world. You choose where to make your stand, designing and fortifying your home base, performing daring raids for food and ammunition, and rescuing other playable survivors with unique talents.”
Video:
State of Decay Year-One Survival Edition Launch Trailer (Xbox One).
State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition is available on the Xbox Live Marketplace for £19.99 and on Steam for £22.99 (not sure why it costs more).
Undead Labs have apparently reworked the game mechanics, improved the animations, and frame rate. They have also added some new playable heroes (Sasquatch), new weapons, a new mission type, and new vehicles. The game includes all the old DLC.
The game is aimed at a newer audience especially the Xbox One market but for people who already have bought the game and all DLC in the past you can get a 33% discount, the hero Gurabani with her father’s Indian cavalry sword, and a suppressed rifle. However I am sure many will feel that what they are charging for could have easily been a free patch or small priced upgrade, especially now a days when game updates can be released quickly and developers don’t need to make a new game edition (for example Capcom with Street Fighter) to add changes to an old game. From Software did it recently with Dark Souls II and others have done it in the past but it always seems to make less sence on a PC as you can play both version of State of Decay on a PC while only one on an Xbox 360 and Xbox One. It makes more sense to release updated and remaster editions on new consoles.
Screenshots:
(Click an image to see a larger version).
If you get State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition’s “Day One Edition” before 12th May 2015 you can get the “Prepper’s Pack” for free which includes: a folding axe weapon, a modified SKS firearm, a grenade launcher, and the Prepper SUV.
You can no longer buy the old version of State of Decay on Steam which is a shame but you can still buy the two DLC for half the price of the new Year-One Survival Edition so getting the newer version might be a better option for owners of only the base game.
State of Decay still has the potential to be a great franchise but their next game is critical to that happening. If they end up making some sort of DayZ game where you play with loads of other people would be a really bad idea. They should concentrate on more single player or smaller co-op survival type experiences. Offer something that no one else is doing as MMO zombie survival is over saturated like Minecraft games and what the World War II genre use to be.
My Other State of Decay posts:
King Toko 