‘State Of Decay 2’ Features Four Player Co-Op Survival, Community Management

During Microsoft’s E3 press conference on Monday, State of Decay 2 was announced for a 2017 release. The third-person survival game is the sequel to Undead Labs’ popular 2013 release entitled State of Decay. For State of Decay 2, players will be able to survive together with new optional co-op functionality added to the game.

With a distant release on Xbox One and PC next year, only a trailer was presented during the Microsoft press conference according to the E3 GameSpot coverage. The trailer features a vehicle leaving Trumbull County when the driver opens his door to topple over a zombie. Seconds later, the passenger door opens to strike another. Players of the original State of Decay will recall this popular method of ridding the landscape of the undead. The brief cinematic portion of the trailer ends with a trio of survivors arming themselves and wiping the car clean to reveal the State of Decay logo.

The rest of the trailer features a glimpse at gameplay. Of course, multiple characters could follow the current player character in the original title; however, in State of Decay 2 players can opt to play together in a four-player drop-in co-op. Players are shown exploring areas, scavenging, and eventually improving their camps to keep their community happy. Finally, the trailer wraps up with the cinematic trio viewing a flare in the sky presumably set off by a player in trouble.

In June 2013, State of Decay debuted on Xbox 360 as an Xbox Arcade title. It quickly garnered popularity with survival game enthusiasts and management lovers. Instead of creating a character and taking it into a world in hopes of surviving alone, players started the game as a particular character eventually recruiting more characters to their community. The player could play any of the lore-based or randomly found survivors each with their own traits, personalities, and more. All the while, the player had to manage their community, their happiness, and their needs by finding food, keeping the community in line, and building defenses.

That general idea continues in State of Decay 2 as evidenced in the game’s FAQ featured on the official website. Like the first title, players will be tasked with managing large groups of survivors any of which they can take control of at any time. Since State of Decay 2 features co-op, players will find that they each retain command of their community and characters when playing together.

“Invite friends to join your game, or drop into theirs. Work together as you explore the deadly post-apocalyptic environment, watching each other’s backs and sharing the rewards of your accomplishments.”

Players will develop their survivors’ abilities as they are played and strong characters can be promoted. All survivors work to collect resources, build up locations, and protect the bases from attack. Even relationships will need to be tended in State of Decay 2 for the sake of long-term survival in the game.

In a letter from the founder of Undead Labs, it is stated that State of Decay 2 is more ambitious and larger than State of Decay with new experiences grounded in familiar circumstances. The co-operative aspect is optional and players that wish to play the sequel alone can do so. However, the option is there to group with up to four other players.

Okay, my "respond to every tweet" policy is obviously temporarily offline ? TLDR: 2017, 4P co-op, not yet able to talk about distribution.

— Undead Labs (@undeadlabs) June 13, 2016

Survivors will have to wait, though, for a chance to grow their communities, build their bases, and fend off hordes of zombies. State of Decay 2 is tentatively scheduled for a 2017 release on Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. The game will utilize the Xbox Play Anywhere feature where one purchase lets a player progress on both the Xbox One and PC versions of the game. On Xbox One, an Xbox Live Gold membership will be required for State of Decay 2 multiplayer.

[Image via Undead Labs]