State of Decay 2 Reviews
State of Decay 2 continues in the footsteps of its predecessor, broadening and smoothing out a decidedly winning formula. Although some of the features of the title of Undead Labs have made school (coming to "infect" even unsuspected productions like This War of Mine), the title remains a unique product of its kind. An open world structure and third-person action gameplay blend with role-playing and management elements, creating an intelligent and effective mixture. The real strength of the product, however, lies elsewhere: in the ability to generate an emotional bond between the player and the characters of his community, each committed to surviving the horror by remaining attached to their ideals, their passions, their personality.
Review in Italian | Read full review
This zombie-crushing survival game features solid base-building systems and RPG development, but repetition and bugs bog the experience.
In the end, State of Decay 2 doesn't flip the script on the themes we've come to associate with the zombie apocalypses of our popular entertainments. Worse, the game doesn't even bother to make it seem like its characters even want to be alive in the world.
State Of Decay 2 is a game that is committed to enhancing everything that its predecessor offered us. The new additions take the game to a next level, making it one of the best survival games you can find on Xbox One nowadays.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Game-mechanically interesting, but dramatically pale hybrid of survival horror and RPG for (multi) players with a passion for collecting things.
Review in German | Read full review
State of Decay 2 feels like it's trying too hard to force the player to do too much. There's no way for the player to really control the way they absorb the experience and more than a few of the mechanics break the careful relationship the rest of the game tries to foster. Overall, it's the kind of game that you want to love, but that needs a lot of work.
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State of Decay 2 is an interesting "post zombie apocalypse life simulator" that forces the player to manage every aspect of a survivor's life. It's too bad that its story isn't very interesting. And what to say about those bugs : there are just so many of them... With better production values, State of Decay could have been a truly special game.
Review in French | Read full review
For a world that seems to so enthusiastically encourage players to always stay on their toes, it's supremely frustrating to see a game so often bungle it for you.
An improvement on the original, and with far more variety on offer, but State of Decay 2 suffers from repetitive combat and poor player communication throughout. Fans of survival sims will likely appreciate the greater attention to detail and increased demands when it comes to sustaining your communities, but for more casual players the constant need to find dozens of items or resources just to keep everything ticking over will just annoy, the longer you go on.
I had a lot of fun with State of Decay 2… when it was all working. Its core gameplay loop is repetitive, but there's a sense of satisfaction in seeing your community move from a small base with no water and power to a dominant force in the town capable of sustaining itself on its own that kept driving me forward.
It's quite simple. If you loved the first game, you'll appreciate the changes, like a more structured take on base building and community management. There are fantastic systems, hampered by repetitive and shallow gameplay that ultimately feels pointless. State of Decay 2's scale and lower price don't quite make up for its lack of polish.
State of Decay 2 is a nice game and it looks good, but it has a considerable amount of errors that take away much of its brightness. It is nice that the events that happen within your game are a consequence of the actions of each player, giving that feeling that each of their actions is unrepeatable. Spending most of the game looking for resources in coolers, kitchens, farms and other places, is annoying and takes away much of the fun that can be the game becoming a slow and repetitive activity.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
State of Decay 2 builds upon Undead Labs' original cult classic about surviving a zombie apocalypse, and in many ways, it's bigger and better than its predecessor. In other ways, however, it's too similar to said predecessor, resulting in an experience that often feels like it could have been deeper or more ambitious.
State of Decay 2 has a dozen of bugs, a boring start, bad optimization and a repetitive gameplay. Against all odds, the gameplay offered by the game sucked me into the world of Zombie apocalypse and I want to play it more and more. It has this "spark" that makes you keep playing the game – a cool atmosphere, satisfying combat and sense of accomplishment that comes from every performed action. It is a Zombie-Survival-Gothic.
Review in Polish | Read full review
Overall, I have some mixed feelings about State of Decay 2. It is a game that feels less focused than its predecessor despite making strong moves to deepen the experience in every realm. Focusing in on the details somehow made the game lose something; the steps the game took forward cost something fundamental and core to the experience.
State of Decay 2 basically takes everything that made the first game enjoyable, tosses in base building and more interesting NPCs. The combat is just as visceral and you'll still fight to stay alive in this post-apocalyptic zombie-filled world. A tad repetitive at times but still has more than enjoy to keep you entertained.
State of Decay 2 feels very much like a remake of the original (or how it should have been released initially) rather than a new game, complete with bugs galore and tedious long term gameplay.
It seems like Undead Labs did not get a memo that survival zombie games are not popular anymore. Still, State of Decay 2 can be fun for several hours before it will bore you to death.
Review in Polish | Read full review