State of Decay might look on the surface like just one more The War Z, with its open world, zombie survival, not-DayZ style, but it's looking to do a little more than that with its intentional single player gameplay. And now we know when it's set to hit the shelves too.
June this year, will see State of Decay available online and in stores, for PC and Xbox (no PlayStation support as the developers did a deal with Microsoft).
Produced by Undead Labs, the company founded by ex-World of Warcraft lead programmer Jeff Strain, State of Decay combines base building, with zombie survival, AI resource management and exploration to make the single player zombie nirvana that DayZ has been to the multiplayer survival lovers. If you like the idea of outlasting a zombie apocalypse, but would rather do it without the griefers and hackers - as well as making yourself a permanent base within that world - then State of Decay might be what you're looking for.
Of course we don't know how well these claims will play out at the moment. As it stands the only available footage of the game is from the alpha mode and it looks it in places. However the environments are sprawling, we've seen in-game vehicle usage and a decent array of weaponry.
With a game like this, it'll all come down to the way it feels once in-game. Do you feel vulnerable when hoards of zombies are coming after you? Do your AI team-mates react realistically and are they actually useful as more than just meat shields?
While State of Decay could be another dull zombie title, it's likely that the creators watch the fallout from The War Z with rapt attention and will want to do anything to stop that happening to their game.
