2012 was the year the humble Xbox Live Arcade game stood up, squared its shoulders and said: "Hey, games industry - I'm not just about arthouse curios and three-hour-long retro escapades. I can do Serious Games, too, games intricate and voluminous enough to swallow hundreds of your precious recreation hours. I'm coming for you, so-called triple-A blockbusters! The writing's on the wall!"
The key game in this regard is, of course, Minecraft, but there are bigger clouds on the horizon even than Mojang's famous world-building sim. One is Terraria, touched upon in today's round-up of the most-promising, least-known 2013 releases. The other is State of Decay from Undead Labs, an open world zombie popper in which you found a base, populate it with recruitable survivors, and do your best to weather the attentions of a flesh-eating army.
1. Tonnes of characters to experiment with
There are scores of terrified refugees to find and enlist in the titular State of Decay, each with his or her own unique attributes and skills. Main story characters appear in the same locations each time, but there are also semi-randomised characters who pop up all over. Once gathered unto your bosom, they can be assigned to the areas under your control, appointed to base tasks like building construction or item repair, and sent on missions.
2. Loads of combat options and tactics
Guns tend to attract the attention of those pesky deadheads, so you may want to avail yourself of the "hundreds" of melee weapons on offer, which range from truncheons and axes to makeshift implements of brain mashery, such as the ever-dependable rusted drainpipe. Resorting to guns also costs you precious resources - as in Metro 2033, bullets serve as currency in the benighted world of State of Decay.
Of course, there will come a point when hacking, punching and bludgeoning doesn't quite cut the undead mustard. The game's roster of firearms includes shotguns, revolvers and rifles of varying calibres, many of which can be modified (e.g. by screwing in a suppressor). NPCs are capable of firing guns too, but thankfully, they'll wait for your cue before letting rip.
3. It's a struggle for resources
Few things can be relied on in State of Decay. Weapons will jam or degrade, base defences will deteriorate under frenzied assault, and critically wounded NPCs will suffer cuts to various statistics, such as movement speed. Save for energy-boosting snacks, food will eventually rot if you don't refrigerate, cure, salt or pickle it - all of which entails recruiting somebody with the relevant skills, and building an appropriate facility. The question of resource management isn't an entirely literal one - keep the morale of your fledgling zombie-bopping army topped up, and you'll benefit in the form of gifts and advice.
12 comments so far...
lazercut123 on 21 Dec '12 said:
this looks even better that i thought it was before. BTW roughly when is this released and how much will it cost
thewrongtrousers on 21 Dec '12 said:
It does look really good, I'd preorder if I could
Release is expected for Spring 2013, although I don't think anything is certain yet. As excited as I am about this (as is my non-gaming partner, she loves anything apocalypse related especially zombie associated stuff) I'm more excited about the potential of MMO in Class 4.
Darth Mousemat on 21 Dec '12 said:
I'm optimistic about this game but I'm not getting my hopes up. From what I've seen so far it looks really good, but then...So did Dead Island.
LUCASH525 on 21 Dec '12 said:
omg omg joe we shall be milkin this to death
Jabraham on 21 Dec '12 said:
Wasn't really too fussed over game a couple weeks ago or whenever i first saw it but after reading this i may have to keep my eye on it. I'm still waiting for the perfect zombie game though one that just places you in a city and just says survive i guess this is the closest were going to get for now anyways
RyanGowran on 21 Dec '12 said:
This game is looking great it almost looks like a stand alone game and not an arcade game
there doesnt seem to be much in terms of games to look forward to in 2013 (in my opinion) but this and GTA V are the only 2 i am excited for
Grummy on 22 Dec '12 said:
Game of the Year?
I think it's brilliant that Telltale put out its fantastic Walking Dead episodes, then ever so casually the only possible use of Zombies to make a truly better Walking Dead game turns up made but someone else. Obviously whether it actually IS better will all come down to whether you prefer open world games like this or story driven experiences like the TWD episodes, and of course, if the game actually is any good.
For me though, this is the only type of game that could actually make a better Walking Dead game, and somebody else made it first. I find that pretty funny. The good part about this though is that TWD walked away with some GotY awards this year, and very deserving it is too, so that means it's not beyond the realm of possibility that this will get some as well. For my money, this is looking every bit a far more interesting prospect that another installment of GoW and CoD, far more interesting in just another GTA game which, whether it turns out excellent or not, will not be anything so radically different from what's gone before. The same goes for Bioshock Infinite. It looks a very different prospect from the two previous games, but it still has that same old Bioshock feel to it.
I'm not saying this will be the greatest game ever, what I AM saying is that, if this actually turns out to be at least as good as it sounds, then it's easily going to be one of the top games of the year, and I hope it doesn't get overshadowed and overlooked because the mastodon that is GTA V rears its head.
fracturedrich on 22 Dec '12 said:
I have been keeping an eye on this one for a while now ,for a arcade game the graphics are really impressive lets hope the gameplay follows.This game will do well and ime looking forward to it but i think this is a beta for a follow up on next gen.I have been wishing for proper zombie survival game and finally get my wish,i hope they will add stuff via updates like minecraft to keep us playing,and here i was thinking 2013 was not going to follow this impressive year of gaming,it looks like 2013 could be xbox 360 finest yet.
lazercut123 on 22 Dec '12 said:
the only thing (that is actually that important to me) that i could really complain about with dead island were the graphics, it reminded me of 2007. but then again im technically dead right now, what with the apocalypse yesterday, so my opinions don't matter.
lazercut123 on 22 Dec '12 said:
i'm gettin sweaty lucas
Darklighter on 23 Dec '12 said:
I'm with you on this one man - 6 months ago SoD looked alright. Now it looks brilliant. But it's the first of it's kind, so it will be a stepping stone to better games doing this format better.
Do you know what I foresee happening? At least 6 months after the release of GTA V (which I'm not crazy about, though technically it is going to be a marvel) - they'll think about releasing an undead expansion pack, in the same way they did for Red Dead Redemption. GTA, the ultimate modern-day sandbox, is perfectly set up for a zombie add-on. I mean, they did it already with RDR - and they MUST know how popular the zombie craze is at the moment thanks to the Walking Dead.
Even so, I'll be more than happy with State of Decay in the meantime.
Teddyson on 23 Dec '12 said:
*cough*DayZ*cough*