- Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
- Release Date: May 18, 2018
- Also On: PC
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Games Master UKJun 17, 2018The core gameplay loop may grow monotonous, and a devilish slow of bugs threatens to disrupt it at any moment, but State of Decay 2 remains an entertaining vehicle for the emergent stories that materialise from its anomalous blend of zombie slaying, base building, and interpersonal drama. [July 2018, p.58]
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Jun 1, 2018State of Decay 2 feels like a pretty run-of-the-mill sequel. It packs in more while refining less. The addition of co-op is great, I just wish they would have focused more on streamlining and cleaning up some of its technical issues. Still with this game free in Game Pass and only carrying a $30 price tag I feel like it lives up to expectations. For those that enjoyed the original game, this will certainly satisfy. For those that didn’t care for the original’s design, this sequel will not change your mind.
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May 29, 2018State of Decay 2 is an immersive and mechanically interesting zombie-survival gameplay experience - whenever the bugs aren’t plaguing player progress.
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May 28, 2018A tabletop-style survival sandbox that you can take on alone or with friends, State of Decay 2 packs in enough scavenging fun to make the occasional malfunctioning weapon or levitating enemy easy enough to endure.
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May 22, 2018State of Decay 2 barely takes advantage of the great potential that its predecessor left back in 2013. What we have found almost five years later is practically the same experience, renewed with minor adjustments and with the presence of the cooperative online features.
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May 21, 2018State of Decay 2 is repetitive, but fun when it works. When it doesn’t, you'd be forgiven for a few rage quits. In a game where any misstep can result in losing an important survivor for good, to have this happen not due to my own mistakes, but a bug or glitch, is frustrating.
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May 21, 2018State of Decay 2 is far from a bad game and, in spite of its technical odiousness, it’s just so much fun to play. Offering more of what made the series great in the first place, fans of the original will be more than satisfied. Newer players might be harder to impress though, as their truck somersaults gaily through the air and they ultimately quit in frustration.
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May 17, 2018If you can put up with a game that isn’t quite state of the industry when it comes to visual fidelity and performance, there’s a fun zombie survival game underneath it all.
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May 17, 2018There’s something about it that keeps you coming back, whether that’s the fun exploration or simply going on a quest to clear a few houses of infestations and then loot all the cupboards and drawers for goodies. But above all that it does nail the combat side, where headshots feel great as does getting up close with a machete. Gruesome and fun zombie-apocalypse survival, but also bug-ridden and poorly optimised.
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May 17, 2018State 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, given 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 saps much of the fun that can be as the game becomes a slow and repetitive activity.
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May 17, 2018An 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.
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May 17, 2018If you can deal with a healthy dose of bugs, State of Decay 2 is an extremely satisfying and unpredictable management sim with a solid action-survival game laid on top. The sequel's improved UI, new multiplayer component, and additional maps help it stand out from its predecessor, even if the moment-to-moment is largely the same.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 confidently reaches the series’ potential as the ultimate zombie survival sim, even if it hits a few familiar bumps in the road on the way there.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 is just as good as the original but fails to make good on its major promises. There’s some great quality of life improvements here and there, but the repetitive goals to work towards and cursory co-op options stop it from being any better than the original. Despite all this, State of Decay 2’s gameplay loop is strangely alluring, but many won’t put up with its technical shortcomings.
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May 17, 2018If you’re looking for a compelling and atmospheric take on the zombie genre that’s more Walking Dead than Left 4 Dead, State of Decay 2 is an imperfect but enjoyable sequel to the superior original. The gameplay loop of scavenging, crafting and killing can begin to wear thin, but the human element is capable of pulling you back in. Tackling the world with others in tow may decimate the game’s carefully constructed atmosphere, but those multiplayer shenanigans will probably be wild enough to distract from the host of technical issues that simply refuse to die.
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May 17, 2018If you were a fan of the original and just want more of that, you'll feel right at home here, but if you were looking for major improvements over its predecessor, you may be left disappointed.
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May 30, 2018State of Decay was the high-water mark for open-world zombie survival, and while State of Decay 2 doesn’t top it thanks to the complete lack of storytelling, it’s a suitable upgrade. The hero system and three maps add replayability to the game, and Undead Labs’ history with the franchise suggests that they’ll get around to fixing many of these problems later. That said, it took them two years and a new platform to finally iron out the first State of Decay — let’s hope this one has a quicker turnaround time.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 has a lot to love, but it’s overwhelmed by legacy issues and a slew of all-new ones that came along for the co-op ride.
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May 17, 2018It might be the closest the game industry has yet come to imagining the mix of tension and monotony of routine life in a world of undead.
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May 17, 2018It'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.
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Jun 3, 2018Due to its numerous technical issues and underwhelming gameplay, it’s difficult to give State of Decay 2 a wide recommendation.
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May 27, 2018State of Decay 2 has so much potential that's not fully realized. The simple brutality of combat and the demands of keeping up a base offer noteworthy moments on their own, but that enjoyment is hurt by an array of bugs and a gameplay structure that loses much of its challenge and intrigue far too quickly.
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May 21, 2018State of Decay 2 is brainless, ramshackle fun. Most of its action resembles Benny Hill more closely than The Walking Dead. It doesn’t really deliver what it promises, and in many obvious ways, it’s a mess. Yet lots of messy games are fun, and this is too – especially on those forays when you slaughter zombies by the dozen and rock up home loaded with loot. In scattered moments, there are glimpses of the game State of Decay 2 could have been. Sadly, they are the only times it pulls at your heartstrings.
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May 20, 2018State of Decay 2 is simply so full of bugs that it would make even Bethesda on a bad day blush, and it routinely puts a damper on its players’ investment, whether it be through architectural glitches, poor A.I. (like in the case of Mandy), or just a failure to load the appropriate materials to finish an objective.
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May 20, 2018Just like a new season of The Walking Dead, State of Decay 2 is just more of the same thing. Survival is exciting and makes you use your brain, but technically speaking State of Decay 2 is so bad, lots of fun gets lost.
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May 18, 2018State 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.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 is a perfectly fine game. Nothing more, nothing less. Sure, it may be buggy and it might be a step back from the original, but it is nevertheless still a fun game, albeit one that doesn’t really motivate you to keep playing. To keep grinding. I imagine it’s what a real zombie apocalypse would be like, we just wanted more from a game about it.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 has some lovely elements that will make you want to keep playing, and yet others that make you want to turn it off again, so you get caught in a fretful loop of not knowing what to do with yourself. Like some kind of restless corpse shuffling back and forth with no purpose, perhaps…?
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May 17, 2018Based on a high-advanced concept of survival and management, the game unfortunately suffers from rudimentary mechanisms and many blunders. SoD 2 is clearly preferred in multiplayer for more fun.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 is a flawed game, and it seems to suffer from Microsoft's increased demand for exclusive titles. If it had about six more months or so of development time, it's likely that the tone of this review would be very different.
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May 17, 2018A mainly disappointing sequel, with some glitches that hinder the progress and the fun.
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May 17, 2018With some modifications and continuous work, State of Decay 2 could be a great and meaningful experience, but in its current state, it’s far from the best zombie game out there.
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May 30, 2018State of Decay 2 isn't a failure, it’s a disappointment. Despite some good ideas, the game kind of looks like a copy/paste of the previous game on many points, loaded with glitches and poorly tuned mechanics.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 has an impressive open world that comes to life in many ways, but lacks a sense of purpose which makes it boring. It’s a shame the game is filled with bugs because the strategic options are a great way to make play sessions unique.
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games(TM)Jun 15, 2018State of Decay 2 falls short of its promise, instead offering the kind of brainless, repetitive experience that turns you into a de facto zombie. [Issue#201, p.80]
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May 24, 2018State of Decay 2 doesn’t flip the script on the themes we’ve come to associate with the zombie apocalypses of our popular entertainments.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 settles into a rhythm that might be easy for you to pass some hours with, but it’s never a ride with genuine surprises, excitement or purpose. There’s promise in so many systems that it introduces, but they’re woefully underutilized to make space for repetitive activities that are nowhere near as exciting to engage with. State of Decay 2 feels like the lumbering enemies that populate its country mountains. Aimless, wandering, and just out of place.
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May 17, 2018Despite its inventive take on the zombie survival genre, State of Decay 2 struggles with technical issues. Cooperative multiplayer and flexible play may appeal to some, but its pacing issues and a barrage of bugs make it a hard sell.
| This publication does not provide a score for their reviews. | |
| This publication has not posted a final review score yet. | |
| These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation. | |
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May 22, 2018State of Decay 2 is a smart, messy idea without much of a game to go with it… again. Try it if you don’t mind bugs or repetition too much.
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May 17, 2018There are times when State of Decay 2 is so buggy that it stops being a stodgy post-apocalyptic looting game and transforms into metatextual horror theatre. [Avoid]
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May 17, 2018It’s not the story that shines in State of Decay 2, it’s the sandbox. It’s the small moments that emerge from the gameplay and the world itself that are the most compelling.
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Jun 15, 2018Mostly, though, it just reminds me of a host of open-world games that are more beautiful, more storied, more fun.
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May 17, 2018Managing your survivors and paying attention to their needs keeps being interesting, but actually fighting off the zombies gets dull. For all its issues, Metal Gear Survive—one of this year’s other big games about killing monsters and staying fed—excelled when it came to combat. State Of Decay 2 would be significantly more entertaining if it took a page out of that book and allowed you to do anything as satisfying as stabbing zombies with a spear through a chainlink fence.
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Jul 21, 2018State of Decay 2 is fine only because State of Decay is fine. As a sequel, Undead Labs’ retread is a letdown.
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Jun 10, 2018There’s no denying it, “State of Decay 2″ is among the most broken high-profile games released this console generation, a delicate juggling act that hits you in the face with pie again and again, much past the point of any comedy. Those who manage to trudge through the muck will find a remarkable, if ramshackle experience that ticks their every checkbox for a great zombie game, save the unwritten one marked “stability.”
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Jun 1, 2018The real issue in State of Decay 2 is how little investment it manages to earn. In its function, it feels like a world founded on the idea that if you can just imbue it with enough randomness, enough player-independent activity and interaction, enough probabilistic cogs and gears to let random characters and random story beats to fit together, we can imbue that world with life as well. But rather than a world, we get an infinite nothing. And State of Decay 2 ends up feeling a lot like the zombies the populate it: All movement and raw appetite, with not even the faintest heartbeat to be heard.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 436 out of 933
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Mixed: 145 out of 933
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Negative: 352 out of 933
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May 22, 2018
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May 18, 2018
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May 18, 2018