- Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
- Release Date: May 18, 2018
- Also On: PC
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- Critic score
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May 17, 2018Story, voice work, and animations are all still goofy, but throw in co-op multiplayer, better endgame content, and more reasons to replay it, and State of Decay 2 is the type of game with which certain players will fall in love. There's always something to do and in a classically sim style, it's hard to know when to stop. It's the most realistic zombie apocalypse simulation in the world and that's a beautiful thing.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 is a huge step up from its predecessor. There’s a large and diverse variety of content within, all of which is upheld by well developed systems, fluid gameplay and easy to understand functionality. This isn’t going to be for everyone, however, there’s no denying that despite its niggling issues and bugs, it’s easily one of the best Microsoft exclusives in recent memory. It’s tense, action-packed and thoroughly entertaining.
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May 28, 2018State of Decay 2 proves to be better than the first chapter in all aspects despite the limitations of the new multiplayer mode. On Xbox One it's weaker on the technical side, but the price is great in all cases.
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May 17, 2018If you're a fan of The Walking Dead, zombies, survival horror games, open world action adventure games, then without question State of Decay 2 is a day one purchase.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 is not the most original game. Or the most polished. However, it is the most exciting zombie game since the first game, as well as the best Xbox One-exclusive in a very long time.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 improves upon its predecessor in almost every way. Although the game still suffers from a host of bugs and lacks much of a focused narrative, it succeeds at being a tremendously enjoyable and addictive experience.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 greatly improves on the first game thanks to wider and more varied environments, great world simulation and character progression systems, better graphics and UI and finally a satisfying co-op mode. It won't satisfy lovers of strong, meaningful stories, but it's definitely one of the best and more enduring survival games around, and a game that lovers of the genre should absolutely have.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 has some technical issues, but apart from these you will find a game that is bigger than its predecessor in almost every aspect.
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May 17, 2018Too bad for a technical section that is at times really problematic, which fortunately cannot tarnish the excellent qualities of this sequel: a title that fans should play without hesitation.
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Official Xbox Magazine UKJul 23, 2018An imperfect but thoughtful game that demands time, and will reward you by eating it up. [Aug 2018, p.71]
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 is in essence the same as the first game, with the anecdotic incorporation of the multiplayer. But Undead Labs achieves a brilliant mix combining all those ideas once again. Despite falling short on its technical side, the game has a great artistic design.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 is imperfect, but it's still a very good time. The presentation may not be up to snuff and the AI can be a hindrance, but the overall experience is fulfilling enough that you'll overlook those shortcomings. There aren't many games that execute the community aspect so well or are as accessible to those who aren't deeply into survival titles.
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May 17, 2018While it doesn’t have the irreverent humor of Dead Rising or the swiftness in movement like Dying Light, what State of Decay 2 offers is the pull that will have you saying, “Oooh, what’s in there?” every time you walk down a neighborhood cluttered with burnt-out cars and piles of dead bodies.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 takes the best things from the first game and powers up the mechanics to create a very interesting survival and management game. It has some problems and the multiplayer is not what we expected, but it is surprisingly addictive and very attractive for zombie lovers.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 is by no means a perfect game. It retains the quirks of its predecessor, complete with mixed production values and a litany of smaller problems. That said, the game has never crashed on me, and is wonderfully atmospheric, with great music, sound, and masterful use of lighting to create fear and tension.
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May 17, 2018Its surfeit of busywork does it no favours, but if you can immerse yourself enough in the game to overlook that, you'll find that State of Decay 2 offers more than enough to quench your shambler-smashing, apocalypse-braving thirst.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2 is the classic "more of the same" sequel which, however, thanks to some interesting innovations and a deep game formula, does not disappoint.
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May 17, 2018Undead’s follow up doesn’t reinvent the wheel – nor provide a fully polished experience despite a move from CryEngine to Unreal Engine 4 – but does offer a marked improvement over the original.
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May 17, 2018State 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 new level, making it one of the best survival games you can find on Xbox One these days.
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May 19, 2018The core gameplay is still great, and State of Decay 2 continues to offer the absorbing survival experience of the first entry. The co-op mode, its biggest addition, is a little bit flawed and disappointing.
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May 23, 2018State of Decay 2 offers amazing tools to write your own story of loss, human failure and the power of hope. Every time you leave your post, you end up in a very exciting, thrilling journey, which unfortunately is pestered with bugs.
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May 17, 2018If you were hoping for groundbreaking changes to the horror survival formula and pristine technical accomplishments, you will be disappointed. Nevertheless, for a bargain retail price, and as a launch title for subscribers of the Xbox Game Pass, it’s definitely worth of a look while keeping some change in your pocket.
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CD-ActionAug 2, 2018Generally State of Decay 2 looks more like a remaster of the original game than a true sequel. It just does not expand the formula enough and still contains too many repetitive activities that make you go through the motions for the sake of getting it done. That’s why I recommend playing it in short sessions. I have no doubt that people unfamiliar with the first State of Decay will enjoy the second one much more, as everything will be new to them. [07/2018, p.70]
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May 17, 2018Deeper than the first installment, State of Decay 2 improves several features and adds a deeper management system with an enormous map to explore and an interesting cooperative online system, though it still has several technical issues.
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May 17, 2018State of Decay 2’s zombie-infested maps are good places to scavenge, fight, and survive in. Combat is satisfyingly brutal and the special zombies inspire some real fear of permanent death, even though the Blood Plague turns out to be more of a sniffle. But the bugs are just as persistent as the zombies, and after a dozen or so hours the repetition of both eventually take their toll, making the appeal of replaying feel more limited than I’d expected for a sandbox RPG.
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May 17, 2018State 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.
| 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