In State of Decay Dead Means Dead

Karloff

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Oct 19, 2009
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In State of Decay Dead Means Dead


Undead Labs' zombie apocalypse game will feature permadeath, but you can always switch from one survivor to another.

State of Decay, formerly known as Class 3 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/107527-Microsoft-Raising-Open-World-Zombie-Game-for-XBLA], has emerged from the darkness of development with a new trailer and some interesting game concepts. There's stealth and tactical thinking in this zombie apocalypse survival horror title, and unlike say, Left 4 Dead, there's no question of you respawning once you die. Dead is dead, but so long as you gathered a functioning group - with all the Walking Dead cats-in-a-sack group dynamic that implies - you can switch from one survivor to another, and carry on your story.

"You are responsible for not just yourself, but for the whole community of survivors that you gather," says developer Phinney of Undead Labs. "By and large, it's up to you whether or not you rescue other people, and it's up to you to earn their trust." But without other people your odds of getting through the day to day are low, and no matter what you do your character will eventually die. Maybe it'll be during a zombie attack, or an accident, or disease, but death is permanent in this game so once the twitching stops the only thing for those near and dear to do is loot your body for guns, ammo and supplies.

"It is your community that goes on," says Phinney. "Your strategy is up to you, but your best bet is to gather together a good mix of survivors ... More than anything, you need to find someone you can count on. Someone who can watch your back." Everyone has different strengths, different weaknesses, so what one group member lacks another can supply. But when one person falls, another can take up the dead character's burden.

This is intended as an Xbox and PC release. Though no date has been fixed yet, Undead Labs is already talking about expanding the game world and concept once the game is out in the wild and they've had fan feedback. The name of this expansion/extension/new game? Why, Class 4 of course.

Source: Joystiq [http://undeadlabs.com/about-state-of-decay/]


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Toasty Virus

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Dec 2, 2009
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I like this idea, it'll make the gameplay more personal and help make the effects of death long lasting without being annoying.
 

Biodeamon

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Query:what happens when you run out of survivors?

[i don't think the devolopers really thought that through]
 

Krantos

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Suddenly I'm interested in this.

Death with actual consequences? The ability to continue playing after said death? Emotional baggage that comes with seeing your old PC corpse?

Yes, yes, and FUCK YES!

Now it's just a matter of whether the rest of the game can pull it's weight.

Biodeamon said:
Query:what happens when you run out of survivors?

[i don't think the devolopers really thought that through]
I'm guessing Game over. Not that hard really.

Most Perma death games give you that when your first character dies.
 

surg3n

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May 16, 2011
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I'm all for consequences in these games, hell, it's the reason why DayZ is so addictive IMO.

But I have to say I prefer the ZombiU method - where if you die, your corpse becomes a zombie, and you have to find it and kill it to get your gear back :D. I think that's an amazing idea, and such a good way to justify perma-death.

This game, meh - it looks ok, but a bit ropey in places, and entirely unoriginal in others. Isn't it obvious by now?, we want a survival zombie game with perma-death but one that is actually fair. In DayZ for instance, you can be unlucky and not find a hatchet for ages, but you can find a hatchet sticking out of a tree stump as decoration!. I'd love to see a survival game where things aren't just there for show, like you can use anything you get your hands on as a weapon. If we mashed all the survival zombie games together we'd have the perfect game... right now we have this, ZombiU, World War Z, DayZ standalone, all basically trying to be the same game, yet none of them will be completely fair, or be void of annoying issues that ruin the game. Dead Island 2 might be a good bet - I think that game will evolve into an awesome zombie survival game, it'll mature, and pick up some gameplay mechanics from the other zombie games.
 

Mr.Mattress

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Jul 17, 2009
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Notice how all the new Zombie Games are doing the "When you die, your dead" Method now:

-Day Z
-ZombiU
-This

There's another, but I can't remember it's name.

OT: Looks neat. Maybe I'll get it, but I don't know. Zombies are starting to get stale with me...
 

RobfromtheGulag

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This is a cool concept for a zombie/survival horror game. It'll probably result in me controlling whoever my least favorite person is, in expectation of dying.

Then I'll have to stick to all the horror movie tropes, like leaving the hot dependable woman for last.
 

IamQ

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Mr.Mattress said:
Notice how all the new Zombie Games are doing the "When you die, your dead" Method now:

-Day Z
-ZombiU
-This

There's another, but I can't remember it's name.

OT: Looks neat. Maybe I'll get it, but I don't know. Zombies are starting to get stale with me...
I was also thinking that. I don't mind it though. Permadeath is an interdasting concept.
 

Doclector

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Aug 22, 2009
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Looks pretty cool.

Also, I think the whole "class 4" thing is a reference to Max Brooks. Let me go zombie nerd for a while, here.

In the zombie survival guide, there are four classes of outbreak. Class 1 is a small outbreak, only up to twenty zombies, in a village or something like that. Class 2 is up to a hundred zombies, in a densely populated but small area.

Class 3 would be "state of decay". It covers a large area, with zombies numbering in the thousands. The name "State of decay" suggests that indeed, this takes place in a particular state, in which perhaps the outbreak is contained, but probably due to quarantine, the survivors cannot escape.

When class 4 is mentioned, the zombie survival guide simply says "See 'living in an undead world' pgs 154-81". So class 4 would be a global pandemic.
 

elilupe

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Jun 1, 2009
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I like this new trend of realistic, open-world, permadeath zombie games. I was getting incredibly tired of all the zombie games for a while, but this new wave is pretty refreshing.
 

Alistair_Darkheart

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Dec 20, 2010
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The animation looks wrong to me, might just be because I'm sleepy.

That being said, the game sounds and looks like it could be a whole lot of fun.

I'll reserve judgement until after I've given it a fair go to see if they can make the mechanics work and remain enjoyable

Al.
 

ducktapemax

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Nov 17, 2009
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Biodeamon said:
Query:what happens when you run out of survivors?

[i don't think the devolopers really thought that through]
you just make another survivor to play as.
 

Hero in a half shell

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Dec 30, 2009
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Krantos said:
Suddenly I'm interested in this.

Death with actual consequences? The ability to continue playing after said death? Emotional baggage that comes with seeing your old PC corpse?
I would love it if they programme in that if you die in a zombie related accident your dead body will turn into a zombie shortly after you switch control.
Imagine that, you die, switch characters, and then have to either chop up your body so it doesn't turn, or wait and watch it until you start groaning again.

Also looting your own dead body, what a surreal experience that will be.

This has flown under my radar so far, but it looks really interesting. When it comes out for purchase it's going to be a solid "maybe".
 

Owlslayer

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Nov 26, 2009
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Looks pretty good, and i like the idea. Tho i doubt there`s a lot of emotional bonds and stuff like that between the survivors. That`s what i really want to see: having such bonds, and what happens when some of them are broken. Not just "okay, the guy you played as died, take this one", but.... something a bit deeper? Maybe i don`t really know what i want.
But I´ll be keeping an eye out for more news about this.
 

Saulkar

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Aug 25, 2010
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I am game for this game. I hope that the vehicles are at least remotely fun to drive instead of the sliding Arma bricks that are in far too many games these days.
 

BBboy20

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Jun 27, 2011
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Stealth.....but so far, it doesn't look that well polished. Rather surprised M$ would want to release footage in such a state.
 

Omegatronacles

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Oct 15, 2009
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I have to say I'm over the whole fast Zombie thing. I far prefer to be in a closed environment against a large number of relentless shambling horrors, armed with a pistol with 6 shots and a paperclip.

Fast Zombies destroy the fear/suspense for me.