State of Decay 3 is still in the earliest stages of development, but there's little doubt that Undead Labs' CG trailer for the game was impressive. With the plague spreading to animals, an open frozen tundra, and the emphasis on a specific character, it seems the team may have lofty ambitions given that it now has full Microsoft backing (following a deal made in 2014 growing into a full 2018 acquisition).
The second game launched to mixed reviews, with a general emphasis that it was little more than a reduxed version of the first game, but with less story. In our State of Decay 2 review, we wrote, "It's likely that they won't be terribly impressed by the experience and won't keep it in their game rotation for long, but there's also a chance that they may be surprised." But State of Decay 3 now has the potential to surprise everyone, and the first step on the journey requires a few fixes.
State of Decay 2 Sandbox Limitations
Shortly after the reveal, word began buzzing about the potential of State of Decay 3 being a genuine open-world experience. It's far too early to know if that's the case, but it would fix one of the game's biggest limitations: its Sandbox. As as survival game, this is to be expected on the one hand, but the maps in State of Decay 2 were less than interesting. The random generation of events and happenings around them was nice, but it didn't stop them from suffocating the game. Going open world, moving from town to town, and trying to survive in a full-blown Zombie apocalypse (Zombie Deer included) would make State of Decay 3 a unique twist of the basic survival formula.
State of Decay 2 Characters and Story
One area where the original State of Decay succeeds and State of Decay 2 dropped the ball is its story. The second game's story was incredibly lackluster, while the first game featured several events that would give survivors purpose beyond basic survival. It's not uncommon for survival games to have less than a stellar story, but State of Decay 2 has one that's arguably weaker than most. One key aspect is that the first game also gave player's characters they could connect with, making the threat of perma-death more surreal. In the second game, while losing one of the better characters was a setback, it didn't have the same emotional attachment.
Combining an actual survival story with an open world, with State of Decay's management systems and combat to boot, would go a long way in making this threequel heads and shoulders over the second. It could deliver an experience befitting of its identity, but be one of few games who could expand to such extremes without losing it. State of Decay has full-blown AAA GOTY potential as a franchise, if executed properly, and addressing its limitations as a sandbox game, adapting its story to something more akin to The Walking Dead, and introducing characters who fans would hate to see die is one step in the right direction.
State of Decay 2 Graphics and Co-Op
Of course, some polish is also necessary. One thing that dragged its sandbox maps down even more was their lackluster design, as well as their graphics. State of Decay 2 was incredibly muddy, and even with next-gen tech, it's hard to see a survival game like State of Decay 3 look as well as its CG trailer did. However, especially because it is an Xbox Series X title, State of Decay 3 should make sure that its graphics are at least on par with next-gen standards as a survival game. Some real gory sequences when combating sequences would go a long way, but that experience shouldn't just be for the "host" either.
In State of Decay 2, co-op felt like a tacked-on feature with little reason. The Host benefited and those who joined would get some points, but there was no way to grow or expand within someone else's game. SoD3 could make its co-op survival feel like a real need in the game, as the idea of playing as a community trying to survive in this apocalyptic world really implies a stellar co-op experience. State of Decay 3 should open this enough to where characters who joined in felt like they were doing something, and it could go even further than that.
State of Decay 3 co-op could so far as to aim for a survival-based experience that felt like players were their own Joel and Ellie (TLOU2) in a post apocalyptic world, or allow there to be such animosity between communities that players could have their own Rick and Negan showdowns (TWD). That may be a bit much or a pipe dream, but a next-gen survival game set in the zombie apocalypse needs to go big.
Bug Fixes and QOL Updates
Of course, many will note that the first two games of the franchise were incredibly buggy. Patches fixed some of these, but the overall experience of playing either game, but perhaps especially State of Decay 2 itself, felt lacking in polish. It's important that Microsoft Studios games get these big titles out there that can rival the exclusives found on PlayStation, and making sure that even those that aren't direct competition are top notch would go a long way (it would be unfair to compare SoD3 to Horizon: Forbidden West, for example, as one is a survival game and the other an action-RPG, but making sure that different experiences meet certain bars is still evidence).
It'll probably be some time before State of Decay 3 rears its zombie head again, and fans should temper their expectations in the meantime. Yet it has a lot of potential should Microsoft and Undead Labs seize it, while making sure to have learned from its predecessor.
State of Decay 3 is in development for PC and Xbox Series X.