State of Decay 3 Needs to Rely On More Than Name Against Newfound Competition
Undead Labs' State of Decay games has been one of Microsoft's premier franchises for quite some now. The latest entry in the series, State of Decay 2 released in 2018 to mixed reviews. However, continued updates and patches steadily improved the game over time. Now, State of Decay 3 is confirmed to be in development, with the only known information regarding the game being the its announcement trailer.
While much isn't known about the game at this point in time, there's seemingly a lot of tough competition for the game thanks to several AAA titles set to capture the same market. It's clear that State of Decay 3 would need to make a lot of effort in distinguishing itself if the game intends to thrive around similar apocalypse-focused titles.
The State of Decay games are mostly co-op zombie shooters, with a unique twist on base building and maintaining a community. While a noble concept, many games have surfaced recently that look to deliver on more or less a similar premise.
Developer FNATIC's The Day Before seems to be the biggest competitor coming soon. The third-person, live-service zombie shooter has shown a great deal of gameplay recently, which has helped it garner a lot of attention among gamers. The game's scheduled release window is currently 2021, and it seems that it might deliver on that based on gameplay shown.
In addition to this, Turtle Rock Studios' Back 4 Blood is another great competitor in the arena, one that is due for release relatively soon. A spiritual successor to the Left 4 Dead games, Back 4 Blood already has a solid fanbase set in place, and despite the differences, both of the games are broadly in the same boat.
Certainly not the last and not the least, Aliens: Fireteam is also shaping up to give these games some tough competition. Diverse enemies, great team abilities, and the lore of the Aliens universe are all great points in the game's favor.
While much isn't known about State of Decay 3 at this point in time, the game may be shifting from the perspective of ensuring a community's survival to ensuring one's own. The gritty cinematic trailer puts a lot of things into perspective, and it seems that it could very well be the way for the game to stand out in the crowd, and in the process, reinvent itself.
In addition to making the narrative dark and engaging, State of Decay 3 needs to translate the brutality to the gameplay as well. This might entail giving players fewer resources, placing emphasis on hard choices, or something else entirely. The game is still in its early stages of pre-production, which does mean a lot of this is speculation. However, getting such tough competition at such an early stage does make changing things quite easily, and it seems more possible than ever with Microsoft and Xbox's continued support backing the studio up.
Fans are extremely excited to see something new with State of Decay 3, and it seems in everybody's best interest that the game does shake things up with its usual community survival formula.
State of Decay 3 is in development for PC and Xbox Series X.
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