State of Decay 2’s 5th Anniversary

Undead Labs is a developer that started fairly small in the industry, but even with limited resources, they managed to create State of Decay — a zombie survival simulator that sold half a million digital downloads on the Xbox 360 Store in just a few short weeks. But things did not stop there for Undead Labs, after their success Microsoft took an interest in the developer and made them a part of the Xbox family. The 10th anniversary of that accomplishment is also fast approaching on the 5th of June, so let's take a look at their progress so far.

With much more resources and the power of Microsoft at their backs, Undead Labs set out to recreate their success in the form of State of Decay 2; the sequel released on the 18th of May 2018. Sadly, it was mired in technical difficulties and negative review scores — despite this, it did break over one million players in its first two days. True to form, Undead Labs did not give up; they stuck with their game, making fixes and adding content. Eventually, on the 13th of March 2020, the developer released State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition, which functioned similarly to their remaster of the first game State of Decay: Year One. This revamped version completely replaced the original release, it offered improved graphics, performance, gameplay, and features.

State of Decay: Year One (2015)

As stated in my review for the Juggernaut Edition.

“Undead Labs should be commended for sticking with its game and providing its community with so many free updates and enhancements over the years, especially when no microtransactions are involved.”

This determination to improve a product long after release really is amazing in this day and age of the gaming industry. It goes beyond hotfixes and performance patches; Undead Labs have continued to evolve their game at no expense to the consumer. Personally, I have kept up with their Twitter page and website, always enjoying the next update that they announce. Improvements include adding in an FOV slider, new weapons, outfits, and even allowing your survivors to carry a backup firearm — which lets you quickly switch to your other weapon rather than reloading. I just love this stuff.

State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition (2020)

Recently, Undead Labs launched their latest free update for the game titled “Heart Attack”. This focuses on making the gross-looking Plague Hearts you encounter more of a menace rather than just being squishy loot piñatas.

In celebration of the anniversary, Undead Labs will be hosting a developer livestream on their Discord page starting at 7PM BST and going until 11PM BST on the 19th of May. If you are interested in reading GameGrins review for State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition you can check that out here.

State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition is available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.