State of Decay 2 launches technical beta

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Test your survival skills.

It's May already—seriously, check your calendar—which means State of Decay 2 is out this month. On May 22, to be exact, Undead Labs' survival horror sequel will descend on the Windows Store. Before then, a technical beta aims to iron out bugs and test incoming features. It's live now. 

Such is his commitment to the zombie apocalypse, our Wes has already risked his life among the undead and co-operative survivalists. He notes early reservations with SoD 2's co-op mechanics—"communication will obviously be key, but the co-op just isn't integrated as deeply as I would've liked"—however praises the game's penchant for survival and, to his surprise, third-person action. Here's an extract: 

Disappointment with co-op's limitations aside, State of Decay 2 is a rich survival sim that also has surprising chops as a third-person action game. There are tons of guns and melee weapons that feel different to fire and swing. The animations you get for sneaking up behind a zombie and performing an instant kill, with a screwdriver to the brain or a head smash against the pavement, are brutal and satisfying. That zombie killing would hold up even without the base management and everything else that makes the survival stuff tick. 

Zombie games are almost never this deep, and State of Decay 2 clearly relishes in finding complexity in the same place as any great zombie film: the struggles and relationships of desperate human survivors. The blood and brains are just there to lighten the mood. 

Read Wes' thoughts in full over here, and check out some in-game footage below. Sign up to State of Decay 2's technical beta here, or wait till May 22 when it launches in full.

Joe Donnelly
Deputy Editor, PC Gaming Show