State of Decay 2 will launch with three open world maps

News
By published

Play Anywhere title is due to release sometime this year.

State of Decay, the actually-pretty-decent open world zombie survival game, is getting a sequel later this year. Much like the original, State of Decay 2 will feature open world gameplay, but in a new blogpost Undead Labs has announced it will be approaching things a little differently. Instead of just one open world, the sequel will feature three at launch.

Each of these maps, so says the blogpost, will be "roughly" the size of the map found in the original game. They'll each feature "slightly different" environments, different landmarks and locations and will require different strategies in order to, I guess, survive.

"Well, primarily, because it makes the game more fun," the studio writes, explaining why they did it. "It really feels like you’re moving from one small town to another, and creates a tremendous sense of immersion. And perhaps counter-intuitively, it makes the world feel even bigger. 

"You know how on one map (even one three times the size as the original game’s) the longer you play, the more you start feeling deju vu with every mission? That’s less of an issue with separate maps. And see above about strategies and missions. Oh, and one more detail – the multiple map set up makes it easy to expand the world down the line, if you know what I mean."

State of Decay 2 is ostensibly an Xbox One exclusive, but it'll be coming to PC as well as part of Microsoft's Play Anywhere system. Which means, basically, that it'll be available on the Windows Store exclusively, and may possibly launch of Steam at some point in the future.

Shaun Prescott
Shaun Prescott
Australian Editor

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.