State of Decay 2 To Be “Substantially Larger” Than First Entry

State of Decay was a surprise hit on the Xbox 360. It released amidst a torrid of other zombie games but aimed to be part action-adventure, and part survival simulator. Building a homestead, crafting items, scavenging and running special missions to thin out zombie hordes, State of Decay was a step above the rest in terms of authenticity, even despite its limited indie developed origins. The sequel State of Decay 2 intends to push that boundary further.

Undead Labs CEO Jeff Strain gave IGN some answers about State of Decay 2. First and foremost, State of Decay 2 will feature 4-player co-op.  He stresses that this won't make State of Decay 2 a PVP game, but other players could make your zombie survival attempts more difficult in indirect ways. This seems to combat griefing and making it so any sort of foul play is able to be countered and actually fun to repel.

Splitting up is also an option. When asked for an example of how this would work, Strain responds:

"There may be times when it’s tactically advantageous to do so […] For example, you may be under the gun to get medical supplies back to your base, and you decide to split up and have two players scavenge the supermarket pharmacy while two others go scout for a car or SUV with a large amount of trunk space to get the goods home. Or you could even be working on completely separate objectives and only come together as needed to get each other out of a tight spot. Ultimately you’ll be more effective (and, if we do our jobs well, you’ll have a lot more fun) playing close together, but as always with State of Decay, your play style is up to you."

All of these options to stick together or split up to cover more ground sounds like a great expansion upon the original game's concept, but one of the biggest complaints about the original was the size and scope of the game. This is something Strain is excited about, even though exact numbers are not quite ready to be revealed. What he did feel comfortable saying was that "The playable area is substantially larger than State of Decay."