While the world’szombie obsessionisn’t as prevalent as it was a few years ago , we ’re still typeset to see some serious undead activity in the future . Undead Labs has a third entering in itsState of Decay seriesin the work that will certainly pock an eclectic cast of survivors against hordes of wandering undead as they judge to rebuild in a brutal existence . Each ingress of the series so far has included action - adventure , endurance - horror , stealing , role - playing , and strategy elements , blending musical genre into an interesting refinement - rebuilding , zombi - decapitating experience .
We still do n’t have a lot of point on whatState of Decay 3gameplay will look like , but we have a distich of terrific trailers released . It ’s in spades one of our most anticipatedupcoming Xbox Series X games . Here ’s everything we know aboutState of Decay 3right now .
Release date speculation
Neither Undead Labs nor Microsoft has announced a release day of the month forState of Decay 3 , which mean it will be a while before we see the much - anticipated continuation .
The cinematic preview premiered at the Xbox Games Showcase in July 2020 the biz was in the early pre - production stages . A second trailer dropped during the Xbox Games Showcase in June 2024 and included cinematics with more part and a brief look at some combat gameplay .
We ’re promise a mid- to late-2025 waiver , though there ’s ultimately no fashion to know for certain until we hear more from developer .
Platforms
Being published by Xbox Game Studios , State of Decay 3will be available on the Xbox Series X / S and PC . It will have sidereal day one availability on Xbox and PC Game Pass as well as Xbox Cloud Gaming .
Trailer
Our first and only reckon atState of Decay 3is the cinematic announcement free by Microsoft in July 2020 . While there are n’t any plot of land or gameplay detail in the drone , there ’s still a bit to take out .
The trailer shows a lone distaff subsister trying to survive in a inhuman , hostile environment ( devotee have suggest the game ’s positioning could be Alaska , Colorado , Wyoming , or Canada based on the scenery ) . Sharpening wooden bolts for her crossbow beside a campfire , the subsister hearssomethingin the surround wood — piercing snowy eye look in the darkness , staring down at the lone human . Instead of sack her crossbow , running away , or at least extinguishing her fire to be less visible , the survivor does something we ’ve all been instruct not to do in a zombie apocalypse scenario — she holler at whatever is trace her , not out of concern , but seemingly to intimidate it . And it work ! Whatever was creeping up on her campsite runs aside . But what was it ? In each previous State of Decay entry , sound is an absolute no - no . The more noise you make , the more zombies will chase you down , cry and calling more undead allies along the agency .
Later in the inadequate poke , the survivor finds a trail of blood in the snow and begin tracking someone , or something , that ’s been wounded . Staring down the eyesights of her crossbow , she get wind a beast carcass being eat on by what await like a zombified deer — the entire right side of its face is ripped open and rotting . After a beat , the deer lets out a horrible shriek , and the trailer suddenly ends .
Were n’t zombies enough ? Now we have to deal with zombie animals out in the wilderness too ? We hope there are significant weapon upgrades from the simple crossbow show in the drone . We ’re drop dead to need all the firepower we can find .
While the promulgation dawdler focused on a lonely survivor , the recent trailer boast the more familiar mathematical group survival experience . In a barren wasteland filled with zombies , a elementary supply political campaign turn into a virulent encounter for the survivors . A man stealthily takes out a zombi , but more arrive shortly to drown him and his partner . While fight back and calling for backup , the valet de chambre is killed by a zombi . Before the womanhood can decently mourn him , more snake god surround her .
Meanwhile , allies are speeding to the saving in a souped - up gondola , run for down a fistful of zombi on the road before arriving and supply covering fire .
The mathematical group ultimately escapes and everything seems fine . But veteranState of Decayplayers that no one is safe for long . The survivor hail across a bridge that is dead teem with zombi and led by a Jagannatha — one of the largest and deadly especial enemy in the game .
Gameplay
We have n’t see a lot of gameplay point yet , but we ’re presume that the core ofState of Decay 3will calculate a lot like its harbinger . control a pocket-size community of survivor , players will ransack the map for supplies to subsist , other lost folks to inscribe to their community , and Plague Hearts to destroy .
A few things fans wait to get an overhaul are the game ’s base - construction system ( which was a minuscule gawky inSOD2 ) , a bit more character maturation , and more full-bodied customization alternative for weapon system , cars , clothes , etc . While the characters ofSOD2had plenty of background stories to share and quirky one - liner that render them a bit of life , there was about no alteration to case throughout the game and very few instances where character reference seriously bonded . If a long - standing member of the biotic community got demand out by a stray plague zombie , the rest of the gang would have low morale for a day or so and maybe verbalise a undivided ruthful blood , but then it was back to patronage .
As mentioned , this is the first time that the State of Decay game have move into the wilderness . Given the survival component of the secret plan , that mean that the third installment could see weather as a key divisor , and it may affect how shelters are build or warmed .
Ina recent podcast , Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty revealed thatState of Decay 3is being made in Unreal Engine 5 with the assistance of Gears of War developer The Coalition , meaning that the new incoming in the series will be visually arresting whenever it releases . There are also signs show to the game sport more cinematic cutscenes than previous entries — Undead Labs has been spottedcollaborating with other XGS teams on invigoration work .
Multiplayer
State of Decay 2was principally a solo speculation , but there were mickle of ways to diddle with friends or link in on strangers ’ games . After you started a movement , you could have a friend join you , take up over another survivor in your residential district . There were a few limitation to the scheme , though . The incoming player would be tethered to the host , meaning if the 2d player strayed too far away , they would inkiness - screen and come back to an surface area close to the host . So there was no room for completely disjoined exploration on the same single-valued function , and the tethering system made quick getaways from zombie hordes a little too easy in some case .
Players could also practice the in - biz radio to put out a call for help on the State of Decay server , inviting any other musician online to jump in and act on your mapping .
There was also cross - platform gambling enable between Xbox and personal computer player .
It ’s safe to assume thatState of Decay 3will have alike multiplayer options in place . One alternative that we believe was miss from its predecessor was truly shared server . Building up a community with your Quaker that you both could get at at any time would be great , as opposed to having a buddy stand out into a map you own . It was never very fun to put in work on someone ’s community and dismantle up a subsister only to log on to your own secret plan and be back at square one .
DLC
state of matter of Decay 2saw a fistful of DLCs during its lifetime . Each one acquaint a handful of new weapons , vehicle , getup , and facility mods to the plot , spice up the game a bit .
The final DLC , title Heartland , bring instrumentalist back to Trumbull Valley , the original setting ofState of Decay , for a more story - free-base biz mode . In Heartland , players choose from two set of protrude characters who have traveled to Trumbull Valley for different reasons . Both pairs of survivors are on a deputation to regain people important to them — quality who appeared in the originalState of Decay . The DLC also introduced the big base site in the game , blood pest freaks ( freaks are super - powered zombi spirit with exceptional ability in the radix secret plan — now they can infect you with blood plague too ! ) and reply to questions about how exactly the rakehell pest came to be .
We will sure enough see a handful of DLCs released forState of Decay 3.It’ll be interesting to see if any will revisit a former context like Heartland considering how different the Baron Snow of Leicester - covered mountains of the new titles look to be .
