14 DAY TRIAL // 
Quite a few zombie survival games appeared in recent years, some going the single-player route, à la The Walking Dead or Left 4 Dead, while others went into the massively multiplayer online direction, like DayZ or Infestation: Survival Stories (the infamous WarZ).
State of Decay, coming from rookie indie studio Undead Labs, promises to deliver a single-player zombie fighting experience with a much bigger emphasis on role-playing and survival management, as you're looking after a whole group of survivors instead of being alone against the brain-hungry mobs.
Does the new title manage to deliver on its lofty premise or has it decayed completely? Let's find out.
Story
State of Decay's story begins with Marcus Campbell, a guy who goes on a fishing trip up in the mountains and returns a few weeks later alongside friend Ed Jones. Unfortunately for them, in that time, the zombie apocalypse has hit and the whole countryside's been infected with the undead (Zeds, as the survivors call them).
As such, Marcus and Ed must explore the various settlements in the game's open world, meet up with other survivors like themselves, and try to organize a group that has a better chance at escaping the infested area.
Unfortunately for them, the U.S. Army also intervenes to contain the menace and has practically quarantined the area to keep the undead from infecting other parts of the country.
Marcus and the rest of the survivors must find a way to get out, while escaping the army and the undead. Sprinkle in many other secondary plots and various factions and the whole single-player is quite entertaining.
The best aspect, however, is that you can swap between playable characters and, while taking them on missions, you craft some great memories with each of them, memories that make their permanent deaths that much more grueling.
Gameplay
State of Decay is your typical third-person zombie game, allowing players to use melee weapons and regular guns against the undead, as well as Molotov Cocktails or grenades, not to mention distractions like firecrakers or alarm clocks.
The actual fighting system is decent enough, but using the mouse does feel a bit wonky. If you keep the same playable character at all times you'll also endure Stamina and Health limitations due to fatigue, making fighting zombies that much harder.
Fortunately, one of the best aspects of the game is that you can bring along NPCs to help out while exploring the world and, as opposed to other zombie games, they're actually good at killing the undead. Because State of Decay doesn't offer any actual rewards per zombies killed, like XP, your allies can kill their fair share of monsters and watch your back while you're scavenging for items.
Exploring the world is handled pretty well and you can even use cars that were abandoned in different places. The driving, however, isn't all that great, so don't expect any racing-type handling, especially when it comes to the erratic muscle cars, for example.
Your inventory is dictated by your current backpack and changes depending on your playable character. Items can include melee weapons and guns, but also painkillers to boost health, pills to boost stamina, as well as throwable items.
The melee items, ranging from wrenches to bats, and much more, all decay over time so it's vital that you avoid fighting zombies if possible. Guns also make a lot of noise if you don't have a suppressor equipped, so they're also tricky to use.
You can take advantage of the game's sneaking system, as you can crouch and draw less attention, and you can also completely hide in bushes and try to catch zombies unaware for a one-hit-kill attack. Unfortunately, the timing of this attack is all over the place, as sometimes you need to be right behind the monster to kill it in one hit, while other times your character just pushes the zombie away, no matter how close he or she was to the undead.
Missions are relatively varied, at least at first, tasking you with exploring the world, aiding other survivors, hunting Feral zombies, or investigating various radio transmissions. Some get a bit repetitive after a while and during certain moments the AI, both for zombies and survivors, shows its limits. Throw in the undead that often clip through walls and the game still has a few technical issues.
Had Undead Labs limited State of Decay to all these mechanics, it would've been a pretty good game, but the studio also implemented a complex RPG system that gives different characters all sorts of traits that may or may not help them survive and improves their stats based on how much they're used.
Besides playing a role, you also get to manage the whole survivor group, deciding to upgrade various places in your camp to fulfill different roles. Will you choose to build an extra bedroom to house more survivors or will you raise a workshop to fix your weapons and vehicles? Quite a few tough choices await players in State of Decay and, in quite a few cases, there are no right answers.
Interpersonal relationships are also vital to the morale of your survivors, as you sometimes need to go on little trips with certain characters in order to ease their worries and get them more optimistic in regards to the whole apocalypse.
Visuals and Sound
State of Decay isn't exactly the prettiest title out there, as textures don't look that great and there are more than enough crude animations. Even so, the game does have its charm and will certainly impress those looking for a simple experience. There are, however, quite a few slowdowns and laggy moments, especially when roaming around the open world in a car at high speeds. Throw in a lot of pop-in problems when it comes to zombies and obstacles, and you'll get a bit angry.
In terms of sound, the game is pretty good but the whole soundtrack doesn't stand out all that much. Voice acting is decent, with most characters managing to avoid falling into stereotypes. There are some repetitive dialog scenes, especially when you return to your camp, but they can be forgiven.
Conclusion
State of Decay is a pretty impressive zombie survival title that adds more than enough RPG elements as well as a great base management mechanic that makes the experience feel quite fresh. There are some technical and visual issues, and the game is in dire need of a multiplayer mode, but it's still enjoyable nonetheless.
