Three Maps For State Of Decay 2… And Maybe More Later?

2013s State of Decay from developer Undead Labs was an unexpected hit. To be honest, I was bored of the whole zombie sub-genre of gaming as zombie fatigue began to set in, the undead blighters were everywhere. But it was State of Decay that provided the shot in the arm I needed. A great mix of action, crafting, base management, RPG and open world exploration. The game had its problems in terms of frame-rates and minor bugs – but what was there was an amazing experience to be found.

When Undead Labs officially announced State of Decay 2 last year, the palms of my hands began to sweat in anticipation and I have been eagerly trying to soak up any information on the sequel like a thirsty sponge. It all began with the teaser trailer shown at E3 in 2016.

But in a recent post on the Undead Labs official blog, the developers have spilt the beans on what we can expect to see in terms of maps for State of Decay 2. If you were expecting a map that could rival the first game – then you are in for a lot more then you bargained for as State of Decay 2 will feature three maps and each of those maps will be (at least) the size of the map from the original game.

We are launching with THREE maps. Each roughly the size of the original. You should expect to see slightly different environments, definitely different landmarks and locations, different layouts lending themselves to different strategies, unique home sites, and even different mission types.

Sounds bloody great. The map of the original was not really the biggest or most detailed open world map ever created, but it was damn good fun to explore as you learned your way around in search of resources to keep your community of survivors alive and even searched for new places to set up a home-base.

But why are we getting three maps in State of Decay 2?

Well, primarily, because it makes the game more fun. 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.

If you played the original State of Decay, then you’d know how important scavenging for items and searching for fellow survivors was. So what happens to all of what we have built up in one map if/when we move to another?

The intent is for us to be able to take all of our people, and everything in our supply lockers and rucks. We’ll have all the vehicles parked in our home site parking spaces, along with whatever’s stored in the trunks. We’re also going to get at least a partial refund on what we sunk into building our facilities.

So any and everything you have striven and risked your life for in one map will be carried over to the next one – creating a seamless transition and allowing you to go from map to map without loosing all of your prized possessions or characters you have grown an affinity with.

I also must point out that the blog states they will be ‘launching’ with three maps. So does this mean there will be more than three maps post-launch possibly offered via DLC? This is sounding better and better.

Undead Labs have promised that more details on State of Decay 2 will be revealed in June at E3 this year, including a release date and gameplay footage.