5 Things That Would Make 'State Of Decay 3' Next-Gen

icrosoft revealed a lot of exciting games in its Xbox Series X showcase but the one I've been thinking about the most is State of Decay 3. The short cinematic trailer didn't give much away - a woman in snowbound woods sitting by a campfire, crafting a crossbow bolt; tracking prey through the woods; and finally facing an undead deer. But it's coupling what the series has done so far with the horsepower of the Xbox Series X that's got my mind racing.

I've a serious soft spot for the janky open world survival series. I love searching through its world for resources, establishing a camp and attracting survivors to my cause. It's a wonderful comfort game with a simple loop of scavenge, survive, settle. Though, even as a fan, I'll admit the series is more shallow than I'd like.

That's why I'm hoping this third game, now that developer Undead Labs has become a first-party studio for Microsoft, has had the time, money, and tech it needs to deliver on the promise underlying the previous games.

There are some key aspects of the series I think could be improved to really make State of Decay 3 into something special.

Seasons

State of Decay has a day/night cycle but I'd like to see Undead Labs take things further with a full year cycle. Adding the four seasons to the sandbox would dramatically change how you played the game.

On a macro level there would be the routine of using the warm months to farm and forage to prepare for the winter months, but there are so many other implications. Winter would bring shorter days, making for longer, more dangerous nights. The shifting weather could open up and close routes across the land, for instance only being able to reach an island full of loot when the lake around it freezes over. The behaviour of the zombies, too, could change with the seasons. Perhaps they're more sluggish in the cold, or you're more likely to see hordes in summer.

The teaser trailer for State of Decay 3 may have only been short, but I think the wintry setting is hinting at seasons. Though, it may also be a sign that the game will be taking place in a northern state that will be locked in perpetual snow.

BIG hordes

State of Decay has hordes but they never get that big, you're only seeing about 20 zombies at a time. I've been playing a lot of Days Gone lately, the hordes in that game are vast. They're a terrifying threat. Sleeping in abandoned buildings in the daytime and at night roaming the world in packs of more than a hundred, the dead become a constant danger.

I'd love to see Undead Labs embrace the power of the Xbox Series X to give us similarly large hordes to contend with. In part, this is because I want to see how large hordes could impact your settlement.

More complex settlements (and more of them)

Your settlement is the heart of State of Decay. It's one of the first things you establish after the tutorial and all your efforts are directed at attracting survivors to move in and improve its facilities.

In State of Decay 1 and 2 you aren't locked into the first settlement spot you find. You're free to move into new locations as you discover them, taking advantage of the perks the new locale provides. However, when you set up shop in a new place your old settlement is deconstructed. I want Undead Labs to let you establish multiple settlements, not just because I'm greedy but because of the opportunities it would allow.

With multiple settlements you can have trade between them. Not only would it create a sense of your survivors working together to take the world back, but that would mean trade routes across the world - trade routes that are vulnerable from attack by zombies and marauders for you to fight off.

But, I'd also like to see more control over the design of my settlement. At the moment, they have a few slots which you can construct facilities in. It's a straightforward system to expand your base, but I'd like to be able to add additional defences, create extensions and annexes. These expansions might give me new options for resources and facilities but they also could create new dangers - a larger settlement would create more noise and commotion, drawing in the undead from further away.

A nemesis system for survivors

I'd really like to see the survivor simulation in State of Decay 3 deepen. We've seen in games like Shadow of Mordor and its nemesis system how attached we can get to AI characters when they're allowed to develop. The events in the game world should leave a mark on the survivors and form bonds with the other characters around them. If a survivor is killed in an attack on your settlement then their friends should mourn, or if a survivor saves the life of another they should become closer. I want to see friends, feuds, and families form in my settlements.

This is especially true if Undead Labs does add seasons, they would bring a much clearer sign of passing time. The settlements we're building in State of Decay, when you take passing years into account, aren't just momentary cover from the undead storm, they're the homes and strongholds of the new world order. So, it makes sense that your survivors would settle down and start families.

Seeing a child grow up over in-game years and take a role in your settlement would be great to see. Though, it would hurt all the more if they were taken out by an opportunistic zombie or marauder.

A world that reacts

While the first two State of Decay games are sandbox games, giving you a world to explore and find all the things you decide you need for survival, the systems in the game world only have limited overlap. You only need to look at games like Breath of the Wild to see the potential for emergent gameplay when developers fill worlds with robust intertwined systems.

Even if we look at a game like Days Gone, which also keeps many of its game systems apart, there's a lot of fun to be had by the 'accidents' which happen in emergent sandboxes. I recently had a bounty mission in a camp with a loudspeaker system. As I moved in on my target he began to flee so I turned on the loudspeakers, which drew in a nearby zombie horde and he was overwhelmed by the undead before he could escape. Granted, I then had to kill the horde to collect my bounty, but it was a lot more fun than simply stalking the one enemy and killing him myself.

I'd love to see State of Decay's world become more system-led, so you could exploit those mechanics for yourself. For instance, using animal carcasses to draw the undead into traps, setting fires that can spread and distract enemies, or having the weather change how the AI perceives the world - with enemies being able to follow tracks in heavy snow.

Featured Image Credit: Undead Labs