As State of Decay lurches towards its PC release, its developers aren't sitting still and have since made plans to implement a new Sandbox mode into the existing version of the game—improvements which will no doubt also be available in the PC version of the game once it's out later this year.
Posting on a developer blog today, the developers of State of Decay announced the aforementioned Sandbox mode and talked about what it will bring to the table. Free from the constraints of story and narrative, Sandbox mode will function as a sort of roguelike experience for players, challenging them to survive for as long as possible. Once resources run out or the character dies, it's game over.
Essentially, items will not respawn in this mode, and resources will have to be hunted down and sought out as players move from location to location.
"Survival means making sacrifices," wrote the developer. "Will you bring your best friend, or will the auto mechanic need his seat? Will you load your pack with ammunition, or with medicine?
"You can’t be sure what you’ll find in the new valley, and your entire community stash won’t fit in the RV. In the end, the question of what you’ll bring might matter less than whether you can reach the RV at all. It’s like the zombies know you’re leaving — as the RV’s engine revs to life, they step up their attacks, and turn your own backyard into hostile territory. If you do get out, it will be by the skin of your teeth.
"But hard choices have their rewards, too. In a later article, we’ll discuss the upside of playing the long game…the Achievements, the unlockables, and the struggle for Leaderboard dominance."
The Sandbox mode intends to challenge players to survive as long as they possibly can—ranging from minutes and hours and even days or weeks.
"We want to create a setting where players can answer that question, not just until the story is exhausted, but indefinitely."
