Update 33 to State of Decay 2 is now live.
The big update to the game is based around the Plague Hearts, with huge implications for gameplay and the franchise’s overall narrative. It’s best to read this section of the patch notes to understand what’s going on:
- Now all Plague Hearts on a given map start out dormant – that is not actively trying to seek out and destroy your Base. However, they don’t remain dormant forever.
- Dormant / awake Plague Hearts each have a unique icon on the map and menus.
- As you explore Plague Territory, certain actions now raise the alertness of a Plague Heart until it fully “awakens” and begins sending out Infesting Hordes.
- After a Plague Heart is awakened, it will begin sending Infesting Hordes out to create and reinforce Infested Sites along the way to your Base.
- Awakened Plague Hearts never become dormant again and must be destroyed.
- Destroying a Plague Heart after it awakens will cause all of its created Infestations to wither over time, losing strength and zombies, until they dissipate on their own.
State of Decay’s zombie conceit isn’t particularly original. The Black Fever, or the Plague, isn’t that far removed from the scientifically explained zombies in other games.
What makes State of Decay different is that they have been telling the story of the Plague being a learning, independent organism. Throughout the two games so far, the plague has been slowly learning from its interactions with humans, and adapting in new ways. It’s not so much evolution as it is a general constantly switching tactics in the process of war.
Undead Labs shared on their blog post that they had been testing this update on the Public Test Realm for some time now.
They had tweaked the Plague Hearts’ new behavior, not only so that they could provide more challenge, but also to change the way playing State of Decay 2 feels.
Undead Labs have received feedback that the game now feels more like a sim than a straightforward action game. It’s clear now that humans are not guaranteed to win this fight in the long run, but the player can treat this new situation as an open sandbox where they can try different things in the course of the game to see what works to stop the threat.
State of Decay 2 was published on Xbox One and Windows, via Steam and Epic Games Store.
