State of Decay 2 prepares for Steam with a Juggernaut overhaul
What a state
Like the shambling rotters it loves, State of Decay 2 is rising from its slumber once more. To put it nicely, Undead Labs' zombie sandbox received a bit of a battering when it launched on the Windows Store back in 2018. With a Steam debut due next month, the devs have taken State of Decay back to the shop for some fresh paint. Next month brings the Juggernaut Edition to Steam, adding a brand new map, some hefty new weapons, graphical touch-ups and a horde of bug fixes.
Gotta make a good first impression, eh?
Juggernaut Edition introduces a big new map called Providence Ridge. This huge space should help show off some of the lighting improvements and general graphical touch-ups Undead Labs have given the game. They've reworked the post-tutorial experience in an attempt to better explain State of Decay's workings. The update also includes a new class of heavy melee weapons, and includes a slew of mission and gameplay bug-fixes.
Squashing bugs has almost been more important than splatting zombies for Undead Labs, really. State of Decay 2 launched in, well, a right state. Post-launch saw the devs racing to patch up some of the game's worst holes.
But shoddy technical polish wasn't State of Decay 2's sole problem. Brendy wasn't taken by the check-listing tedium in his State of Decay 2 review, finding a repetitive open-world apocalypse where potentially fascinating management systems only ever led to chores, chores and more chores. "Even as a story generator, it’s limited," he explained. "If I was to scour my brain for anecdotes about my time with these people, 9 out of 10 stories would start: 'This one time, we attacked some zombies.'"
Juggernaut Edition will be the version of State of Decay 2 that hits Steam on March 13th. Folks who picked it up on the Windows Store will get all of Juggernaut's goodies as a free update.