It’s no secret I’m a big fan of State of Decay. In fact, the action-apocalypse title from Undead Labs has easily been one of my favorite adventures of the year, but there are only so many times you can trek through Trumball County, hunting the truth about the army and the outbreak, so earlier this year, I moved on to other games while I waited for the promised sandbox DLC, Breakdown, which was finally released November 29… and you’d best believe the first thing we did after returning from holiday travels was log on and snag Breakdown.
State of Decay’s new Breakdown mode is an entirely different gametype that starts players — at first — in the role of a random survivor supported by Lily, the lupus-afflicted radio operator who serves as mission control, in a sense, in the main game. Upon starting Breakdown, players spawn in (I’m guessing, from my three starts), a later-stage base with zombies heading toward them, and Lily reporting that they need to find a new home base as soon as possible. And so it begins.
Once you begin to unlock unique survivors, or heroes, by accomplishing certain tasks or guideposts in Breakdown, you can select a starting character (who comes equipped with particular weapons and skills). Until then, it’s the random survivor, with random weapons and inventory items. In my games as randoms, I started once with a sword and once with a random blunt weapon, without much else that was useful in my inventory. As Jacob, my first-unlocked hero (achieved via a miserable quick death), I started with a blunt weapon (a microphone stand!), a gun, and some nice support items.
The number and types of zombies around at the beginning seems to depend on where you start, and possibly who you start with. As random survivors, I started in warehouse areas, one a place I’d had a base in a prior game, and the other a base that belonged to another community of survivors. As Jacob, I started in the fairgrounds, a late-game unlock packed with goodies, but that starting position was also overloaded with zombies (as opposed to the three or four around in the other starts), including a juggernaut hellbent on smashing my face. All my starts were a little chaotic (more on that in a sec), but that one in particular was tough, as a horde jumped on me instantly, and I fought it off only to confront ol’ Juggy.
Once you clear the opening area and look around for some supplies (if you want), you’re directed toward a few base locations. Go join up with a crew and get to work. Here, your job is much like the main game: gather supplies, build up your base, and survive. Instead of missions, there’s a new twist: Lily directs you to an RV you can build up to escape the valley if need be.
Or, I’m told that’s what happens. In my hour of play, I got nowhere near any of that. Having not played in a while, I jumped back in only to quickly realize I hardly remembered the controls, which was not the best position to be in in an unforgiving game such as this. My hour of play was spent starting over, re-figuring things out, and being ripped apart by merry bands of zombies. Good times.
I recommend new adopters play a little of the main game first to get used to things, and those like me who’ve been away for a while should probably revisit the game as well. Breakdown is even more unforgiving than State of Decay proper, with the game ending upon death. Die and you get a score, and while I don’t know what level marks “good,” I can tell you I wasn’t there. As soon as this semester’s over, though? It’s on, zeds. It’s on.
The DLC also brings with it some small updates to both gametypes, including new weapons and some tweaks to what sorts of supplies can be found in the different search locations. I got to experience a few of the new weapons and found them satisfyingly okay for smashing zombie heads. I can’t wait to dig in and see the full range of adjustments.
While this goes a little beyond the scope of a one-hour review, I do know that levels are achieved every time a group “escapes” in the RV. I never got even halfway to level two, obviously, so I don’t know much about what happens, except this: the new zone is really the old zone restocked. No new maps for us, though things will change and resources diminish over time, which is intriguing.
Undead Labs reports they are already hard at work on the next DLC, so it looks like State of Decay has a lot of life left in it. And just a quick note: State of Decay is still on sale on Steam, if that’s your preference, so if you skipped this one (or want to double dip), you can pick up the whole thing for $20.
**UPDATE: Looks like you’re not just limited to certain starting locations but might start anywhere, like, uh, out in the middle of nowhere. I guess the first few times I just got lucky!
**DOUBLE UPDATE: Oh, y’all. This is ridiculous good fun and everyone should play it right now. Some of the additions are pretty funny for people who played through the main game. Turns out some of that dialogue you might have ignored in-game is important, at least from a character standpoint. And if you remember Sam’s side event, there’s a special treat for completing the Kill 5 Bloaters challenge. Level 3 and moving on up (but all this pesky homework…).
