State of Decay 2 Art Highlights Beauty in Apocalypse
By Boston Blake 12 February 2017
Developer Undead Labs reveals a new piece of concept art for State of Decay 2, which shows off a beautiful sunset contrasted with the horror of the undead.
Developer Undead Labs is hard at work polishing its upcoming open-world zombie-killing sequel State of Decay 2. While the developer has yet to reveal any gameplay for the title beyond the short video from E3 2016, it has been releasing a steady stream of concept art for the game to whet gamers’ appetites.
Undead Labs has revealed the latest piece of State of Decay 2 concept art and it’s quite impressive. The photo, which can be seen below, shows a warm, colorful sunset, an open field, and a zombie hanging lazily on a fence.
The picture captures both the mood and setting of the State of Decay universe very well. Those who played the first game know that Undead Labs’ version of a post-apocalyptic future is not quite as destroyed, dirty, or dark as other games portray. Rather, State of Decay offers a beautiful world full of life, albeit slightly tainted by hoards of the undead.
State of Decay 2’s art director shared some thoughts with GameSpot about the picture and the concept behind it:
“That one was really a mood piece more than anything. State of Decay has always tried to emphasize the quiet moments and the beauty from a still world. It helps punctuate the moments when things go ….bad.”
Aside from the concept art, Undead Labs has revealed that State of Decay 2 will allow co-op gameplay, a feature that wasn’t available on its predecessor. Those who played State of Decay on Xbox 360 and the Year One Survival Edition on Xbox One were pleased with the news, as it was one of the most-requested features for the first title in the series.
Undead Labs also revealed that State of Decay 2 was originally planned as an MMO before switching over to a four-player co-op game. The developer also explained previously that the world in State of Decay 2 will be substantially larger than the first one.
Besides that, little is still known about State of Decay 2. Based on the video shared at E3 and the photos shared the last few weeks, it looks like State of Decay 2 will share a lot of gameplay similarities with its predecessor. This likely means players will face permadeath with individual characters like they did in the first game, and allow players to take control of multiple characters as they play through the campaign and side missions.
More information about State of Decay 2 will be shared at E3 2017.
State of Decay 2 is currently slated for release in 2017 for PC and Xbox One.
