Talking Point: As 'State Of Decay' Turns 10, I'm Super Excited To See More Of What's Next

We're going through a very 'British heatwave' right now here in the UK (meaning it's vaguely warm and the sun's out a bit), and weirdly, such unbearable heat is taking me back to summer 2013 - when I had an old Xbox 360 struggling on as the Xbox One generation fast approached. Lots of late Xbox 360 era titles were really putting my poor old machine through its paces that summer, with the original State of Decay being a particularly harsh offender.

At the time, it felt like a game me and my friends had been waiting ages for, and when it did arrive, I really enjoyed my time with it despite the game almost melting my Xbox 360. The hype for The Walking Dead was at fever pitch back then, and State of Decay really did scratch that zombie apocalypse survival itch.

I remember it taking up tons of my gaming time during the 360's final few months as the current-gen Xbox console, which means that yep, State of Decay is now over 10 years old having launched back in June 2013. And you know what, I'm super excited to see what's next from developer Undead Labs.

I must admit, I didn't really get around to much State of Decay 2. It launched at a busy time when all I could think about was Sony's God of War reboot, and I just never came back to it with late 2018 also delivering a few bangers such as Forza Horizon 4 and of course, Red Dead Redemption 2. It probably didn't help that while SoD2 appeared to be shaping up pretty well, it very much looked like more State of Decay that wasn't doing anything particularly new aside from the addition of co-op.

And that brings me onto State of Decay 3, which I'm very excited for. Revealed way back in 2020 (yes, three years ago!), we haven't seen much on the upcoming sequel yet - in fact, we've seen nothing at all really. But, the promise of a more fleshed out, AAA version of that 2013 Xbox Live Arcade game I enjoyed so much is something I'm well up for.

It seems I'm not the only one either. Last year, Xbox boss Phil Spencer mentioned that State of Decay 3 is one of the games he's most excited for in Xbox's upcoming lineup. I'm not sure I'd go that far personally, but for reasons similar to what Phil expressed, I do think it's going to be one to watch from Xbox Game Studios.

Around that same time in 2022 we did hear of some damning reports about Undead Labs and the game being stuck in pre-production, but I'm hoping that's all been smoothed over by now and the game is back on track. After all, Xbox's Matt Booty did recently say that we could be seeing an in-depth look at State of Decay 3 pretty soon.

Another studio I'm keen to hear more from is The Coalition - Gears of War is right up there as an Xbox franchise for me. And while we've not heard a peep on 'Gears 6' yet, we know the team is helping Undead Labs with State of Decay 3's Unreal Engine 5 development, which is fantastic news based on what the Gears dev has produced in recent years.

Anyway, I hope State of Decay enjoys being 10 years of age, despite almost killing off my aging Xbox 360 way back when. As for State of Decay 3, I'm really, really looking forward to a look at gameplay - hopefully sooner rather than later!

Is SoD3 high up on your most anticipated list for Xbox? Let us know your State of Decay memories down below!