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Later in the short trailer, the survivor finds a trail of blood in the snow and begins tracking someone, or something, that’s been wounded. The more noise you make, the more zombies will chase you down, yelling and calling more undead allies along the way. But what was it? In each previous State of Decay entry, sound is an absolute no-no. And it works! Whatever was creeping up on her campsite runs away. Instead of firing her crossbow, running away, or at least extinguishing her fire to be less visible, the survivor does something we’ve all been taught not to do in a zombie apocalypse scenario - she screams at whatever is hunting her, not out of fear, but seemingly to intimidate it. Sharpening wooden bolts for her crossbow beside a campfire, the survivor hears something in the surrounding forest - piercing white eyes appear in the darkness, staring down at the lone human. The trailer shows a lone female survivor trying to survive in a cold, hostile environment (fans have suggested the game’s location could be Alaska, Colorado, Wyoming, or Canada based on the scenery).
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While there aren’t any plot or gameplay details in the trailer, there’s still a bit to unpack.
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Our first and only look at State of Decay 3 is the cinematic announcement released by Microsoft in July 2020. It’s unlikely that the game will be released during a timeframe when new games are still being featured on last-generation consoles. Platformsīeing published by Xbox Game Studios, State of Decay 3 will be available on the Xbox Series X, Series S, and PC. Meanwhile, Undead Labs has continued support for State of Decay 2, first released in 2018, with fairly regular updates. It appears the project is still in pre-production, and the situation at Undead Labs doesn’t bode well for a release anytime soon. There was also no new news from the studio during any other 2022 gaming events or so far in 2023. A March 2022 investigative report from Kotaku outlined Undead Labs’ massive culture shift after it was acquired by Microsoft in 2018, which has resulted in allegations of mismanagement, burnout, and misogyny.įans hoped to catch a new look at State of Decay 3 during the Xbox and Bethesda Games Showcase 2022, but it was not mentioned at all.
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According to reports, Undead Labs was pressured into releasing an announcement trailer before developers felt like they were ready to do so.
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When the cinematic announcement trailer was released at the Xbox Games Showcase event in July 2020, Undead Labs said the game was in the early pre-production stages. Neither Undead Labs nor Microsoft has announced a release date for State of Decay 3, which means it will be a while before we see the much-anticipated sequel.
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