State of Decay 3 will be the third installment of the American video game developer Undead Lab’s State of Decay franchise. Although, not much information about the development of the game has been released, here are all the details that we know about the State of Decay 3 release date, trailer, system requirements, rumors, and more.
State of Decay is one of the top zombie shooter games that fall under the action-adventure and survival-horror genre. There have been 2 games of the franchise that have already been released, both of which were successful. Both the previous titles of the State of Decay had elements of survival horror, action-adventure, civilization rebuilding, stealth, and hardcore zombie action.
Microsoft acquired Undead Labs in 2018 and State of Decay 3 was announced in June 2020 at Xbox Games Showcase along with some other announcements and a reveal trailer.
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State of Decay 3 Release Date
While writing this article, there is no mention or hint for the release date of State of Decay 3, neither from Microsoft nor from the Undead Labs. The game is still in its pre-production and it will be a while before we get to hear something about the game development from the developers.
There have been reports that suggest that the developers were forced to release the announcement trailer of the game at the Xbox games showcase in 2020. The game was not in a state, where it could be announced during the games showcase of 2020, at that time it was too early to even talk about it.
Also, Kotaku did an in-depth investigation of the internal issues at Undead Labs and concluded that things are not going well after its acquisition by Microsoft in 2018.
Employees of the Undead Labs have shared their experience stating that pre-production of the game has been messy and that there was a lot of mismanagement. Some current and former employees have also reported burnout and there have also been allegations of misogyny within the development team.
During the Xbox games showcase in 2022, there was no mention of the game which suggests that we will have to wait for some more time to get some information about the much-anticipated title. Fans are hoping to hear something about the game from the developers at the 2023 Xbox games showcase.
State of Decay 3 Trailer
As mentioned earlier, the State of Decay 3 trailer was revealed during the Xbox Games Showcase in 2020. At the beginning of the trailer, at night time we can see a girl sitting by a campfire all alone in the middle of a jungle, covered with snow. She can be seen sharpening her crossbow’s arrows, some empty food cans can also be seen lying there. A creature, probably a wolf, with only its eyes shining bright then approaches her which she scares away by screaming at it. By the looks on her face, she seems frustrated and tired of fighting.
Then the scene shifts to the morning hours, the girl looks over the wide snow-covered forest area while standing on the edge of a mountain. It can be observed from her facial expressions that she’s stressed and that she seeks to find some human companionship. She moves on carrying her crossbow, while exploring the wild she notices some blood spots in the snow, she follows them, and to her surprise she finds a wolf’s corpse being eaten by a zombified deer.
There is no doubt that the trailer is chilling and it has all the suspense, adventure, horror, and survival elements in it. There have been mostly positive reviews about the trailers and it has hyped up and made the game so much more anticipated.
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State of Decay 3 Platforms
Just like its predecessors, State of Decay 3 will be available for Xbox Series X and Series S and Windows since the developers are now owned by Microsoft. The possibilities of the game supporting wide cross-play are slim and almost certainly it is going to be an Xbox exclusive.
State of Decay 3 System Requirements
Given that the game is still in its pre-development and there have not been many words from the devs about it, the state of decay 3 system requirements have also not been released but given the timeline in which the game could be released, we can speculate what could be the minimum and recommended system requirements for the Undead Lab’s next title.
State of Decay 3 System Requirements (Minimum)
- CPU: AMD FX-8350 or Intel Core i5 4570 @3.2 GHz
- RAM: 8 GB
- STORAGE: 65GB
- OS: Windows 10 (64-bit, latest service pack)
- VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon R9 380
- DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 4 GB
State of Decay 3 System Requirements (Recommended)
- CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 1800X or Intel Core i7-4770K @ 3.90 GHz
- RAM: 16 GB
- STORAGE: 65 GB
- OS: Windows 10 (64-bit, latest service pack)
- VIDEO CARD: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 or AMD Radeon RX 580 8GB
- DEDICATED VIDEO RAM: 6 GB
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State of Decay 3 Gameplay and Story
Since we got a sole minute-and-a-half-long announcement trailer, which is entirely CGI, we don’t know much about what could be the game mechanics. In the trailer, we see the girl exploring the open world in cold weather, so we might get to see warmth and shelter mechanics in the game. Although these are just speculations since as per reports, we know that the developers released the announcement trailer earlier and we won’t be surprised if certain changes that don’t seem to relate to the trailer are introduced in the game.
Scavenging for weapons and tools, food and other stuff for survival is a sure shot that we will see in the game. As per the trailer, we see just one girl and she had no other companion, so search and find and exploration can also be a part of the game.
Internal Problems at Undead Labs | State of Decay News
Since its announcement in 2020, the game is still stuck in its pre-production. During the start of the year 2022, Undead Labs faced allegations of burnout, mismanagement, and misogyny. As mentioned earlier, Kotaku did an in-depth investigation on the matter and interviewed 12 of the former and current developers working on State of Decay 3.
Some of the employees said that the time after the acquisition has not been good and that the work culture and environment have changed significantly prior to the acquisition period. According to Matt Booty, head of Xbox games studios, over the previous years, Undead Labs has undergone some positive changes, and they are quite confident in the way the development team is handling the State of Decay 3.
One of the developers said that the women in the team were not treated equally, they would be talked over and blamed and their ideas would be ignored. Even during the meetings, women’s expertise would be ignored, they would be talked over, their ideas would be rejected and even sexist remarks were made against them. Following this, a meeting etiquette was rolled out which didn’t help in resolving the situation.
Anne Schlosser, an experienced HR professional, was hired as the first head of people and culture to help make things better at the studio. But, according to some of the developers, she absolutely didn’t help in developing the working environment and addressing the discrimination but rather made things worse by teaming up with those causing trouble.
Schlosser denied all of these allegations against her and stated that as a woman she wouldn’t tolerate any kind of misogynistic behavior.
Philip Holt, official studio head of Undead Labs, pressured the development team for showing the game this early, one developer said that they did not want to show this game this early since they did not know what it was in 2020.
Eventually, Microsoft stepped in and after interviewing some of the employees at the Labs, Schlosser left the Labs in September 2021. According to present employees, in the previous six months, conditions at the Labs have been better and the work culture has become accommodating.
Further Reading –
State of Decay 3 FAQs
Will the State of Decay 3 be on Steam?
Yes after the game is released, you can download it after buying it on Steam and Epic Store.
What is the expected release date for the State of Decay 3?
Since the game is currently under pre-development, you can expect the game to be released sometime in 2024.
What can be expected from the State of Decay 3 gameplay?
As is evident from the trailer, this State of Decay title will also feature zombified animals, so expect a lot more zombie types and wildlife exploration. Survival elements will be at the core of the game.
What engine is being used for State of Decay 3 development?
Matt Booty, Xbox Games Studio head, has revealed that the upcoming State of Decay title is being made in Unreal Engine 5.
