State of Decay 2 Review - IGN

State of Decay 2's survival RPG struggle against zombies is fun thanks to strong combat and fear of permanent death but repetitive and buggy, especially in co-op.

[PhoenixUp]

Judging from the 78 the original State of Decay received on Metacritic, the current Metascore of 68 that State of Decay 2 has makes it look like a noticeable critical step down from the original

[UltraNova]

Reading this review gives off the impression that the score will be harsh, like a 4 or 5 at the most, then POW a 7,5 IGN!

Color me unsurprised.

[majiebeast]

Game was promoted by IGN ofcourse they wouldnt give it below a 7.

[fiveby9]

I find it odd that IGN gives this a 7.5 and other sites a 4. I understand reviews to a degree are subjective but such a disparity seems odd. IGN trying to walk a line between editorial credibility and their sponsor's marketing needs. I'll use my free 2 week Gamepass sub to try on PC. Watch some streams and see if it is worth playing.

[Kenshin_BATT0USAI]

Generally the score is inflated 1-2 points.
So it is closer to a 4.5-5.5 in reality.

[Lamboomington]

Yes, just like youtube comments for every single IGN review. n4g comments section at it again with the retarded logic. This complaint is silly. Reviewing AND scoring are entirely subjective.

@fiveby9
"I find it odd that IGN gives this a 7.5 and other sites a 4. I understand reviews to a degree are subjective but such a disparity seems odd."

Disparity with what ? The metacritic score of 69 ? Either the majority of reviews are showing that same disparity, or you are cherrypicking just to say the usual nonsense that people always say about IGN reviews.

This is an XBox game ofcourse, so 7.5 is way too high for the likes of you all. If this were PS4, this reviewer would be labelled "clickbait" "Xbot" "fanboy" etc. Remember those good old days with The Order 1886 ? I remember that was the time I stopped taking this community seriously (the comments section anyway).
I'm not denying the position Sony is in compared to Microsoft (they are DESTROYING them), but that doesn't mean everyone has to be so silly and biased. So predictable lol.

Reviews are subjective, is the IGN score really that unbelievable ? Hell, the Metacritic is very close to their score. (Even if that weren't the case it doesn't mean the review shouldn't be taken as legit).

[Christopher]

Not really. It's been years and it just hasn't kept up with the times. The gameplay hasn't evolved like others nor do the graphics and tech blow anyone away.

If the original was reviewed today, it would score in the 60s.

[IamTylerDurden1]

But there are clearly other factors than "it just hasn't evolved". The game is reportedly a buggy mess so i'm sure that impacted the score. It's also a full fledged sequel with a launch day price that is 50% higher than the launch day price of the original. I think based on that people had every right to expect a highly evolved true sequel. The fact that many outlets have said that State of Decay 2 feels more like an expansion than a sequel is disappointing.

[Christopher]

The original was way more buggy than this one at release but was a herald of its sort on consoles at that time.

[Jinger]

Yeah I think the added scope and co-op really got away from them and they weren't able to make it a smooth experience. Hopefully some patches can come in soon to make it more stable. Not sure why they would give review codes before they squashed bigger bugs and just delay it a month or so. Ah well, what can ya do?

I loved the first, so I can't imagine I won't like this one, but game breaking bugs are always a reason to score it low for sure. Don't blame anyone reviewer for that

[-Foxtrot]

"Yeah I think the added scope and co-op really got away from them and they weren't able to make it a smooth experience"

That's the issue with Microsoft at the end of the day...they are too bothered about co-op and online multiplayer that they don't really sit back and think "Can this team do that and offer a smooth experience". In this case they obviously can't handle doing the core game and the online on top.

Microsoft did the same with Rare and they ended up biting off more them they could chew.

[frostypants]

Plus the original got by on the whole "OMG this is so good for an indie game!!!" thing. That's not going to get them the same good will this time around. The original fell short of being a great game IMO. It had a lot of good ideas but it was just too rough around the edges (e.g. babysitting the survivors got to feel like a chore VERY quickly). Doesn't sound like they've gotten over that hump.

[Godmars290]

Or, noting of note has changed though the market isn't all that hot for - generic - zombie games.

[Gazondaily]

Sounds far too buggy. And coop in particular suffers a lot by the sounds of it. Disappointing

[Lon3wolf]

Yeah I'll think I'll wait on fixes for this one. I didn't play the original until about a year after release, I enjoyed that and was hoping they could release this one in a better state than the originals release.

[LonDonE]

this is what annoys me, the first game had engine/performance problems, so when they released it on xbox one i expected it to at the very least run a solid 30fps, but it was a mess!

Now a sequel and still the games frame rate is choppy and looks rough, why can't devs figure out engine stability impacts the game experience in a massive way!
I can't believe they released it like it is, why is it microsoft this gen seems like they just don't care?
Seriously i love all of the platforms, as i game on all of them but ms needs to step up, sony first party games are in another league!

Seriously show me 1 xbox exclusive which is as polished and looks and plays as amazing as uncharted 4?
Gears 4 is the only ms exclusive which i played and felt was a proper next gen exclusive to show off the platform.
Im getting tired of having to defend ms, i always root for the underdog but WTF are they playing at??

Ms knows at this time the gaming community are all talking about how ms has a exclusive problem, and ms should of made sure this game was polished and ran like butter.
Its sad as the state of decay games are actually good games, but i just hate playing these games which can't even hold a stable 30fps!

I will have to get it on pc instead, but seriously why is it so far the xbox one exclusives just don't look AAA, where as sony has been killing it! the ms exclusives lack polish and it really shows when you compare them to playstation exclusives.

[Stanjara]

Why would you buy mediocre game on a PC...for better framerates? It's still gonna be mediocre.

[conanlifts]

What surprises me about the co-op is the reported small tether. I thought the tether was supposed to be huge and not impact the game. Yet it supposedly does have an impact.

[kayoss]

OMG! This is the first time i see Septic's comments received more likes than dislikes. Congrats Septic!

[lociefer]

As this is probably going to top, i would just like to point your attention to the low-key video ads taking place at the bottom of the page, pls stahp it with the vid ads kthnxbye

[blady_man]

I will still play it as i have xbx one game pass and it wont hurt me to try it for myself

[MarineLineman]

I’ve seen far too many people claim this was gonna be GotY lol

[Prince_TFK]

Who? Can you point me to the article where such people claim this?

[Gazondaily]

He only joined 66 days ago so it will be interesting to see how he substantiates his statement (I'm guessing he won't)

[twiggytree12]

Look no further than the n4g user "Vasto"

[DialgaMarine]

@Septic 66 days ago my ass lol

[Gazondaily]

^^Oh so it's your alt then.

[NXFather]

Comedy.

[UltraNova]

Haven't seen anyone say that... people can be irrational and stubborn sometimes but not this much.

[Rachel_Alucard]

You underestimate what the community will do.

[Jinger]

I absolutely love the first game and i expect no different from this one, but i would never say GotY and I don't think I have seen anyone say that lol

[Xavi4K]

Who in the right mind said so ??? Its not even AAA game

[GamesMaster1982]

Nice not too bad, was hoping this was not another Sea Of Thieves. ill defo check this out on PC Gamepass now.

[georgenancy]

lol

[iistuii]

Been watching streams of this game & I have yet to see any game breaking bugs. seems ok, maybe I've been lucky in the streams I've watched, but looks pretty fun. It's play anywhere, so going half each £12:50 isn't bad & I get the PC version...

[Christopher]

I'm the same. You got animation issues and some minor bugs, but nothing game altering from streams yesterday which I watched for a few hours.

Some reviews claim major issues and others say glitches and bugs that don't ruin the game. Wonder why the disparity?

[Jinger]

Yeah if it's just some glitches with the animations or physics, no way it should be getting docked so hard.

If it's actual nasty bugs and game breaking shit then absolutely deserves a beating.

I think some are forgetting this is just a $30 title from a relatively small and green dev. Seems like there is some issues with co-op as well as far as glitches and performance, but I'm hoping some timely patches can fix that. Or even the day one patch.

[PCgamer98]

It's disappointing that most of the bugs in the first game seems to be present still in the second game.

[Christopher]

They moved to an entirely new engine. I'm guessing it took them way too long to get it to work let alone fix issues. Wish they had more money to hire better engine devs and better animators.

[NXFather]

Yeah I know. Stupid AF Microsoft. Oh Well.

[XxSPIDEYxX]

For Xbox gamers sake, I hope Microsoft has an incredible E3.

[nowitzki2004]

At this point its for fu**s sake I hope MS has an incredible E3

[The Wood]

They are leaking profusely

It's like almost every project they pick up or take on worsens their reputation. Not even the padded reviews can save them outside of camp x. I won't count them out having a good e3 though. . ....they bloody well need it

[NXFather]

Well, I think the last Bastion of Hope just fell through.

[Emme]

This looks like a constant patch fest with a Complete edition at the end that still has bugs and glitches. I somehow don't "feel" the will or potential of improvement here after such a long dev time.

[NXFather]

SOMEBODY NEED TO CRACK THAT WHIP!

[TeamIcoFan]

Can anyone who's had a chance to play it give me their opinions? Critic scores seem to be all over the place.

[Christopher]

Honestly, fire up twitch and watch for yourself. People are so divided on the game.

[Jinger]

If you want, watch some twitch gameplay. It's not nearly as bad as some are making it out to be.

[riibhu]

Completely disappointing performance from Microsoft. Is this what it has come to? Now their first party games can't even touch 80 on meta score and are hanging between 60 to 70. Don't know what ace they've got up their sleeves for E3 this year but at this point I think they're done. Better luck next generation. Still time to jump the ship for those who haven't.

[hahaha]

MS has got some B's in their sleeves.

[Christopher]

This isn't a first party title. That is like saying Ni No Kuni, Persona 5, and Nioh are first party titles.

[TheColbertinator]

Can we get Fable 4 instead?

[Christopher]

Por que no los dos?

[TheColbertinator]

Because Fable is a funny series

[FallenAngel1984]

The joke of Microsoft’s first party lineup being in a state of decay just writes itself

How many more disappoints do their fan base have to put up with?

[BLKxSEPTEMBER]

Are you concerned about the Xbox fan base or are you just trolling?

[cfc83]

Well i'm still playing sea of thieves, and that never scored highly. I'll sure give this a go.

[snkiworld]

LOL

[OnDec76]

Yet another game scored 7.5 by IGN . Do they even try ?

[trooper_]

Microsoft once again disappoints their fans with mediocracy.

[Relientk77]

Too many Zombies

7.5/10

[GrizToof]

Even though that’s a good score I hoped that it would have scored higher. I don’t own an X1 but those that do could use some amazing console exclusives

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Another middling and mediocre Xbox exclusives.

[maybelovehate]

Sounds about what I expected. The first game was really buggy too. But I will still give it a spin on GamePass, why not haha.

[The Wood]

True. . .game pass softens blows. . Smart feature for sure. . You'd be silly not to give it a go especially if you like the genre. .

[Automatic79]

Solid review, day one purchase.

[xRacer74x]

People are tired of zombies and mutants. I will pass on this exclusive and TLOU 2 just tired of the genre in general.

[Nyxus]

I don't think the zombies are the issue with this game.

[xRacer74x]

To me its the Genre its dead. Survival Horror has been played out.

[FernDiggidy]

LOL! wtf happened to you MS?

[StormLegend]

Good thing this is on gamepass or it wouldn't even sell 500K

[josh-eh]

Jeez, X-box cannot catch a break eh!?

[Sm00thNinja]

Why does Microsoft's First Party studios suck so bad?

[Jinger]

This isn't first party.

[MasterCornholio]

Didn't they make a comment saying that games that they published they consider 1st party titles?

[Gamist2dot0]

MS: We don't care if it's ready or not. You're not getting paid for delays so release it.

[Cohagen420]

Another fantastic addition to the Xbox catalogue..

[OC_MurphysLaw]

Based on the metacritic 7.5 seems to be the right score for this game. Not changing the world and re-inventing itself but a solid enough sequel that offers a good fun zombie sim experience.

[doggo84]

"solid enough sequel"

It's 69 on metacritic. Nothing solid about that.

[TheGoodestBoi]

As the number implies, it blows!

[mark_parch]

I would like to point everyone to ACG the only review that matters

[Jinger]

He had a pretty glowing review, very informative and completely unbiased. It's interesting to see how polarizing the game is. Some are absolutely ravaging it for some technical issues, while others are saying the issues are there, but the game is still a ton of fun.

Sounds like the first game!

[doggo84]

So wait. People go to eurogamer and it’s sister DF when all is peachy but when they make a review and it expresses distaste, it’s not fair? I remember people doing cart wheels and front flips over digital foundry's xbox one x analysis because they were praising how great it is. In their SOD 2 review, they highlight the flaws of the game, but now I guess the only review which matters is one on YouTube by a guy who only praises it?

How is that goal post moving going?

[mark_parch]

@doggo84 What's digital foundry got to do with anything lol. I think people on here need to stop associating every comment with a whole community. My comment was mine alone and represents what I think, I have never made a comment about digital foundry. You clearly haven't watched his review if you think he only praised it, he actually pointed out every flaw that most other reviewers have pointed out. imo ACG is the best reviewer there is, no bullshit 9.3 or 5.7 scores and 5 min bias reviews. he breaks down every point of a game brilliantly and simply tells you if it's worth buying, he even buys a copy of every game even if it's gifted to him so he has the same invested as us gamers. If you disagree with me that's fine but I would at least check out some of his reviews.

[narsaku]

"Holds mouse over cancel preorder button"

Hmmm......

We'll see.

[DafunkyRebel]

I can’t help but feel like maybe these low reviews are from elitist journalists that hate on zombie games instead of the game being bad itself. I remember State of Decay 1 was really fun ambut got low scores too when it launch so maybe it’s the same here

[pinkcrocodile75]

I hate Zombie games with a passion. HOWEVER all three of my son's love em so when this hits the shelves on 22nd May, I have to buy 2 copies of the f@cker (one for my eldest in university) and the other for the younger two at home.

My other half wants to play this too despite waiting for Days Gone to come out on PS4 Pro. So I'm going to be surrounded by f@ckin zombie shi!t for the next few months.

As for the scores, ask my @rse!!.

If I don't care whether any of these reviewers are still alive in the morning, why on earth would I care what number they put on a game. PS4 or Xbox, the feeling is the same.

[Prince-Ali]

HOW on gods green earth did this game get a 7.5 after ALL he just said about this game!!??? looool WTF!!

It's not even that i want this game to fail because i dont expect much from it anyways tbh but come on!!! thats ridiculous!!! loooool

[Segata]

69 on Meta. Thus another middling to poor exclusive from MS on Xbox. Christ even the Wii U for all it's failings at least had good exclusives. MS is failing so hard.

[ghostrider32]

The entire Xbox staff need to be fired and replaced.

[dunnyone]

Lol. Eurogamer rightly gave it an avoid. A terrible buggy fucking mess and another first-party fuck up from Xbox to add to the list.

[watchem]

Wow, a metacritic score of 69......Xbox is having a rough time.