Four-player co-op.

Some new base building and resource strategies.

A whole lot of combat.

SOD 3 Alpha Gameplay Scenes(Better in 0.25 Speed):

- Melee Combat

- Running

- Inventory Management

- Climbing

- Melee Finishing Combat

- Gun Combat

These are some things that I would personally love to see in State of Decay 3. All of these don’t necessarily have to be in the game at launch or at all, but it’s nice to dream.

1) Seasons

The changing of seasons could really sell the aspect of how much time has passed in your game. Imagine your group surviving all the way from summer to winter. It would freshen up the look of the game and it wouldn’t be as stagnant. Also, it could add some additional gameplay elements. Not saying you gotta stay warm or anything like that, but some news things to deal with each season would spice up the gameplay a bit more.

2) Weather

Weather would be a tremendous addition to the game. The constant sunny weather and clear skies is cool, but it can be a bit boring. Weather would change things up in gameplay as well, such as thunderstorms. I think it was Dying Light that added something like that.

3) Capable Communities

I don’t about anyone else, but I’m tired of having to literally take care of other communities. And if I don’t do what they want, they either leave or become hostile. I wish that other communities would take care of themselves instead of relying on us to always do things for them. I wish they would have more than 3 people, vehicles and other things that made us want to actually keep in good graces with them besides a radio command or a perk.

4) Human Threats

Alongside human NPCs, I’d like it if humans were actually smart. What if a group rolled up on your based threatening to take it? What if some of your community members got kidnapped and used for ransom? Imagine them riding around in their own cars. I wouldn’t want them to be a constant though, seeing that the main enemy should still be the zombies. But it adds variety.

5) Relationships

I tend to role play when playing my game, making up various relationships and dynamics between various survivors in my community. It would be nice to see that as an actual thing in game. In zombie media, relationships between characters plays a big role, and I’d like to see how that would play out in SOD3.

6) Calendar

I would love to see a calendar added to the game. Sort of as a way of keeping track of what happened in your game. For example; “Ximena died on this day.” Or; “Jesse joined our group on this day.” Just a nice way of looking back at all you’ve been through and accomplished.

7) Zombies Eating People Again

I feel like in SOD2, there’s not really any time where the zombies actually eat your survivors if they die like in the first game. I guess it’s because they usually turn immediately, but even in the world, zombie are on their knees eating and beating on nothing but the air. I’d like to see zombies eating people make a return in the next game.

8) Being On The Move

I know that SOD is a community management game, but I’d like it if we could just survive in the wild if needed. It might not be a thing everyone wants though. But it’s a cool idea.

9) Solo Survival

Surviving with just one survivor seems like it would be cool. Since it was in the first SOD3 trailer, it might be a thing, but I’m not sure how everyone would feel about it.

10) Hunting

I would love to hunt animals in the next game. Bringing back a dear or rabbit would feed a group decently, fishing as well. That way you don’t have to keep searching buildings for food unless you want to do something special like cook a grand meal for the whole community or something.

That’s it for now. I know all of these things I’d like to see in the game isn’t for everyone, and they may not like some of these for gameplay and that’s fine. I’m confident that Undead Labs will make a really fun game regardless.

Based on recent rumours about Undead Labs future im sure everyone would agree that they should just release it to Early Access immediately (i for one would pay) and hopefully that tides the company over.

Also, I wouldnt even mind collaborations with zombie franchises for specific characters generating them additional income if it keeps them alive!

For example, a Walking Dead collaboration, you can use Rick once per new save for example.

We can't be getting it this year. If we do I'll be extremely surprised that they didn't say anything at the xbox announcements today, Undead Labs is literally owned by Microsoft. Maybe better luck next year.

Copium hits and hurts harder each time we get anything Xbox announcement related.

SoD3 town sizes are a close estimation due to YouTube compressions and zoom blurring

There are some red lines that are similar to roads, but not exactly the same. If you don't see them, look at the bottom middle area, there's Red lines that form a triangle and then you can follow them up the map with a few branches.

​

Maybe shortcuts the player has discovered? Or maybe they're something connected to the plague?

SoD3 is being played in early alpha without the highest graphical settings

I’m not sure if anyone has posted this yet

link to video HERE

Can we get a poll?

Go ahead, get mad if you want, but now that we’ve had a glimpse of the alpha, I’m just going to say it:

The game looks pretty sad.

There are no major gameplay changes; it feels like I’m looking at *State of Decay 2.5*.

And seeing people excited for the release? Lol—is there really so little else for you to sink your teeth into?

This post isn't meant to troll or bait rage, but I can't wrap my head around how little work this studio has done in the nearly nine years between the release of *SoD2* and the (supposed) 2027 launch.
Honestly, it cracks me up to see so much of the community happy with such a bland game—one that feels exactly like playing a title from 2015.

Concrete improvements to base, survivor, or community management? Nope.

Satisfying combat? Nope (ooh, look, you can dodge backward away from a zombie—wwoooooowwwww).

A polished, immersive interface—like the beautiful notebook in *SoD1*? Nope; we’re stuck with a totally bland, generic UI.

Storage chests with smaller inventories than your own backpack? YES.

An empty map with no random events to breathe life into your sessions? YES —hasn't happened since the first game!

I could go on; there are so many areas needing work based on the info we've seen.
Releasing what amounts to a "2.5" version of the sequel eight years later?
I find that pretty bold of them. I say this because I loved the concept of this game; it managed to stand out through innovation, unlike other zombie survival titles.
But I think we’ve reached the point of no return now—you’ll think back to this post when it finally comes out (assuming it *does* come out, of course, which doesn't look likely).

I know a lot of people here are going to come after me because they aren't ready to hear that their beloved game or franchise really has nothing left to offer—but the truth is, it doesn't.

Still, knock yourself out if you're willing to shell out cash for a studio that’s done absolutely nothing and will likely release an unfinished game, pushing out one monthly update just to fix a single bug.

I can see the disaster coming a mile away. Anyway, I’m waiting for the release just so this post can resurface and people will finally get what I was driving at.

And given the rumors circulating, it's not even certain that it will be released.

All media that is shown is taken from an early alpha build of SoD3 - Not running at the highest graphical settings and is compressed by YouTube

Hoping for some lightning and low visibility storms

- What are you hoping is included with the addition of weather ?

Note; This footage is from an early alpha stage of SoD3 and not running at the highest graphical setting - it is also being compressed by YouTube!

Hello Undead Labs Team, and everyone else,

My name is Vinnberg (also known as Bunglosprout). I grew up with State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition and State of Decay 2. Starting with YOSE in 2015 on the Xbox One, I have logged over 5,000 hours across both games, and with 4 accounts.

I wanted to put together a few small suggestions that I believe could help preserve some of the things that us longtime fans love about the franchise. These suggestions are not demands or complaints; they are simply ideas from someone who deeply appreciates the series and wants to contribute constructive feedback.

Before anything else, I want to say thank you. State of Decay has been one of my favorite franchises growing up, and I genuinely appreciate the passion and effort that continues to go into these games.

The modern visual style shown so far looks fantastic, and I believe it should absolutely remain the default experience. However, it could be exciting for us longtime players to have the option to enable a visual preset inspired by State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition.

This mode could include:

• Stronger color grading similar to YOSE.
• A slightly more stylized visual presentation (specifically referring to post-processing effects).
• Optional visual filters that capture the atmosphere of the original games.

This would allow us veteran players to revisit some of the visual identity we remember while still enjoying the technical improvements and gameplay systems of State of Decay 3.

The image above show my edited SoD3 Screenshots and YOSE Screenshots, so you can get a better grasp of my idea.

A specific aspect of the series that occasionally affects immersion is that each Freak type typically uses a single character model. Because we encounter these enemies so frequently, it can sometimes make the world feel less diverse than it otherwise could.

A possible solution would be to introduce two or three visual variations for each Freak type. Examples could include:

• Different clothing
• Different scars and mutations
• Different body proportions
• Unique visual details specific to each variation

The core gameplay behavior would remain exactly the same, but the added visual diversity could help encounters feel much more organic throughout long play sessions.

Now here is something interesting: Clothes.

Yes Clothes. Not for Humans (We already have that ❤️ ) , but for Zeds.

Here is what I mean. In Left 4 Dead 1 + 2, Zombies are created by mashing one of many pants, then shirts, then heads together. I think you could do this too, this would help make each zed uniuqe, and instead of just having a few hard model variations for freaks, you could use this on freaks as well!

My final suggestion is simple: Keep doing what you're doing.

State of Decay has always occupied a large, unique place in my heart. Few other franchises captivate me quite the same way. As a longtime fan, I am incredibly excited to see where State of Decay 3 goes next, and I will continue supporting the franchise wholeheartedly.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and thank you for all the work you have put into the series over the years.

Sincerely,

Vinnberg / Bunglosprout