State of Decay 2 - Xbox One

State of Decay 2 might, if you're feeling a little twisted, be described as The Sims: Zombie Life. Yes, there's a whole heap of zombie-slaying to be done, but you also need to keep on top of your home renovations and community building if you want to take it all the way.

Like the first State of Decay game, this sequel is about gathering the resources you'll need to survive whilst fending off hordes of the walking dead then building yourself a bolt hole so that you can survive the post-apocalyptic life and maybe even do it with a bit of style. Where it differs from the previous intalment is in introducing an open world and co-op play.

It won't be enough to simply explore this brave new world and gather up the bits and bobs you'll need to survive, though. You'll need to bring together a community, each with their own personalities and their own skillset. You'll be able to play as each of your characters, utilising their particular abilities and levelling them up. That's useful since there's a lot to do - stealth, melee, shooting, building, driving and ad-hoc slaying. There's a catch, though. When one of them dies they're gone, and they take all their skills and experience with them. You'll need a strong community to survive, which means creating a big enough, secure enough base for all of them and managing them when problems arise. In this way State of Decay 2 embraces both sides of the zombie fantasy - gratuitous zombie-slaying and rallying a group of survivors to make a go of it in the post-apocalyptic world.

Think of it as practice for the zombie apocalypse, if you like. more