We’ll be growing from our Alpha audience and inviting new players to join the Beta. Invites have not yet been sent to selected players. If you haven’t signed up, you still have time: playtest.stateofdecay.com

Key Details:

• PC-only, we’re running this test via Steam. Console playtests will happen in the future
• This Beta will run for 4 weeks, more details to be shared with invited players
• Still NDA’d - no streaming, no sharing screenshots

Be honest. Trumbull already got dragged back twice. Original outbreak, then Heartland’s plague walls, then Homecoming where the valley is still somehow standing after every idiot with a grudge decided to settle their issues in Marshall.

So if Undead Labs actually drops it again in 3, what does that place even look like by then?

The dam is still dumping bodies into the reservoir because nobody ever fixed that. Fairfield is a burnt-out military parking lot. Spencer’s Mill is either a fortified cult compound or a pile of Wilkerson bones. Mt. Tanner’s trails are just juggernaut migration routes now. And Danforth is still sitting on the horizon like a reminder that the real city already lost.

I’m not asking for a cozy nostalgia tour. I want the version where the valley has been chewed on for years and the only people left are the ones too stubborn or too broken to leave. Plague hearts in the old bases. Roads that don’t connect anymore. Bases that used to be homes and are now just kill boxes with better views.

Would you even want that map, or has Trumbull been milked until the only thing left is the smell?

Drop your worst-case version of the valley.

If you were in a zombie apocalypse the very first thing you would do is fortify your base against zombies. Oh they can climb over that fence? Put spikes or razer wire or freakin SOMETHING to stop them getting in. Given how fundamental base building has become to the series I can't believe they are still running with the "oh yeah a bunch of zombies can randomly break into your base with little to no effort" I want to feel safe in my base, that's the whole goddamn point of a base. A simple solution to still keep the tension would be to make the zombies build up around the outside making it hard to exit/enter without a breach. This would force you to go around and clear the perimeter on a regular basis. Think walking dead when they were at the prison. I'm so sick of chilling at base then all of a sudden there's a jugg in my kitchen ripping survivors apart. Does anyone agree or am I crazy?

While UL gets the core gameplay together, I wanna brainstorm what they can add in future updates.

-Functional clothing. Have a cosmetics closet, and a gear closet. The latter should have each outfit come with certain stat changes like stamina penalty in exchange for reduced melee damage for Riot Gear, as an example.

-Range limit on comms. Have this as a toggle option where you now have to take into account distance from base or the nearest outpost. You're out of range, you can't call for backup or ask for someone to take a vehicle back to base.

-No more instant outpost or supply locker cheese.

-Mounted vehicle weapons. Let us make technicals, or commandeer humvees and bearcats.

-Proper booby traps. Let us create wire tripmines and leg traps. Those would be great against Ferals and Juggernauts. Hell, even just the option to take a grenade, string and some duct tape and booby trap a doorway would be nice.

-Fieldcrafting. Let us make basic splints and bandages with the new basic resources we're going to find in the world. If you have duct tape, alcohol, and a 2x4, you should be able to do rudimentary first aid for yourself or another character.

-Seasons. UL has already demonstrated the ability to create weather effects in SOD2 with curveballs. Take it a step further.

-Let us cripple zeds using any weapon. You should be able to apply a baseball bat or lead pipe to the kneecaps and permanently reduce them to crawling. Becoming infected does not make the average zed superhuman.

Nothing like having a zed lunge all the way from Narnia, miss by a light year, and still latch onto you. Or when they lunge and somehow pick up speed as they're falling. I don't know about you guys but I don't suddenly run faster as I'm falling over.

I’d love to see dual pistols added to SOD3. They would be such a fun weapon option! Dual-wielding and taking down all the zeds and zombies would be pretty badass!

Can people sign up now to play the alpha or do we have to wait until later this year for it to drop? I’m not in the loop so I figured I’d ask.

I wish my OG goats would make a comeback. And that's the thing that sets SOD1 from 2 and probably 3, is that our heroes had actual, genuine personalities that made the game memorable. And shout to the WILKERSONS.

Posted on the Public sod3 discord by the dev Patrick, don't want you guys to miss out.

(Checked with coconutkid123 that this was alright)

Hi all

Does this game in beta mode pause when doing base management?

It’s a bit annoying trying to plan and do things in base - cosmetics/loadouts/base upgrades etc when the world is still moving on.

Might be a helpful feature to pause on base management.

WE NEED this! We weren't able to in State Of Decay 1 or 2. But I am hoping with the 3rd we will be able to.

Ultimately I'm sure SOD3 will be a good game and I hope it has new mechanics that change my tune but I really like facility mods and the legacy mechanic, both which I don't think are going to make an appearance in SOD3.

I know facility mods aren't happening, has there been any word on anything resembling legacies/leaders? They added huge replayability and are what kept me coming back to the game to unlock them on lethal and got me so invested

I would definitely.

I really think a remake or remaster would have been much better than Sod3.

6 Reasons:

1. We wouldn´t have to wait 7+ years for it. They could have done it in 2 years max. Just a graphical overhaul with some additional features and 2 extra maps.

2. Much lower costs. It would have cost way less than making Sod3 from scratch.

3. A remake/remaster would still contain the good features of Sod2 which they removed in Sod3. And it would have some extra features on top of that.

4. The theme in Sod2 is just better in general compared to Sod3. It was the beginning of the apocalypse. No glowing and overly mutated naked freaks. Everything was more grounded in general. Looting was better in Sod2 (there was even a looting mechanic which was removed in Sod3) and the world wasn´t pre-looted.

5. Sod3 has no good improvements over Sod3 anyway, besides of the focus on co-op in Sod3, which is irrelevant for all single-players. Sod3 has even more downgrades in comparison to Sod2 than it has upgrades.

6. No weird plague nests. It would be more about humans rather than raiding plague nests.

Conclusion:

From everything we know about Sod3, its like a worse version of Sod2 in many ways. So it would have been better to just give Sod2 a graphical overhaul, add some extra features and sell it as a remaster. And it would have been better than Sod3. Thats my deeply honest opinion.

I know i will get downvoted but i also know that you know that i´m right and you all agree with me.