I was an early adopter for the original State of Decay for the Xbox 360. I purchased it based solely on a gut feeling; I don’t even think there were any reviews yet. My gut was right, and I loved it right out of the gate, pouring countless hours into it. Despite being a budget title, it was exactly the kind of game I’d been yearning for.
This generation, I chose PS4 over Xbox One, but I still had high hopes for the inevitable Microsoft-exclusive sequel. I was even contemplating if I could afford a cheap Xbox One just to play it.
Although State of Decay 2 looks like a modest improvement over the original, any hype I had for this game was quickly sapped but the godawful, woefully boring reveal trailer shown at Microsoft’s E3 2017 press conference. This trailer is atrocious.
Narrated by a lackluster Ernest wannabe, this trailer plods along at a snail’s pace. It focuses on the slower, more intimate moments — which is something I loved about the first game — but it’s completely devoid of excitement or urgency. It’s an odd choice, given the original game offered one of the tensest, most intense zombie survival moments I’ve ever experienced. And that’s not even mentioning the gut-wrenching decisions that came with it, or the grueling nature of managing your camp, your resources, and the hordes of zombies just outside your doorstep.
Whoever was responsible for this trailer has done State of Decay 2 a great disservice, actively working against it rather than building hype.
I can only hope the actual game isn’t this much of a snoozefest. You can check out this abomination below.
