This will review get me some dirty looks/snide comments but I've played enough other games not to be wowed by this perma-Alpha. Start with the good, the game has an insanely destructible environment with hundreds upon hundreds of formulas/ingredients and blueprints for world building. You can create everything from primitive scrap clothes all the way to sci-fi futuristic weapon tracking systems. You can build underground bases and you can host a game-instance where you can control the zombie population, the spawn cycles, as well as speed/damage of all threats. You can micromanage everything about the game experience, including your character's appearance. On the surface, this ultimate freedom (It's Terraria/Minecraft with zombies!) sounds amazing until you realize two game-breaking issues:

The game is an Alpha and it has no end game. You can build whatever you want but eventually you *will* get overrun, unless you just have a world that lacks weekly blood moons and has only in-game populations instead. That means the game gets old fast for the vast majority of the population. Secondly, the game is a buggy, bloated mess. It runs badly, looks worse and will crash more often than you even think it will. Loading times are multi-five minute chunk affairs and the game engine is awful with many players complaining of nausea playing the game (I was one). I just completed House of Ashes on 4K Ultra at 100+ fps. Sure, it's a linear campaign but the graphics are an order of magnitude better than this title. Meanwhile, this title may have a huge dynamic world but it's awful looking and very likely to crash. 4K Ultra framerate for an almost decade-old Alpha? 38 fps. GTA V, by contrast, has an equally large world and runs at 80 fps, 4K Ultra and looks miles and miles better, with far better reliabilty.

Wait for State of Decay 3. Sure, you might not be able to create your own arrows or build Mordor underground but at least it's not some perma-Alpha crapbox with no end game in sight.

Not worth the time. You'll find better games elsewhere.

6.5/10.

This will review get me some dirty looks/snide comments but I've played enough other games not to be wowed by this perma-Alpha. Start with the good, the game has an insanely destructible environment with hundreds upon hundreds of formulas/ingredients and blueprints for world building. You can create everything from primitive scrap clothes all the way to sci-fi futuristic weapon tracking systems. You can build underground bases and you can host a game-instance where you can control the zombie population, the spawn cycles, as well as speed/damage of all threats. You can micromanage everything about the game experience, including your character's appearance. On the surface, this ultimate freedom (It's Terraria/Minecraft with zombies!) sounds amazing until you realize two game-breaking issues: The game is an Alpha and it has no end game. You can build whatever you want but eventually you *will* get overrun, unless you just have a world that lacks weekly blood moons and has only in-game populations instead. That means the game gets old fast for the vast majority of the population. Secondly, the game is a buggy, bloated mess. It runs badly, looks worse and will crash more often than you even think it will. Loading times are multi-five minute chunk affairs and the game engine is awful with many players complaining of nausea playing the game (I was one). I just completed House of Ashes on 4K Ultra at 100+ fps. Sure, it's a linear campaign but the graphics are an order of magnitude better than this title. Meanwhile, this title may have a huge dynamic world but it's awful looking and very likely to crash. 4K Ultra framerate for an almost decade-old Alpha? 38 fps. GTA V, by contrast, has an equally large world and runs at 80 fps, 4K Ultra and looks miles and miles better, with far better reliabilty. Wait for State of Decay 3. Sure, you might not be able to create your own arrows or build Mordor underground but at least it's not some perma-Alpha crapbox with no end game in sight. Not worth the time. You'll find better games elsewhere. 6.5/10.