State of Decay 3 gameplay reveal and release window announced

In April, Undead Labs announced that fans could sign up for a public play test of the co-op zombie survival game, State of Decay 3. During Sunday’s Xbox showcase, did not announce dates for the playtest, but did say the game will be out in 2027 — alongside a new gameplay trailer for the anticipated game.

Everything shown in the trailer was gameplay from State of Decay 3, creative director Kevin Patzelt said in an Xbox Wire post. Footage showed lots of zombies, weapons, and safe human settlements — all stuff that players can expect to test when the playtests do eventually go live. The playtest will feature four-player co-op in addition to new base-building and resource strategies. Anyone who doesn’t get into the initial play tests might still have a chance of participating in future alphas, as Undead Labs will retain the entire list of sign-ups throughout.

If development for State of Decay feels like it’s been going slow, it’s because up until this point, Undead Labs has been focusing on rolling out updates to State of Decay 2. The studio was making progress on State of Decay 3 at the same time, but now development is advancing in earnest.

To make State of Decay 3, Undead Labs said that the studio read player feedback online and watched people play it on livestreams and YouTube. The point was to get a better sense of what works and what doesn’t — and how the studio will approach those problems in the sequel.

Prior to the Xbox showcase, Undead Labs largely depicted the game through concept art or through over-the-shoulder recordings of a development build — and only briefly, at that. The game also underwent a controversy after a developer at Undead Labs admitted that State of Decay 3‘s announcement trailer didn’t really reflect the game at all, because at that point, the title barely even existed. An earlier report alleged that Undead Labs faced pressure from Microsoft to show the game.