State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition
Overview -
'State of Decay' was first released in June 2013 for the Xbox 360, where it set sales records for the Xbox Live service and led to a large publishing deal between Microsoft and the game's developer, Undead Labs. The 360 version was followed by a PC version, and eventually DLC was made available. 'State of Decay' has now been remastered for the Xbox One as the 'Year One Survival Edition' with all of its previously released DLC included along with promises of other enhancements.
Video Review
I am happy to report that the 'YOSE' looks much better than the initial release. It runs in 1080p with many obvious improvements affecting shadows, lighting and explosion effects, water, and animations. Textures are not beautiful, but most are also not ugly. The often-maligned draw distance has been expanded, and it is now usually not possible to drive faster than the engine can render the road. Stutters and skips, while still present, are not nearly as numerous. The game noticeably strains whenever the Xbox comes out of standby mode, for instance, but on the whole this is a much clearer and sharper experience than the first time around.
Audio Review
Renowned composer Jesper Kyd recorded about thirty minutes of new music for the 'YOSE'. The score remains as desolate and haunting as ever. The sound effects are of a decent quality but some lack depth - mortars sound kind of like firecrackers, for instance. Voice acting is spotty, with some really good performances alongside some ho-hum ones. Like the video, audio glitching is still present, but much less frequent than in the original.
Final Thoughts
'State of Decay: Year One Survival Edition' is an example of a good remastering. The core game definitely needed some work, as its technical shortcomings often threatened to ruin an otherwise awesome experience. This upgrade still has some issues, but these are not severe. As an incentive to upgrade, 360 'State of Decay' owners get a discount until the end of June (which brings the price down to a more palatable level), and Xbox One owners can port over all of their saves from the 360 version. There hasn’t been a better time to play 'State of Decay'.