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- DoubleBear Productions
- DoubleBear Productions
- DoubleBear Productions
- DoubleBear Productions
Dead State
Released On: Dec 4, 2014
70
6.4
All Platforms
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
70
13% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
88% Mixed
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 16 Critic Reviews
70
13% Positive
2 Reviews
2 Reviews
88% Mixed
14 Reviews
14 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Dead State is not much to look at, but as a zombie-themed post-apocalyptic role-playing game it’s definitely a winner. Interestingly enough, the zombies turn out to be the least of the survivors’ problems. [Jan 2015]
Satisfying, pen-and-paper-style zombie storytelling that's somewhat blandly presented and burdened by bugs. A worthy RPG that would've benefited from more budget.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 95 User Ratings
6.4
48% Positive
46 Ratings
46 Ratings
27% Mixed
26 Ratings
26 Ratings
24% Negative
23 Ratings
23 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 95 User Ratings
6.4
48% Positive
46 Ratings
46 Ratings
27% Mixed
26 Ratings
26 Ratings
24% Negative
23 Ratings
23 Ratings
Since it was Double Bear’s founder who drafted story of Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines and Alpha Protocol, one could expect Dead State to deliver some intriguing characters. But alas, in backwater Texas there’s no place for triple-agents, while clichéd Vietnam vets and truck drivers fail to deliver any surprises. [Feb 2015]
Dead State is a very fun zombie apocalypse RPG but it’s not quite the hoped-for second coming of Troika.
Nothing much to look at, and with a premise that has been dulled through repetition, Dead State is a game that requires you to approach it with an open mind and a forgiving nature. Make the effort, and you'll find a game that makes up in charm what it lacks in polish.
This game is based on good ideas, but the execution isn't that good. If you're looking for a zombie game and you're interested in the RPG concept, it might deserve a try.
It’s a game that does some things really well and other really badly. If you’re willing to endure the latter and you’ve already finished Wastelands 2, you can give Dead State a chance. [03/2014, p.78]
This game is masterpiece. It reminded me of classic Fallout so much that i almost cried. Way better than Wasteland 2. Great characters, good graphics, challenging but also simple battles. The only drawback is quantity of bugs and glitches, which, i hope, will be resolved soon.
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PC
Years ago..
Some years ago I wrote a negative review about this game which was about to go live. A few months back I noticed I had gotten the reanimated version, so I tried it and used that for this review. This version is the one you can buy nowadays.
Purpose of the review
The aim of this review is to give you an idea of the game so you can make up your mind if you want to buy it or not. Steam graciously gives you two hours to test the game, but in case of Dead State this might not be enough. See below why. I hope this review helps you to make up your mind.
Similarities to State of Decay
To understand what kind of game this is, it is tempting to compare it to others. This goes just so far as you might not know those other games. However I am going to do this anyway as it is almost unavoidable to say that this game is similar to State of Decay(Further referred to as SoD). Like SoD it is set in a zombie apocalypse, you will be leading a group of survivors, you will be in charge of a base, there is some light roleplay involved and most of your time is involved with getting supplies and weapons and fighting.
However this game can also be considered as an expanded version of SoD. When you go exploring you can have a group of up to four members picked from your community and even get a dog extra if you level out one skill. Also each member of your community is unique with their own background story, statistics, growth, quirks and events. The running of the base is far more elaborate not only in what you can build, but in having to keep your peoples moral up and fed and because you will need to make some important decisions during special events, called Crisis Events.
Difference with State of Decay
What is noticeable different is that while SoD sees zombies as the main adversaries, adding more and special - more dangerous - zombies to the mix as the game progresses, Dead State has humans as the main enemies and confronts you with better trained, better armed and better armored human adversaries.
What is really different is the combat system. It is a turn based system in which actions cost a certain amount of action points. The more actions points you'll have the more you can do.
Another notable difference is that zombies in this game turn people into zombies by infecting them. There is one place where a shootout between two gangs ends with both being overwhelmed by the zombies and most of them being infected and turned upon death.
There are more differences but maybe the last to take note of is focus on your character. Dead State places your character at the center of the story and you can assign ability points and skill points upon creation at the start of the game and as the game progresses. However , unlike with SoD, you cannot switch it out with another. This can be a benefit as well as drawback as you character becomes powerful with special abilities but at the same time if your character is disabled in any way, you have to suffer the disability as it cannot be swapped out unlike all your other group members.
Special mention
One thing that needs to be mentioned is the unique way of character progressing. Experience is gained by bring home loot. Loot is needed to keep up moral, feed your people, supply you with parts to build, get you fuel to keep the generator working, keep the car **** it also allows you to improve your character. Each type of loot gives you a skill point if sufficient quantities are brought in.
Strengths
Dead State offers a sandbox game that allows you to go where you want, pick most of your community members, build what you like, do to others what you like and develop your character the way you feel most comfortable.
Weakness
A weakness is that important events happen on a specific day. For instance: the end phase happens on a specific day. If you are super efficient you might have done everything days or even weeks before that day as the game does not refill places, hence after a place is cleared it will have nothing new to offer. What makes this worse is that when you do not bring in supplies every day your people get disgruntled and might even kick you out. Hence you are facing boredom possible banishment because you were too efficient!
The game has a limited replay value. Not only because it is scripted, but also because all your companions will be the same with the same values and develop along the same lines. You have no control over you companions, which is a pity really.
Wrapping up
I think the game is interesting enough if you like games as State of Decay and you get it on a sale. It would also be advisable to take note of the scripted nature of the game so you can plan ahead. It might be advisable to store some of your supplies in another location.
Special note: a friend of mine is natural left handed. He found it a pity the keys cannot be reconfigured.
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PC
Bug-riddled, but as of April 2015, none of the bugs are game breaking. I've had a lot of fun with this game, played it for a couple of weeks non-stop, I loved managing a survivor camp, building upgrades, assigning everyone jobs, scavenging for supplies, etc. The turn based combat is satisfying once you get the hang of it, which is not hard. Great music. The technical issues are hard to ignore, but in terms of fun, this is one of my favorite games of the year so far.
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PC
A heartbreaking game....Dead State could have been amazing, and has the fundamentals to be an excellent RPG/survival sim. The ideas are there...base building, character interaction, an actual plot with an actual ending (rare in games these days). Also, there are no micro-transactions, which is great. This was meant to be real game, reminiscent of Fallout. But for some reason, the developers appear to have quit development early and released an incomplete game as if it were a complete product. Many features are buggy or missing, and the whole thing feels like a late alpha-stage game, maybe an early beta. Everything is limited, scaled down, dumbed down, or broken. The timing of the release--just before the holiday binge--makes one wonder about the motivations of the developers in releasing an incomplete game. I so badly wanted to experience a game like the old Fallout games, but this sure isn't it! Another eight months of development, and believe this game could be good. Perhaps the developers will take the money they got from the broken release and invest it in finishing the game (rather than sticking it in their pockets and laughing at their customers). If the game improves I will update this review (assuming I am still interested in revisiting it in a year or so). Dead State is in an incomplete state, and needs more time in the oven.
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PC
As of version 1.0 this game is barely playable.
It's riddled with bugs:
► Worst pathfinding i've seen in a game:
- Characters randomly teleporting to stairways (means sometimes you'll be engaged in a fight with one of your characters stuck on the opposite side of the map).
- Blocked items (important ones for quests, like laptop data, or entire racks of medicine).
- Characters often hovering above ground or sliding instead of walking (breaking whatever semblance of immersion DS has to offer).
- Characters constantly unable to move to an object unless you move other characters away. - Unresolved pathfinding actually crashing the game.
- Enemies inside walls.
- Bodies piling on top of one another (unable to loot them).
- Etc.
► Very predictable enemy behaviours, only made unpredictable by bugs and poorly implemented combat mechanics:
- Cameras staying fixed on the last character that played instead of following enemy action (wow!), means when that character happens to be on a different floor you won't be able to see the combat.
- If you have a character with high enough APs to wield a Sledgehammer and high melee skill, all you have to do to clear the map of zombies is approach them from behind (or the sides) and one-shot them one at a time... This makes zombies little more than scarecrows, offering no real menace, unless they're compacted into huge groups (which i've seen happen like once).
- Enemies spawning out of nowhere (thankfully rarely).
- Getting stuck in turn-based combat for infinite turns with no visible enemies around.
► And the final blows that made me end my own misery and stop playing:
- Broken quests (plural).
- Unrepairable upgrades plummeting base morale.
- And finally the car magically disappearing from the shelter.
But i can forgive all the bugs on a rushed kickstarter release, when the team behind the game has worked so hard to keep all their promises and continues to devote their time to patching it up (though you shouldn't make paying customers beta-test your game, and i'm afraid putting such an unpolished product for sale in an effort to catch that little xmas boost will mean disaster for future sales).
What i can't really forgive is the lack of attention and creativity that pervades the entire game:
► Horrible, awkward, amateurish inventory system:
- Very unresponsive drag&drop often forces you to keep trying the same item over and over.
- No way to dump your entire inventory into a container without painstakingly shift-selecting one by one (often accidentally dragging instead of clicking to make things even worse, or misclicking somewhere and losing the entire selection), when it would be so damn simple to just use the shift to instantly transfer items.
- No way to distribute loot from containers to all characters, having to waste awful amounts of time depositing and withrawing stuff to maximize your carry capacity.
- No game pausing when using inventory leaves you open to ambush while you're merrily arranging items.
- Guns only unloadable in characters' individual inventory (not on inventory transfers between base/characters/containers).
- Annoying pop-ups (with no shortcut key to dismiss) warning you of exceeded weight (when it would be so, so simple to just auto fill and leave the excess in the container).
- No info on character max carry capacity in item transfer windows (only in individual inventory), makes you keep guessing... Add that to the fact there's multiple units of weight in use (imperial system, really?! Why?!) and prepare to spend yet more time guessing!
- Can't stress enough how much longer you'll spend organizing inventories, instead of actually playing the game!
► Crappy interaction between characters:
- You pretty much only have four questions for everyone for the entire game! That's it! No more dialog, except:
- You get cut-scenes in the morning: one after the other, completely disconnected, and often asking you to do things you've already done.
- Characters just stick to the walls of your base, more lifeless than zombies, instead of moving around, or (dare i ask) manning the posts you assign them on the job's board (which, by the way, is a whole other can of worms).
► You have a huge base, but only ever use 10% of it (4 rooms), the rest is desolate deserted space you explore once at the beggining and never visit again.
► Practically zero ambient sound and music coupled with very basic graphics leaves you with a game completely destitute of atmosphere.
And i could go on and on, but i doubt a lot of people will have the patience to read this already endless wall of text. And there's always the (very incomplete) official List of Known Issues on Steam (if anyone cares to delve further into this mess).
TL;DR: Needs another year of development! If you don't mind playing a survival game filled with bugs and awkward interactions, go play Project Zomboid. At least that has good music (and a lot more fun)!
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PC
Summary Dead State is a high-tension survival RPG set at the beginning of the zombie apocalypse. As society begins to fall apart, the player must organize a scant handful of allies, working on fortifying a shelter, scouting for food and supplies, making uncertain alliances with others, and attempting to hold together a group as humanity teeters ...
Platforms:
- PC
Initial Release Date: Dec 4, 2014
Developer:
- DoubleBear Productions
Publisher: DoubleBear Productions
Genres:
