What critics? Fan quotes shine in trailer for State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition

By Will Fulton March 20, 2015

State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition Debut Trailer

Undead Labs has released its first trailer for State of Decay: Year-One Survival Edition, the HD update of its open-world zombie survival title coming to Xbox One and Windows on April 28.

The trailer, composed entirely of in-engine footage, beautifully shows off the 1080p visual makeover of this 2013 release. Notably, the trailer also features quotes almost entirely from fans rather than journalists or critics. In a post on the Xbox blog, the developers attribute it to the role fans played in the game’s development, particularly for this upcoming iteration:

“That’s because the community has been the heart of State of Decay from the beginning. Your feedback and evangelism have made the game what it is today, and you’re playing a major role in where we’ll go in the future. Many of the features found in YOSE that make the game enjoyable for new players can be traced back to changes suggested by players of the original State of Decay.”

Related: State of Decay getting definitive HD edition for Xbox One in 2015

The Year-One Survival Edition includes all of the base game’s content, along with the Lifeline and Breakdown DLC and a variety of brand-new weapons, vehicles, and characters. State of Decay offered a fresh twist on the open-world zombie survival genre with a systems-focused design instead of linear narrative. Permanent character death, a persistent world, and a procedurally-dynamic narrative made it stand out in 2013, and should help it find even more fans with this new version.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

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