In the State of Decay, the player (at first) assumes the role of Marcus, who is confronted with an unexpected problem: the zombie apocalypse has arrived! While several primary quests guide the player through the game environment, the emphasis is on survival in the sandbox universe.
The primary concept is that Marcus travels the planet and its abandoned villages by foot or car to find food and weaponry. When Marcus finds additional survivors and establishes a base, he not only needs to collect more food to keep everyone nourished, but he also needs to meet other needs, such as enough places to sleep. The base is supplemented with modules, which may also be modified – however, this requires materials. It is also feasible to establish new bases.
Marcus’ survival prospects are minimal without bases: he fatigues over time, limiting his ability to battle, and if he dies, he dies forever. In such circumstances, the gamer can change to another community member and continue playing. Each character also has talents that increase with use; for example, a character becomes better with melee weapons after using them. Combat is action-based and heavily reliant on fatigue – when a character uses a gun, it fatigues and can no longer fight. This means that solitary zombies don’t represent much of a threat, but fighting a swarm makes survival difficult.
