History VideoGame / StateOfDecay2

The game saw a free UpdatedRerelease for owners called the Juggernaut Edition in March 13, 2020 including a new area, remastered graphics for the [[UsefulNotes/XboxOne Xbox One X]] and PC, as well as new gameplay modes and all of the DLC. The Juggernaut Edition also marks the first time the game is available on the PC outside of the Microsoft Windows 10 store (it's available on Steam and other digital distribution sites). The Heartland DLC and Homecoming DLC were released for free on July 19, 2019 and September 1, 2021 respectively. The former added the Trumbull Valley map as an extended story-based mission, while the latter made the map available as a regular region -- and expanding the map to include all of the locations from the previous game -- and with special scripted missions.

* AmbiguouslyEvil: Red Talon. Lieutenant Meredeth's broadcasts are uplifting, patriotic [[RousingSpeech Rousing Speeches]], but their leader Teresa West also briefly discusses "getting rid of" "troublemakers" from survivor communities, and there are claims from other survivors that Red Talon is running forced labor camps, notably Camp Erie. Meredeth denies it, as does Sasquatch, but Sasquatch also notes [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial if they were, it would be necessary given the situation the country is in]]. Meanwhile, Sanchez on the Trumbull Valley map will be cagey about why he left Red Talon, and hints [[EveryoneHasStandards they were doing things he did not approve of]]. Can be at least partially subverted if you [[PrivateMilitaryContractors recruit a Red Talon soldier to help you and your community survive.]]

** Even before the update, regular Zeds already display a predatory level of intelligence. Should they manage to spot you from behind, they will prowl and approach silently to catch you off-guard. Zeds also display excellent pack mentality, capable of screaming to summon reinforcement and surround you.

* ItCanThink: As of the Heart Attack update, the Plague Hearts are more than just meat pinatas that need to all be destroyed as part of your game objectives - now, the entirety of the infestation and siege mechanics revolve around them, as once awakened, they're what send out hordes of zombies to infest locations around the map with the explicit intention of getting ever closer to your base to set up staging grounds for sieges with specialized infestation sites. Luckily, they don't START awakened, but non-stealthily killing too many zombies and allowing Screamers to call out your position while in plague territory will wake them up angry in a hurry, so pick your battles carefully lest they start a war in response.

** Added via a recent patch: when you mark a Survivor for exile, they will teleport in front of you. This removed the very, very frustrating ritual of having to find out where they were at in the base to finish the job.

** Subverted in more recent content updates, as the ''Heartland'' DLC is a story-focused game based on revisiting Trumbull Valley, and the Trumbull Valley map introduced in the ''Homecoming'' update has a good few major quest lines the player may follow.

** Played Straight more in recent updates, as while the environments are still shrouded in darkness at night, the player is able to see a decent area around them so they are not completely lost in the dark.

** .50BMG weapons are among the most powerful weapons in the game, but the ammo for them is very rare (though you can find mods that let you make more, though they're rather uncommon themselves). They're pretty much overkill for anything that isn't a Juggernaut, or a last ditch weapon for a Plague Heart. They are very useful, however, when wielded by a Survivor not controlled by the player.

* NoFairCheating: Turning off the game when your character is dead will not save them: when you log back on, they will be dead. However, if you turn off the game and reload BEFORE they take the hit that'd kill them, all zombies surrounding your character will be gone -- but all quests will be reset as well. However, the level of Blood Plague the character(s) have remains, meaning if they were gang-tackled by plague zombies before you quit, they may turn anyway if they're not near a cure. Blocking base entrances with vehicles (to keep zombies out) won't work, either. The vehicles will be bumped back (damaging them in the process) when an NPC opens the door.

** [[spoiler:In the first Sheriff questline, the [=NPC=] that tags along with you is scripted to die, no matter how fast you manage to kill the raiders. This can result in the character's head ''quite literally exploding for no reason'', which can admittedly make for a morbidly hilarious sight.]]

* ArtificialStupidity: NPC survivors are.... not that great at dodging enemy attacks. They are prone to getting attacked from anything they can't see from their first-person perspective, making them prone to getting attacked from behind. They're also fairly indecisive on whether to use their ranged or melee weapon if their target is hovering just outside of their melee range.

*** The Action Hero may brag "[[Film/ANewHope I have the death penalty on twelve systems!]]" Another survivor may incredulously react: "Are you... [[LampshadeHanging quoting a movie?]]"

** [[spoiler:In the first Sheriff questline, the npc that tags along with you is scripted to die, no matter how fast you manage to kill the raiders. This can result in the character's head ''quite literally exploding for no reason'', which can admittedly make for a morbidly hilarious sight.]]

** [[spoiler:In the first Sheriff questline, the npc that tags along with you is scripted to die, no matter how fast you manage to kill the raiders. This can result in the character's head ''quite literally exploding for no reason'', [[Narm which can admittedly make for a morbidly hilarious sight]].]]

* YourHeadAsplode: [[spoiler:When CLEO is installed and the HAVEN protocols are activated, it makes zombie heads explode when they're too close to your base.]]

** The trench tool bladed weapon. Relatively easy to find, and boasts both a whopping amount of durability and relatively high ease you use, plus being a rather light weapon on top of that. On the blunt weapon side of things is the metal bat, for which where it lacks in cutting ability, makes up for with a rather high chance to knock down zombies.

* TokenEvilTeammate: Team members with the Warlord aspiration are this, being ruthless and having few qualms about killing other humans to survive.

* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: Not only are there periodic sieges (see below), but zombies will '''constantly''' be getting in your base, no matter what you do. Expect at least one zombie hopping the wall every 30 seconds, and they will always zero in on the active character. This is ''incredibly'' irritating, as your base is thus no sanctuary and you'll very often be attacked while you are navigating menus. [[spoiler:The HAVEN protocol from CLEO can make this a non-issue.]]
** This has been altered a fair bit as of the "Heart Attack" update, as infestations (and thus siege sites) don't form ''at all'' until you start pissing off the plague hearts, giving you a lot more breathing room unless you're being careless. Of course, the HAVEN Protocol has been nerfed a bit to compensate, so it won't be picking off ALL of your stragglers without exception anymore...
* AmbiguouslyEvil: Red Talon. Lieutenant Meredeth's broadcasts are uplifting, patriotic [[RousingSpeech Rousing Speeches]], but their leader Teresa West also briefly discusses "getting rid of" "troublemakers" from survivor communities, and there are claims from other survivors that Red Talon is running forced labor camps, notably Camp Erie. Meredeth denies it, as does Sasquatch, but Sasquatch also notes [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial if they were, it would be necessary given the situation the country is in]]. Meanwhile, Sanchez on the Trumbull Valley map will be cagey about why he left Red Talon, and hints [[EveryoneHasStandards they were doing things he did not approve of]].
** Can be at least partially subverted if you [[PrivateMilitaryContractors recruit a Red Talon soldier to help you and your community survive.]]

** Anything in a vehicle's storage can be instantly transported to the community locker so long as the vehicle is parked at a base parking lot. The original game also allowed for this, but only for rucksacks, forcing you to still tediously transfer items and weapons to the locker yourself.
*** At launch items needed to be manually transferred from backpack to the trunk before clicking the right trigger to transfer to base. A later patch now allows direct transfer from backpack to base as long as the character is looking in the trunk and the vehicle is parked in the base parking lot.

* Players can only ever have one NPC survivor permanently accompany them on their travels, whether they're from their own enclave or hired from another one. Missions can temporarly increase the player's follower count, but even then, in most cases there's only ever one additional follower.

* BigGuyRodeo: How a survivor usually kills a Juggernaut.

* CannibalClan: Played straight. Later in the game you come across a group of people doing rather suspicious things and keep giving you “free food.” However, once you learn about a survivor who tells you this news of survivors trying to kill and eat her, you tell her of “friends” nearby who can help but [[WhatTheHellHero you bring her back to said group’s base!]] They then betray you to try kill you for food. These are apparently the same group Twain mentions on the radio in one random instance.
** And if you break open their food rucksacks, the random luxury items you find alongside the snacks provides another hint that they're not on the up-and-up.

* HeelRealization[=/=]TheAtoner: Mickey admits in the ''Homecoming'' DLC is family is kinda terrible, and he's done some awful things, and wants no part of that legacy anymore.

* ILied: In one optional Sheriff side mission, you must retrieve a rucksack of stolen meds for a group. You have the choice of either killing the thieves outright or negotiate peace. Should you choose option B, they seemingly let you and the other group member from the friendly group go scot free with meds. Then, the moment you step out of the building... [[YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo They betray you and kill the friendly enclave member following you and (possible if you have terrible gear at hand) you.]]

** At max level the Powerhouse skill lets you execute zombies without needing to stun them first; this allows you to pretty much insta-kill anything short of a Feral or Juggernaut with a single button press. The Juggernaut Edition changes this so it only works with Heavy weapons, however, the Bladed and Close Combat weapon specializations are also given insta-kills at max level (Blunt weapon specialization does not have an insta-kill, but does give a special move that knocks down multiple zombies at once).

** In ''Heartland,'' The Plague Buster grenade is a major game changer. It instantly annihilates any Screamer or Plague Zombie in the area of effect. Two of them will kill a feral, and even the mighty Juggernaut will be at deaths door for two hits. Once you have a good supply, the heavy freaks are little more than an annoyance.
*** Best yet, it's harmless to humans. So any time you're swarmed, throwing one at your feet will instantly slaughter the normal zeds and set the freaks reeling.

* KilledOffForReal: In the Homecoming Update, numerous characters from Heartland unfortunately fall into this category. Those that are confirmed dead (or die later as the DLC progresses) are [[spoiler: Malik, Nat, and Ray Santos]]. Excluding Reba, Diane, Mickey, [=IzzBee=], Chavez, and Doctor Hoffman, the rest of the Heartland characters’ fates remain shrouded in mystery.

* TheLoad: One random sidequest involves a group of 3 unprepared and poorly equipped survivors who, like many survivor groups, ask you repeatedly for supplies. They're armed only with knives and your fellow group members will comment that they seem useless and that giving them resources is a waste. They'll eventually ask to join your group; if you accept, you'll learn they have terrible traits that cripple their combat abilities (often unable to advance beyond the first couple of levels for assorted combat skills). If you're lucky they at least might have some non-combat abilities that you're looking for (such as mechanical skill or gardening). They are, however, perfect for CannonFodder and {{Suicide Mission}}s.

* MercyKill: In the tutorial, the player is introduced to the shooting mechanics by putting down a blood plague zombie who the doctor was unable to save. In the main game, a player can choose to kill someone who has been infected by the blood plague if they don't have the ingredients for the cure.

* NewGamePlus: Once you've completed a legacy story, the game starts over while allowing you to bring three leveled-up survivors from a previous game and up to two legacy bonuses, provided you've unlocked those legacy bonuses on a difficulty either equal to or higher than the one you're about to start playing on.
** Note that, unlike Breakdown, you do NOT keep your supply locker items when you start a new game. You only bring over the items carried by the three survivors. Of course, they don't stop you from loading them up to the rafters with the best weapons, tools, and consumables you've got...
* NoFairCheating: Turning off the game when your character is dead will not save them: when you log back on, they will be dead.
** However, if you turn off the game and reload BEFORE they take the hit that'd kill them, all zombies surrounding your character will be gone -- but all quests will be reset as well. However, the level of Blood Plague the character(s) have remains, meaning if they were gang-tackled by plague zombies before you quit, they may turn anyway if they're not near a cure.
** Blocking base entrances with vehicles (to keep zombies out) won't work, either. The vehicles will be bumped back (damaging them in the process) when an NPC opens the door.

* RevolversAreJustBetter: Revolvers have been somewhat improved from the first game. While they still cannot be suppressed, they won't jam or break, unlike automatics which wear out and have to be repaired after a few magazines worth of gunfire.

* ShotgunsAreJustBetter: Humans and ferals will go down quickly with one blast from a shotgun. Update 19 gave them numerous buffs, such as guaranteed dismemberment or headshots within 20 meters, reliable kills within 5, and much less noise so you don't attract another horde while you wipe out the first one.
** It gets even better with the Sharpshooter perk: the cloud of buckshot goes through anything it hits. With good timing, you can decimate 5-8 incoming zombies with one shot.
* ShoutOut: Building a trade depot nets you the Achievement "[[Film/MadMaxBeyondThunderdome Who Run Bartertown?]]"

** An Action Hero survivor may brag "I have the death penalty on twelve systems!" Another survivor may incredulously react: "Are you... [[LampshadeHanging quoting a movie?]]"

*** "When deaing with an infestation, I say [[Film/{{Aliens}} you take off and nuke it from orbit. It's the only way to be sure!]]"

* TheSiege: Like in ''Lifeline'', your base will be periodically attacked by zombies. The frequency and intensity of the attacks is based on how much noise your base makes, with higher tier base facilities and larger populations creating more noise.
** As of the Heart Attack update, this can still happen, but you'll have to have first awakened the Plague Hearts and allowed them to set up a chain of infestations that lead them to sites near your base.

* TookALevelInBadass: The special zombies are significantly more dangerous this time around. The Feral is better at dodging and attacking, the Bloater is sneakier and its gas does more damage to both health and stamina, the Juggernaut is... well, TheJuggernaut, and even the Screamer is better at drawing in zombies. And all of this is ''before'' you find the Plague Freak variants.
** Your own survivors to an extent. when you first meet and recruit them, they are potentially not the best fighters. Once you max them out however, they become badass undead killing machines after singlehandely disposing of hundreds of zombies. Not to mention, that’s on their own!
*** It bears mentioning that NPC Survivors in your community almost never are killed while controlled by the AI... which is quite a change from the original, where they'd get killed all the time while under AI control.

* ZombieApocalypse: Duh.

* MadScientist: In ''Homecoming'', Dr. Hoffman's faction are the Mad Scientists.