➤ State of Decay 2: the review of the PC version 🎮

Although it is not a "triple A" title, the wait revolved around State of Decay 2 has allowed the latest effort by Undead Labs to take on a certain importance in the panorama of releases of this period. Not without merit, given the qualities of the first chapter that in 2013 was able to call upon a host of admirers linked to what could be called the only zombie apocalypse simulator. As we have seen in the review of the Xbox One version of State of Decay 2, the qualities of the predecessor have been resumed and expanded to give life to a title with the most varied and dynamic dynamics, but tripping over a technical sector that is too raw. Precisely for this reason, it undoubtedly makes sense to also take a look at the PC version of State of Decay 2, released yesterday along with the Xbox One.

Together for survival

Before delving into the features of State of Decay 2, it is worth remembering that it is an Xbox Play Anywhere title, therefore playable with a single purchase on both PC and Xbox One. The saves are imported from one platform to the other, thus allowing the player which of the two they prefer based on their needs. From the point of view of the contents, State of Decay 2 shows itself identical in both its incarnations. As we said, it is a sequel in the strictest sense of the term, which in fact immediately puts at ease anyone who approaches it after having had the opportunity to play the first State of Decay. More than on the zombies, the focus is on the group of survivors that we find ourselves controlling, without there being a real protagonist among them. With the complicity of permanent death, which puts a character out of the game once they have lost their life, State of Decay 2 tells us a different story in every game we play, keeping as a common trait the need to survive in a state of ruin. , as the name of the game suggests. The state of apprehension linked to having to keep one's group alive is almost constant, and is fueled by the risk of precipitating everything at the slightest error. For this reason, you need to plan your steps well, making use of the multiplayer cooperative mode if necessary, among the innovations introduced by State of Decay 2: each player can ask for help via the Internet, thus allowing any volunteers to enter their game with whom to complete. missions or other particularly difficult tasks. Even if participating in other people's games does not allow you to go on with your own, by helping other people it is possible to obtain rewards in terms of influence, real "currency" of the game with which to occupy outposts and acquire important elements. In case you want to learn more about the components of State of Decay 2, we refer you again to the review of the Xbox One version, or to the tried and tested published after a few hours of play.

Better but not perfect

Having made the due introduction, let's go and see what changes for State of Decay 2 in the transition from Xbox One to PC. Let's start with the graphics settings, which in the game menu are presented under an additional section: inside it is possible to choose the general settings among the three levels called Medium, High and Ultra, with the option of changing the values relating to individual parameters such as the quality of the anti-aliasing, the rendering distances, the level of detail of the world and the characters and the quality of some effects such as those of the shadows and ambient occlusion. Already leaving the values on those suggested at the High level, it was possible to appreciate a significant general improvement compared to what we saw on the basic version of Xbox One: overall cleaner image, greater visual distance and number of frames per second anchored to sixty, with short descents of a few units only in the driving phases. Moving everything to the Ultra level we noticed a further enrichment of the detail of characters and objects, accompanied however by a number of frames per second a little more dancer, able to touch sixty as a tip but also to go down to thirty in phases. particularly excited or, even in this case, driving. In this regard, it is worth pointing out that the test configuration is in line with the recommended requirements, as shown in the mirror below. Returning to the graphic quality, with both configurations, the pop-in effects that we had instead found with the Xbox One version seemed limited to us. However, the situation linked to some bugs did not seem to change that much, such as the one that sometimes forces us to reopen a door that seems already open. As for the control system, you can obviously play with a mouse and keyboard, but the use of a controller is also recommended on a PC.

PC System Requirements

Test Setup

Sistema operativo: Windows 10 - 64-Bit
CPU: Intel Core i5-4460 @ 3,20 GHz
RAM: 16 GB
Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970

Minimum requirements

Operating system: Windows 10 64-bit
CPU: AMD FX-6300 o Intel i5-2500 @ 2.7GHz
RAM: 8 GB
Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 760 or AMD Radeon HD 7870
Hard disk: 19 GB of available space

Recommended Requirements

Operating system: Windows 10 64-bit
CPU: AMD FX-8350 o Intel i5-4570 @ 3.2GHz
RAM: 16 GB
Video card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960 or AMD Radeon R9 380

Comment

Digital Delivery Xbox Store, Windows Store Price 29,99 € / 49,99 € Resources4Gaming.com

8.5

Readers (57)

8.0

Your vote

With the same content appreciated on Xbox One, the PC version of State of Decay 2 offers an extra gear linked to graphic detail. If on the console the latter seemed too far behind the current standards, the hardware offered by the computer helps to improve the situation, even without making a miracle cry even for the permanence of some bugs. If you intend to play State of Decay 2 and your PC allows it, you know what to do.