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Gameplay Basics
May 1, 2026 at 05:13 PM
Initial gameplay basics page
State of Decay 3 keeps the series' core loop: scout the world, scavenge supplies, defend a base, and manage a community of survivors while staying alive against the undead. The game is described as an open-world survival experience set years after a zombie apocalypse, where the choices a player makes affect in-game events and the fates of survivors in their settlement.
Day to day, players move between three repeating activities. They explore the surrounding map for resources and information, they bring those resources back to a home base to upgrade facilities and craft gear, and they defend that home base from the threats that the world throws at it. Each scavenging trip carries real risk, because each survivor in the community is a unique character whose death is permanent.
Several systems make the moment-to-moment experience vary between sessions. Survivors are individuals with different traits, so the same task feels different depending on who is sent to do it. The world is picked-over and salvage is finite, so squeezing more value from what is found becomes more important than looting endlessly. Co-op groups can split up across the map and pursue different objectives at the same time.
Pillar | What It Means In Play |
|---|---|
Scavenging | The world is post-apocalyptic and most clean factory loot is gone. Players gather components from a wrecked civilization rather than picking up complete weapons. |
Combat | Confrontations with zombies are central. Combat is built in Unreal Engine 5 with reactive responses, modified weapons, and vehicle attacks. |
Base Building | A home base is the center of operations. The base is upgraded over time and is one of the systems most rebuilt for the third entry. |
Survivor Community | Each survivor is unique, and the cost of losing one is felt by the others in the community. |
Co-op | Up to four players can share a world, with everyone moving freely instead of being tethered to a host. |
The May 2026 closed alpha playtest focuses on four-player co-op, base building, resource strategy, and combat. It is intended as a slice of these systems rather than a full campaign experience, and Undead Labs has indicated that further playtest waves will follow throughout the year.
Specific numbers for stamina, hunger, day/night cycles, and similar mechanics have not been publicly confirmed for the third game and will be filled in as the alpha and post-alpha reveals make them concrete.
