State of Decay 2 is the 2018 third-person sequel to State of Decay, the open world zombie apocalypse video game developed by Undead Labs and published by Microsoft Studios. It blends various genres including action, stealth, role-playing, co-op, strategy and survival horror in its depiction of a community attempting to rebuild during a zombie apocalypse, taking place in five different maps in unknown rural areas of the U.S. Players control characters as they scavenge supplies, sneak and fight to survive and protect their group of fellow survivors. In a sense, the player plays as the entire community, rather than one character, and can switch between individual characters to control.
The game's combat has an equal focus on melee weapons and firearms, and it features an incredible host of guns divided into several categories across eleven calibers. The categories are "pistol", "assault pistol", "revolver", "rifle", "assault" (any select-fire weapon that would otherwise be in the rifle category, this includes submachine guns, assault rifles, and battle rifles), "shotgun", "assault shotgun" (any self-loading shotgun), anti-materiel rifles, and various miscellaneous weapons such as crossbow. Typically least 5 new guns are added monthly in the shape of new "bounty broker rewards". Due to the sheer variety of different guns available, calibers are simplified somewhat for gameplay purposes. Some guns are described as being rechambered in more common calibers, and 'similar' calibers are grouped together for simplicity's sake (e.g. 7.62x39, 7.62x51, and .30-06 guns all use "7.62" ammo).
With exceptions for bolt action rifles and pump action shotguns, all weapons in each category share a single reload animation for that category. This means that to load weapons like an MP5 or an M4, the player goes through the exact same animations that they would for loading an AK-47, which means yanking an imaginary charging handle on the right side of the weapon.
Weapons and ammunition can be found by looting various buildings in the valley, like houses, gun shops, police stations and military camps. While individual items of loot are largely randomized, which means that what guns you find varies widely from one playthrough to the next, different categories still have higher chances of showing up in certain places. I.E. a barn/house with a deer skull/cabin in the woods is far more likely to have a bolt action rifle then a grocery store or gas station, and a prepper shed, police station or gun store would be more likely to have an AR-15.
Weapon accuracy, rate of fire and recoil are affected by the player character's skill level, as is the speed of reloading and clearing jams. The game's guns feature durability, jamming (when at low condition), +1 reloading where appropriate, varying levels of noise depending on design and caliber, and many of them can be fitted with suppressors to muffle their report. Sights and magazines are locked to the guns themselves, and cannot be swapped around like suppressors. When in a safe area like a base, reloading an empty weapon capable of +1 reloading automatically chambers an extra round from your ammo supply as well as giving you a full magazine.
For balance reasons, the suppressors speed up damage the weapons take, rather than getting damaged themselves, with a sliding scale of how much damage they do following the grade of suppressor. An improvised suppressor, made from a fuel filter, will suppress slightly less, and violently speed up the rate the gun loses durability, then an advanced suppressor, modelled after an Osprey 9, which will suppress very well, and barely speed up the rate the weapon takes damage. Any damage to a weapon can be repaired with "spare parts", a crafting material that you can find, or acquire by breaking down weapons, but certain more complex weapons will require far more.
Other than the Juggernaut zombies, any bullet will kill any zombie with a single brain shot. This allows "weaker" weapons to stay viable over short ranges, also allowing the player to spread out their ammo choices, rather then using up all their 5.56, then having to use a useless caliber.
The weapon mechanics, while somewhat arcade-y, do force realism upon the players choices. Such as taking a PPK over an AR-15, you know that the AR is far more accurate, has a larger magazine, and hits harder, but the PPK is a fifth of the weight, the ammo is much lighter, and the .22 LR will still kill a zombie with a single headshot.
Due to the emphasis on stealth, sound is a huge factor in gameplay. Any sound, from a broken window to a gunshot, can attract any zombies within earshot. Accordingly, louder guns are more hazardous to use due to the amount of attention they bring, and suppressors are a big asset, though it's a trade off with the damage they do to weapons. Each weapon has a stat called "quietness" that determines the range at which zombies can hear shots and how effective suppressors are.
Every few months, the game introduces a set of new weapons, unlockable via an NPC known as Cash Beaumont, A.K.A. the Bounty Broker, a post-apocalypse philanthropist who will award you rare items in return for doing generic things. The rarer/better the item, the more extensive the challenge will be. All the challenges are somewhat tied into the item, for example, killing 80 zombies with automatic weapons grants you a specific BAR variant. These items CAN be found in ambient loot, but are far rarer than guns in the base game. Because the majority of in game weapons are real world civilian weapons that would be practical for American citizens in rural areas, the Bounty Broker weapons serve as an excuse for the devs to introduce less practical firearms, such as a fully automatic AKS-74U that has no business appearing in regular loot.
Up until September of 2021, the player could only carry one ranged weapon, regardless of side, but can now carry a pistol or certain shotguns on the thigh as a sidearm, and any other ranged weapon on their back.
There are several variants of the same weapon in the game. They differ in the size of the magazine, sight or caliber. Example "1911".:
-"1911" - The basic model of the weapon. 7-round magazine.
-"Dillinger Pattern 1911" - Same model. It has a magazine for 20 rounds and an automatic shot mode.
Example "Ruger Mk III".:
-"Target Mk3". The basic model of the weapon. 10-round magazine.
-"Competition Mk3". The gun has a quick-change magazine.
-"Sighted Mk3". Pistol with RDS sight.
-"Target Mk3". 20-round magazine.
The article shows the basic models of weapons.
The following weapons appear in the video game State of Decay 2:
The Desert Eagle Mark XIX comes in two versions. With and without a compensator. The versions without the compensator are "Vulture .44", "Vulture .44-Ex" and "King Vulture .44". The compensator versions are "Brock's Golden Vulture .44", "Police Auction Golden Vulture" and "RTX Rampart".
The Glock 17 appears in the game as the "G17", "Precision G17", "G18 Auto" and "G18 Auto Custom". It is identifiable as a 5th generation model by the ambidextrous slide stop and the lack of finger grooves. It has a high capacity and fire rate, as well as common and low-weight ammunition. It breaks after ~154 shots.
The Glock 26 appears in the game as the "G26" and "G26 FDE". The frame is depicted with an accessory rail, which unmodified Glock 26s do not have in reality.
The Glock 34 Gen 5 appears in the game as the "G34" and "G34 FDE". Of note is that the 5th generation version of the Glock 34 is only manufactured with a MOS (Modular Optic System) configuration in reality, whereas the in-game weapon doesn't appears to be MOS-configured. It serves a slightly heavier but slighter more accurate version of the Glock 17. Other than that, it is identical in every way.
A two-tone Wilson Combat "Protector" appears under the name "1911", taking .45 ACP as it should. It's a usable weapon, but its loud report, high weight, heavy and rarer ammo, low capacity, high recoil, and slow fire rate ensure it plays second fiddle to the majority of the game's 9mm handguns in every factor other than durability, breaking after ~154 shots. An alternate version named the Hobbyist's 1911 comes with a 10 round extended magazine and a reflex sight appears. 1911's hammers are incorrectly modeled to be down, except when the slide is back.
The SIG-Sauer P226 Legion appears in the game as the "P220-9", "P220-9 Elite", "P220-45", "P220-45 Elite", "P226", "P226 Elite" and "M17". Its depiction as the military issue M17 is incorrect; the M17 is actually based on the newer P320 series of pistols.
The SilencerCo Maxim 9 appears in the game as the "Echo-S6 Pistol" and "Restored Echo-S6 Pistol". However the ingame version is chambered for .45 ACP, making it technically a Maxim 45. The real world Maxim does not offer other chamberings except 9mm.
The Walther PPK appears in the game as the "PPK", "Micro Dot PPK" and "Sleeper Cell PPK". It is chambered in .22LR, a characteristic of some PP and PPK/S commercial models, but not done with actual PPK pistols.
The Smith & Wesson Model 460 or Smith & Wesson Model 500 appears in the game as the "Echo-S1 Revolver" , "Restored Echo-S1 Revolver". However unlike those revolvers which are chambered in magnum calibers, the Echo-S3 is instead chambered for .22LR rounds, making it useful for stealthy situations but less practical if large targets like Juggernauts are encountered.
The Benelli M4 Super 90 appears in the game as the "Echo-S3 Shotgun" and "Restored Echo-S3 Shotgun". However it is incorrectly depicted as pump action and only possessing a capacity of 4+1; Benelli M4s are semi-automatic only and have a capacity of either 5+1 or 7+1.
The Hawk Type 97-2 appears in the game as the "Kodiak", "Kodiak XL" and "RTX Wolverine". It is depicted as using Saiga magazines. It appears to be based on both (shortened) pump-action and the rare semi-auto variants, with the general shape of the first, but with the semi-auto system of the second.
The Mossberg 590 appears in the game as the "Police M590A1" and "M590 Sea and Sky". The Sea and Sky variant is shown heavily customized with Magpul furniture, sporting a gray SGA stock and fore-end.
The Remington Model 870 Entry Gun with a shortened barrel appears in the game as the "C1-A Ursus" and "CM1-A Breacher". It's description states that it is a Canadian model which was imported into the US (which is interesting as 870s are manufactured in the United States) while its designation implies it is a Canadian military weapon as service weapons are appended with "C" designations similar to US "M" weapons.
A Saiga 12 with a very short barrel and no stock appears in the game as the "RTX Cyclone" and "RTX Cyclone Tactical". The magazines are loaded at a wrong angle.
The CMMG MkGs Banshee 300 appears in the game as the "Samurai SMG". It incorrectly models the magazine as being perpendicular to the receiver, when in reality, it is slanted towards the trigger. This angle would make feeding from Glock pattern magazines impossible.
The Heckler & Koch UMP45 appears in the game as the "UMP SMG". It was initially introduced with a 20-round magazine capacity, but a later patch based on community feedback upped the capacity to its correct 25 rounds.
The IMI Uzi appears in the game as the "Uzi 9mm". It was added in the "Fearsome Footage" pack which included a number of movie based weapons, such as Negan's barbed wire-wrapped baseball bat from The Walking Dead. The pack also included Terminator's "Longslide with the laser sight" and "Italian Autoloader". The name is a reference to what the T-800 calls it.
The KRISS Vector appears in the game as the "Civilian Vector Ultracompact" , "RTX Piranha" , "Spec Ops Vector SMG" , "Vector SMG" and "Civilian Vector Carbine".
A hybrid of the AK-47 and the AKM. It has the stamped receiver of an AKM, combined with the gas tube, gas block and front sight of an AK-47. Appears in the game as the "AK-47" , "Custom AK-47" , "Prepper's AK-47" , "Raider's AK-47" , "Sighted AK-47" , "Durability Test Gun" and "Eternal Guard's Infinite Rage".
The Colt M4A1 Carbine appears in the game as the "M4A1" , "M4X1 DMR Heavy" , "M4X2 Lite SSW" , "Operator's M4A1" , "Sighted M4A1" , "Raider's AR-15" and "AR-15".
The Heckler & Koch G36C appears in the game as the "X-36C". It is notably integrally suppressed; how exactly this is accomplished given that the G36 is piston driven and the suppressor covers the piston above the barrel is not explained, but the suppressor notably clips through the sides of the gun model as well. The rifle also is modified with a STANAG magazine well, loading steel M16 magazines instead of its proprietary translucent polymer magazines. It also sports a G36KV stock and comes in a light green army camo finish.
The fictional "CLEO Battle Rifle" and "CLEO Sharpshooter Rifle" appears to be based on a Robinson Armament XCR rifle, with an added cutlass grip between the bottom of the pistol grip and the upper receiver extended out to cover almost the entire length of the barrel.
The Accuracy International Arctic Warfare appears in the game as the "Arctic Warrior" and "Spec Ops AW". A customized version appears as the "Spyglass Rifle."
An absolutely bizarre-looking Barrett M99 is seen in the game as the "Model 99-50" and "M99X1 Timberwolf." The model features a three-round magazine and magwell located ahead of the trigger group (akin to its non-bullpup counterparts) but the bolt action is still located in the rear of the stock, bullpup style.
The Ruger M77 Gunsite appears in the game as the "Bolt Scout" and "Hunter`s Bolt Scout". Despite being chambered in 7.62x51mm NATO, and visible being modeled with a properly sized magazine, it uses 5.56 ammo in game.
The Colt R80 Monitor appears as a further variant, under the "FBI Fighting Rifle," a reference to its use by the Bureau against organized criminals in the Prohibition era.
The M1918A2 Browning Automatic Rifle can be used with two variants, the "M1918 BAR" and "Barrow Style BAR" - the latter resembles the cut-down BAR used by Clyde Barrow.
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