News

State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition is a revised and refreshed version of the game already enjoyed by millions of players. It includes all DLC previously released for State of Decay 2.

All existing versions of State of Decay 2 will automatically be updated to Juggernaut Edition at no charge.

Here are some highlights of the many visual and gameplay improvements included in Juggernaut Edition. Read the full release notes below for more details!

• We created a brand-new map for players to explore: a rugged logging town named Providence Ridge.
• We completely rebuilt the post-tutorial experience to better teach players the key facets of playing the game.
• We added a new category of heavy melee weapons that reward player skill and timing.
• We revised many aspects of our user interface, from the main menu screens to the map screen.
• We improved our control scheme, including splitting Dodge and Stealth into separate buttons.
• We made a wide range of graphical improvements, including better lighting and foliage optimization for better performance.
• We also improved the audio experience, including additional music and effects and fine-tuning the overall mix.
• We fixed dozens of mission and gameplay bugs to ensure a better experience for all players.

New Platforms and Cross-Platform Support

Juggernaut Edition is available with any Xbox Game Pass subscription, and can still be purchased on Xbox One or Windows 10 stores. And now for the first time, State of Decay 2 will also be available to PC players via Steam and the Epic Games Store.

All versions of the game are fully multiplayer-compatible. You can always invite and play with your friends through Xbox Live, no matter which store or platform you have chosen.

If you own the game on multiple platforms, please note that some save data is not shared across platforms. The following data is always synchronized using your Xbox Live account:

• Achievements
• Unlocked Outfits
• Completed Bounties
• Daybreak Reward Progress
• Legacy Boon Cards

Individual community saves, legacy characters, and prestige currency are only shared between Xbox One and Windows 10 Store versions of the game.

The Steam version of the game uses Steam Cloud to synchronize data between Steam computers, while the Epic Game Store version uses Epic’s cloud-save system.

The game supports a long list of Achievements on both Xbox Live and Steam, including seven new Achievements arriving with Juggernaut Edition:

• The Forest for the Trees (starting a base in the new map)
• The Game is Afoot (accepting your first bounty)
• Bounty Collector (completing 5 bounties)
• Collect ‘Em All (completing 25 bounties)
• It Looks Good on You, Though (unlocking an outfit with a bounty)
• Howdy Howdy Howdy (killing zombies with a revolver while wearing a cowboy hat)
• 88 Miles Per Hour (hitting top speed in a sportscar while wearing a puffy vest)

The bounty-driven Achievements are retroactive if you have already satisfied their requirements.

All DLC Included

Juggernaut Edition includes ALL the DLC that was previously sold separately.

• The Independence Pack is now unlocked after you defeat all plague hearts in at least one territory (or if you already have the Total Eclipse achievement).
  • Players who bought the Independence Pack still have unlimited access to it.
• Daybreak is now unlocked for all players.
  • Players who already own Daybreak receive 3000 bonus prestige to show our thanks.
  • Daybreak owners also receive the “Jugg Skull” leather jacket, to let their enemies know who they’re up against.
• Heartland is now unlocked for all players.
  • Players who have previously played Heartland receive 3000 bonus prestige to show our thanks.
  • Heartland players also receive the “Jugg Heart” leather jacket, to demonstrate their can’t-be-stopped attitude.

• Players who originally purchased the Ultimate Edition of State of Decay 2 receive an additional 1000 bonus prestige and two unique outfit items to show our thanks for their support.
  • The “Shaggy Jack” combat helmet and leather jacket show off the legendary mascot of Providence Ridge, our newly-added map.
• The various pre-order and retailer-specific bonus packs, as well as time-limited special outfits and hats, are still exclusive to the players who have received them.

New Map — Providence Ridge

Community request from our Wishlist.

Providence Ridge was a town in flux when the Outbreak hit. The rustic charms of an old logging town are clearly apparent in the architecture and industrial nature of many neighborhoods. However, you can also see how the modern world is actively invading this area, from espresso stands that appropriate the town’s long-time mascot to the new housing development being built on the west edge of the map. 

As the first new map added to the core game, we wanted to make sure Providence Ridge matched the established tone of State of Decay while also bringing new elements to our world building. For inspiration, the team drew on our experiences living in or near the many current or former logging towns that are so common in the Pacific Northwest, from Snoqualmie and North Bend to Forks and Montesano. We’re proud of the results, and we hope you enjoy exploring this new town and discovering everything it has to share.

• Providence Ridge features five new bases to claim for your own (see below for details).
• We used environmental storytelling to provide subtle (and not-so-subtle) hints about the nature of this town before and during the outbreak.
• The map introduces more “verticality” than previous maps, with significant elevation changes from one region to another.
• Keep your eye out for our town mascot, the flannel-clad Sasquatch known as Shaggy Jack. He may turn up in some unexpected places!
• And speaking of unexpected places… Providence Ridge has some secrets hiding off the beaten path. Those who search may be rewarded!

New Bases

Providence Ridge has five different bases for players to choose from. Each base features special design twists that make it feel different from the bases we’ve built for prior maps. We can’t wait to see you exploring these new potential homes for your survivor communities!

Firewatch Fortress

This cozy, fortified base is built around a firewatch tower and features its own survey point, built-in beds, and an Infirmary.

It’s designed to be a great starting base for new players, with just enough room to explore customization before you’re ready to move to a better home.

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Rusty Rosie’s (Fortified Truck Stop)

This medium-size base comes equipped with a secret distillery in the Kitchen, an Auto Shop that teaches the Mechanics skill, and built-in Fuel Storage that doubles as a Watch Tower.

Reports indicate that a strange supply drop landed here a long time ago, but has never been opened. What’s up with that?

This base is great for the mid-game experience, as its central location allows easy travel throughout Providence Ridge.

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Westen Builder Supply (Fenced Warehouse)

This medium-sized base offers a ton of open space for customization, along with a huge custom storage facility ready to store all your resources.

Like the truck stop, this base features an old, unopened supply drop just waiting for the right skills to crack it open.

This base offers good access to plenty of scavenging opportunities, making it another solid mid-game choice for your survivor community.

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Prescott Fire Station

This large base offers a suite of unique built-in facilities unlike any other!

A fully upgraded Workshop that reduces the parts cost for everything you build or repair

A Fighting Gym that also teaches the Medicine skill and upgrades to provide passive injury recovery

A Scout Tower allowing you to have 3 no-ammo-cost guards and offering a radio command to scout nearby territory

A fully upgraded Firehouse Kitchen that includes food storage

A Utility Room that provides both power and water to your entire base

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Lundegaard Lumber Mill

This large base is the first home site in the game to include FIVE large facility slots. This creates massive flexibility for players choosing to explore different base-building strategies.

Will you construct an enormous Garden complex to grow massive quantities of Food and Meds?

Will you cycle through leaders until you’ve built all four leader facilities?

Will you build all three different upgraded barracks?

We look forward to players posting their awesome ideas on how to fill this place up on social media, trying to find the strongest build for this wide-open base full of potential!

New Combat Style — Heavy Weapons

Community request from our Wishlist.

This brand-new category of melee weapons is now available for your survivors. Heavy weapons trade melee swing speed (and stamina cost) for superior reach and the ability to hit several enemies with each swing. We expect the heavy weapons to be difficult to wield for beginners, but rewarding for players who spend time learning the best timing and positioning.

Some heavy weapons are blunt, and some are bladed, but they all benefit primarily from the advantages granted by the existing Powerhouse specialization of the Cardio skill.

• Cross Check — Press the jump button while facing an enemy to quickly interrupt them. Good if you need an alternative to a big, slow swing. Unlock Flying Strike with the Acrobatics skill for a more deadly version.
• Heavy Finisher — The ground execution move for a Heavy Weapon can also hit other zombies standing nearby.

The game includes 10 heavy weapons at the launch of Juggernaut Edition, with more on the way in the future. Here’s what you can expect to find as you scavenge the world.

• Sledge Hammer: Simple and durable, this mighty weapon might well last longer than you do.
• Splitting Maul: The single blade of this mighty tool is honed to razor sharpness. Also provides decent knockdown.
• B Big ol’ Shovel: Unwieldy? Yes. Loud? For sure. But it knocks down zeds like nobody’s business.
• Double Bit Axe: Once wielded against towering forest giants, this long-handled axe delivers top-of-the-line zombie-chopping action.
• Driveshaft Club: Knock the zeds for a loop with this mighty mashie… as long as you don’t fall down swinging it.
• Hog Splitter: This brutal weapon was originally designed for sundering entire carcasses. It might as well have been designed for post-apocalyptic survival.
• Coffee Can Mace: Looks cool and delivers powerful zombie-crushing strikes. 
• Saw Blade Sword: Peasants once attached blades to poles to stand against oppression. Now you can follow in their footsteps, dismembering and knocking down your undead enemies.
• Groundbreaker Shovel (RARE LOOT): A genuine limited-edition Ceremonial Shovel from Westen Allied Construction’s DeLuxe Tool Collection. More attractive and durable than your average implement, but just as noisy.

…plus a secret tenth heavy weapon waiting for you to discover it in a hidden location on the Providence Ridge map. It’s out there, you’ll find it.

New Starter Experience

We’ve completely rebuilt the post-tutorial early game experience. This means that once you leave Camp Osprey after the opening minutes of your first session, you’ll encounter an entirely new sequence of missions designed to teach you key aspects of State of Decay.

New arrivals always start their game on our new map, Providence Ridge, in a dedicated area designed to keep things simple.

• The starting area is easy to understand and navigate at a glance.
• Nearly everything in the starting area is close together and can be explored on foot.
• Zombie concentrations are lower than in the more densely-inhabited areas.

• The entire base is outdoors, and you can see all your facilities at once. This lets you manage them easily in person, even before you learn to use the Base Screen.
• There is a built-in survey tower to give you the lay of the land around you.
• Community members are always visible and easy to find.

Our brand-new set of starter missions is structured to ease newcomers into the true State of Decay 2 experience.

• You are given multiple goals at once, and learn to manage them on the Map Screen.
• The first time you approach your vehicle, you are actually taught how to refuel, repair, and unload it.
• All the new starter missions feature in-world mission markers to help you find your destinations more easily.
• The story focuses on introducing the leader types and emphasizing your role, not just as a survivor, but as the leader of a community.
• The starter experience ends gradually, teaching (but not requiring) you to choose a leader and claim a new base.

We’ve also expanded the How to Play menu with more teaching and explanations.

Players who choose not to play through the tutorial also have a much slimmer, quicker starter arc to get them into the game.

Revised User Interface

We took this opportunity to review our user interface and improve it in a few key places, with the aim of making the game clearer and easier to understand.

The front-end menu of the game has a whole new look.

• The list of available choices is better organized, making it easier to navigate.
• All game modes (including Daybreak and Heartland) are unlocked and playable directly from the main menu.
• You can easily access your Legacy Pool to view and edit the list of characters available for future communities.

The entire in-game user interface has received a visual overhaul to improve information clarity.

• We’ve also increased consistency for similar aspects of the game, such as notifications and menu instructions.

The Goals interface on the Map Screen has been improved.

• The list of goals is now on the right side of the screen, not the left, giving it more vertical space.
• There is a flashy new Story Goals category that highlights all goals that progress you towards your Legacy.
• Long-term goals now display your ongoing progress — how many leadership candidates you have, or how many Plague Hearts you’ve killed.
• Long-term goals can now be pinned like other goals.

Revised Controls

Based on our observations, as well as feedback from players, we made some changes to the default control scheme. We think these changes make gameplay smoother and more intuitive.

New players will automatically be assigned this new control scheme, and existing players will retain the older, familiar control scheme (though we encourage you to try out the changes). You can also use the keybinding interface in the Settings menu to change anything you like.

Here’s a rundown of what changed:

• Stealth and Dodge are now split onto different buttons by default.
  • With a controller, dodge by pressing B and enter stealth by clicking the Left Thumbstick.
  • With a mouse and keyboard, dodge by tapping C or the middle mouse button, and enter stealth by tapping Ctrl.
    • This pushes grapple onto the X key. Note that with the new prompted finishers (see below), grappling to finish zombies is no longer as critical.
• Splitting those two actions has had a cascading effect on the controller:
  • Flashlight has moved from clicking the Left Thumbstick to Up on the D-pad.
  • Radio has been removed from Up on the D-pad, and now is accessible only by opening the Inventory (Down on the D-pad) and pressing RB.

We’ve also made some other changes to the way the controls work.

• Vulnerable zombies now prompt you to finish them off by pressing the Interact button.
  • The existing quick-finisher key (Z by default) also still works.
• Players using a keyboard can reload while not aiming (using the R key by default).
• Players using a controller can now scroll through their consumable items in both directions using the D-pad.
  • This has pushed the Emotes interface onto a click of the Right Thumbstick (and T on the keyboard).
• You can now break out of stealth by holding sprint (with most survivors).
  • Survivors with the Stealth skill still go into a stealth-sprint instead.
• We increased the responsiveness of the Right Thumbstick when aiming a weapon.
• We increased the responsiveness and fluidity of walking, running, and sprinting.

Note that we still offer keybinding tools in the Settings menu to any players who would rather play with slightly (or even dramatically) different controls.

Graphical Improvements

As everyone knows, no artist ever considers their work done. They just get their pencils (or paint brushes or digital styluses) taken away. Juggernaut Edition gave our artists a great opportunity to revisit many of the decisions and compromises made in order to launch the original game, adding improvements in a variety of categories. 

Light

• We performed an extensive lighting and post-processing pass on the four existing maps (Cascade Hills, Drucker County, Meagher Valley, and Heartland/Trumbull Valley).
  • We improved the color grading to give each map a distinct visual identity.
  • We greatly expanded the luminosity range of daytime lighting. Overall, sunlight looks more natural and material response to light is more pronounced. 
  • We adjusted sun position in several maps, making it easier to discern the time of day.
  • We improved dusk and dawn lighting, adding some directional shading to give environments more depth.
• Vehicle Lights materials and VFX received a visual overhaul to improve appearance. Functional brake and reverse lights added to all cars.
• We performed a visual pass on bloom and lens flare.
  • Lens flares now appear on the Xbox, not just the PC.
  • Lens flare and bloom thresholds were adjusted to reduce cases of blinding light on the tops of cars.
  • We reduced the overall intensity of lens flares.
• We improved screen space ambient occlusion.
• We reduced color banding in low light situations.

Night

• We enhanced the rendering of night-time scenes to use smoother gradients and more accurate color representation.
• Night skies are generally brighter (depending on cloud cover), providing a clearer horizon that helps with night-time navigation.
• The flashlights have been improved to provide better, more directed illumination and embrace the horror genre.
  • Your flashlight is no longer over-bright at daytime.
  • We reduced light bounce from the flashlight and widened the beam, giving the flashlight’s illumination a clearer, stronger focus.

Environments

• We optimized trees and foliage to improve performance, increase detail, improve LODs, and improve light response.
• Grass lighting mode was fixed so that grass now lights correctly in all situations and casts shadows, allowing it to appear more grounded and natural.
• Paved and dirt roads have been improved. The new roads now react better to light, blend better into the terrain, and have higher visual fidelity.
• We improved the opacity and appearance of window glass.

Survivors

• Survivors now feature a layer of dust and grime that varies with their morale. Sad survivors don’t do laundry.
• We improved the lighting on the Community screen to better present your survivors.
• Survivor portraits now feature a different pose and better lighting.

VFX

• We enabled volumetric fog to provide better, more realistic atmospherics.
• We enhanced our gore FX with dripping weapons after hits, more effects for dismemberment, and better splatter patterns.
• We performed an FX overhaul for better look and feel on explosions, fires, and driving.
• Tiny environment effects like dandelions, pollen, motes, and blood droplets now use automatic scaling by distance to show up better throughout the world.

We also made subtle tweaks to other materials and items, such as the Arctic Warrior rifle.

Audio Improvements

As with our graphical improvements, Juggernaut Edition gave our audio team a chance to revisit prior decisions to improve and expand on the already amazing audio of State of Decay 2.

• The game’s soundtrack has been greatly expanded with new compositions, alternate arrangements, and gameplay-specific music cues.
• There are new audio effects for zombie attacks, player actions, vehicle repair, breakable objects, UI interactions, and more.
• Soundscapes for vehicle driving, melee combat, radio conversation, and general background audio have been remixed and improved.

Other Updates

Whenever we weren’t working on the stuff mentioned above, we pushed up our sleeves to tackle bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements wherever we could. This isn’t necessarily an exhaustive list of everything we touched, but it gives you an idea of our scope.

Gameplay Updates

Map

• All Plague Heart locations are now revealed early in the game in Standard and Dread Zones, to help new players understand their goals.
  • The radio command to locate a Plague Heart has been removed in those zones. It is still available in Nightmare Zones, where the Plague Hearts remain hidden.
• All potential base locations are now revealed on the map as soon as you arrive, to offer points of interest and aid in exploration.

Survivors

• The Red Talon Logistics skill now provides the benefits of Metalworking, as advertised.
• We disallowed some contradictory trait pairings that made characters seem simultaneously elated and miserable all the time.

Zombies

• Killing a single zombie now instantly creates a moratorium on new spawns in the immediate area, and scoring a few more kills makes that no-spawning zone larger. This isn’t a new system, but it acts much more quickly than before.
  • This means you are far less likely to have new zombies spawn in inappropriate places right after you think you’ve cleared them out.
  • This also creates subtle breaks in the pacing of the game, with more intense fights punctuated by more periods of quiet.

Items and Scavenging

• We improved the behavior of “fallback loot” to reduce the likelihood of nonsensical items dropping in fuel storage, military storage, utility boxes, and chemical storage.
• The base chance of finding an empty container while scavenging is now 1 in 30 (where it used to be 1 in 10).
• The descriptions of Hiking Packs no longer claim that they are “low-profile” when clearly, they are the size of a small car. (Community request from our Wishlist.)
• Soda Can Bombs now behave like Pipe Bombs when thrown into water — their fuses are extinguished and they do not explode.

Weapons and Mods

• We buffed the impact value of suppressors. At close range, they now do as much damage as before Update 14. Their damage still drops off sooner at long range.
• We also improved suppressors’ ability to reduce gunshot noise. The new differences between calibers are still there, but the average noise value is back down to where it was before Update 14.
  • For example, 5.56 mm and 7.62 mm weapons are slightly louder than before Update 14, most other calibers are about the same, and .22 caliber weapons are a bit quieter than before.
• All muzzle brakes now add a chance for a weapon to kick straight up (or as close to straight up as that weapon allows), rather than bouncing all over the place.
  • The additional odds of this happening are +25%, +50%, and +75% for Handmade, Pro, and Advanced Brakes, respectively.
• The Halligan Tool no longer weighs a ridiculous 1 pound. It is now 11 pounds, as intended.

Base and Resources

• Red Talon Watchtowers can no longer be built at the Bridge Fort base, because this can cause AI-controlled survivors to get stuck in the too-small space between the tower and the upper floor of the bridge and behave unpredictably.
• You can now check yourself into an Infirmary to delay the progress of Blood Plague, and the game prompts you to switch characters as part of the process.

Animation

• When you hold the Aim button without a ranged weapon equipped, your survivor now fidgets a lot less.
• We improved ladder-climbing cameras and interactions when playing as a female survivor.
• We polished and improved stealth animations.

Menus

• Options from the Accessibility section of the Settings Menu have been duplicated into the Gameplay section to make them more discoverable.

Mission Fixes

Sheriff Missions

• Sheriff: Stolen Meds — The mission shouldn’t drop rucksacks at the player’s feet anymore.
• Sheriff: Stolen Meds — You won’t have to get awkwardly close before the bad guys will shoot you now! You’re welcome.
• Sheriff: Stolen Meds — The mission should no longer prompt you to talk to dead or exiled community members in the case of their untimely demise.
• Sheriff: Winning Allies — You won’t get stuck if you kill the infestation early.
• Sheriff: Gone Missing — We now make sure you find the final note, whether or not your companion is alive.
• Sheriff: Gone Missing — The mission should now have a zombie survivor even when it grabs a one-person enclave.
• Sheriff: Gone Missing — The mission should now require the appropriate number of bad guys to be killed at the end.
• Sheriff: Loyalty — We now make sure you’ve defeated the betrayers before completing.
• Sheriff: Loyalty — Optional objectives to check in with your teammates should go away now when said teammates die.
• Sheriff: Loyalty — The mission will no longer fail if you leave the assault area before the final scene.
• Sheriff: A New Order — The final boss can no longer be killed by snipers before entering the final fight. Sorry, sniper friends, but things were breaking.

Builder Missions

• Builder: Pillage and Plunder — The secondary character should now wait until the coast is clear, rather than running into infested buildings.
• Builder: Elbow Room — You can no longer switch to the secondary character and talk to yourself.
• Builder: Elbow Room — We now prevent the Builder from asking you to move when you have already done so very recently.
• Builder: Useful Utilities — The signal antenna should now satisfy the mission objectives.
• Builder: Gimme the Loot — This mission is now more likely to appear.

Trader Missions

• Trader: A Friend in Need — The sponsor should no longer allow you to both accept and deny their request.
• Trader: A Friend in Need — The optional objective to talk to your community member should now disappear if that community member dies.
• Trader: Greed — Those with quick fingers can no longer grab two rucksacks.
• The Trader enclave benefit “Assault Plague Heart” should now work, be more clear, and be fancy.

Warlord Missions

• Warlord: To Catch a Thief — We now have a much more robust thief that won’t break the mission if they die early.
• Warlord: Weapons for All — The mission should now end appropriately for each terrified member of the enclave.
• Warlord: Explosive Heart — The expert now shouldn’t go hostile if you accidentally hit them with their own bombs. They’re forgiving like that.
• Warlord: The Informant — The bad guys shouldn’t fight you until you’re ready to rock.
• Warlord: The Informant — The Informant should be willing to get into cars with your scary self now.
• Warlord: Notice of Eviction — Fixed a bug that would sometimes cause the NPCs to break the mission by not going hostile.

Personal Missions

• The Thing About Anthony — Your community member friend should now trust you enough to get into cars with you.

Enclave Missions

• The Arsehole Enclave (who demand resources from you before going hostile) can now be successfully refused.
• The Medical Enclave (who ask you to set up a clinic with them) can now complete their arc if the surgeon dies.
• We fixed AI inconsistencies in the Automechanics Enclave that were preventing them from being helpful during the siege.
• The apprentice shouldn’t awkwardly rejoin the Automechanics Enclave at strange times. They also will allow you to bail on the food-finding mission before finding food and be less likely to be standing next to said food when they ask you to find it.
• The truck should no longer be silly-close to the Automechanics Enclave’s home.
• The Booze Enclave’s Still Life mission should now require the same number of parts, no matter if you’re kind or mean to the drunk character.
• The Cannibal Enclave’s A Project mission now allows you to loot either site early without breaking.
• The Zombie Trappers’ Sick mission shouldn’t have any missing VO lines now.

Ambient Missions

• We fixed an improper pronoun in one of the many Local Disturbance missions.
• The ambient character trapped in a Plague Heart battle shouldn’t run away when you’re trying to talk to them after curing them.
• The Mysterious Broadcast character who wants you to use Scentblock to rescue them should now follow you at a more appropriate point in the mission.
• The Übermallet should no longer be masquerading as a bladed weapon for trade.
• The NPC who wants vengeance for their murdered friend will now give you the option to change your mind.
• The grumpy survivor who left their weapon at their former home should be in the correct location more often than not.
• The mission to find painkillers should now update the optional search objective after finding the item, rather than after getting to the house.

Heartland Missions

• Welcome To Trumbull Valley — No more endless plague cures, sorry folks.
• The Heart of the Matter — This mission should now announce that it has started appropriately, even if you’re not the sponsor at the time.
• The Heart of the Matter — Santos should no longer give you a duplicate copy of the note if Keesha has died.
• Neighborhood Unrest — We fixed some errant articles.
• A Mysterious Request — The mission was mysteriously missing a period at the end of an objective. The period has been found and returned to its proper place.
• We removed some weirdness that could cause you to see the Doctor’s Outpost enclave move all over the place on the map.
• A Cry for Help — We removed some extra spaces to make the dialogue more pretty.
• The Final Battle — We refined when the scene plays when approaching the fourth wall.

Miscellaneous Mission Fixes

• Mysterious Wandering Trader — Entering one of the decoy sites now gives you solid feedback that the Trader isn’t there, instead of leaving you to wonder.
• Mission objectives requiring the use of a radio command (such as Independence Pack: Get a Pyro Launcher) now badge the command on the menu to make it easier to find.
• The community advice missions that ask you to do things like build facilities now allow you to refuse them by speaking with the sponsor.
• Neglected enclaves are now less likely to turn hostile, especially late in the game, where it used to be a coin flip.
• We improved how missions create enclaves to avoid blocking other key missions.