Dead State - Review @ Rock Paper Shotgun

Rock Paper Shotgun has posted their review of Dead State. Their conclusion:

Despite these issues, do I like Dead State? I think so.

The mountainous list of responsibilities quickly becomes a second heartbeat. It flows with you. It orders your steps, your decisions, becomes central to all your major decisions. And when you’re least careful, it swallows you whole, dragging you into the heart of the experience. Dead State, like any good simulator, makes it easy to forget that you’re just a tourist, a visitor to this terrible land. Its ability to cultivate a suspension of disbelief even makes the game’s banal locations — supermarkets, pharmacies, and sleazy bars are everywhere on the map, just waiting to be unearthed — interesting. Dead State might well be the first game to have me excited at the discovery of an abandoned picnic.

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More information.

I understand people's valid complaints in another thread, but I still like this game, quite a bit.

I am enjoying the game, it is quite fun. Still, I am going to wait for a couple more patches before getting back to it, especially because Brian Mitsoda promised free contents on the next updates.

Is it still worth a RPGWatch Steam curation recommendation?
What do you guys think? - I had no time to play the release version yet.

I recommended it at Early Access, because the game had great potential.

Love me some Dead State!

HiddenX said:

Is it still worth a RPGWatch Steam curation recommendation?
What do you guys think? - I had no time to play the release version yet.

I recommended it at Early Access, because the game had great potential.

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You shouldn't even be asking. Of course it's worth a recommendation! It's a simulator/RPG hybrid from one of the masters. I recommend it and haven't even played it yet

Just my 2 cents.

I like the game. Reminds me a bit of Arcanum (the potential and the bugs).
My main pet peeve - quests not being cleared from the "to-do list".

But I think that it is a better game than Wasteland 2 even if it gets a bit too repetitive later on. Also comparing team size and funding, Dead State is a definite success.

P.S. Waiting for Star Citizen's epic fail with all that money (45 mils?). That will be the end of crowd-funding,

Actually closer to 65 million. Crazy.

I'll be ready to play Dead State once I get a little bored with the newest EQ 2 expansion. This will be first up to bat.

HiddenX said:

Is it still worth a RPGWatch Steam curation recommendation?
What do you guys think? - I had no time to play the release version yet.

I recommended it at Early Access, because the game had great potential.

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Well...shouldn't that be easy? I mean some of the other games on there....

BlackVoid said:

Just my 2 cents.

I like the game. Reminds me a bit of Arcanum (the potential and the bugs).
My main pet peeve - quests not being cleared from the "to-do list".

But I think that it is a better game than Wasteland 2 even if it gets a bit too repetitive later on. Also comparing team size and funding, Dead State is a definite success.

P.S. Waiting for Star Citizen's epic fail with all that money (45 mils?). That will be the end of crowd-funding,

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Really? You want there to be an end to crowd funding?

I say it is absolutely worth adding to that list.

This game has me quite addicted and has a somewhat steep learning curve, esp as Looters become Coyotees/ Soldiers/ other. Humans are by far the worst enemy you will face.

I am getting fed up of all these people saying 'Im so sick!' in the morning and having to managed on less workers though

Game has it's share of flaws but it's worth recommendation.At current state it's decent game with very good writing but I think it could become great after few DLCs/Content patches or expansion.

The article reads that

Most infuriatingly, perhaps, the survivors in the shelter appear to be firm advocates of worker’s rights. They have set work hours. That wooden fence you’re desperately trying to build to keep out roving meth-heads and undead hordes? They’ll only work on it for eight hours a day. There is no way — at least, from what I’ve seen — to coerce them into working the graveyard shift in a bid to prevent the shelter from turning into a bloody graveyard.

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From what I remember, the shelter members work from 8 AM to 8PM. I did not play that much the latest patch as it breaks the game so it might be one of these other changes that might lead the game to be more tedious to play as it gets patched.
One third of workhour means expanding by one third the time to build upgrades.

As to the rest, it makes me wonder if I've been testing the same products.

The game has some fun in it, but overall it is a disappointment.

1. First and foremost, it is not finished. Bugs and random CTD all the times.
2. The interaction with other survivors is, as RPS indicated, quite silly. Not much of a RPG there.
3. Zombies stand there and wait to be killed. Just walk, or even run, to them and club them in the head. Rinse and repeat... forever.... Sooo boring.
4. Battles with humans are better, until you learn that the AI is brain dead and you can just exploit the environment (or the pause function) to kill anybody from the very beginning.
5. The story is cliche and unimaginative.
6. The only good part is the sandbox in which you struggle to find resources.
7. So many design limitations are just infuriating: Why can I leave the map just from a specified area? Why I must be in that area to check the time? Why everybody is standing still? Why can I enter building only through doors? I have explosive and such, and I see windows everywhere... What is going on with the second floor in this game? Why everybody must go to bed at 8?....

In summary, yes, it can be fun, but the sad reality is that it deserves the lackluster reception it had (already out of the Steam top list) because it is a mediocre, low budget game.

HiddenX said:

Is it still worth a RPGWatch Steam curation recommendation?
What do you guys think? - I had no time to play the release version yet.

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If this is true:

mbpopolano24 said:

1. First and foremost, it is not finished. Bugs and random CTD all the times.

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I'd wait till they polish it or till 3rd party fixpack is available.
There is no need to compromise the list by recommending unpolished products regardless of their potential. People who play games want to have fun, not crashing potential.

BlackVoid said:

But I think that it is a better game than Wasteland 2…

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Agreed 300%! Thank you for having the same refined tastes as me.

Complaints about CTDs are, I think, related to the player using a laptop (advice on this available on forums) or outdated drivers. The game is not buggy anymore in my experience. I find it totally engrossing. My personal complaint is about a lot of the interface decisions, but since I don't think it's going to be changed to suit me, there's no point waiting for patches. The game's ready to be enjoyed now, I say play on!

They really went too far with the endless locations, some are very atmospheric and interesting but most are too generic and dull and make you go through way too much drudgery. There are dozens and dozens of them and it's rince and repeat. They really should have made far less of them but made them more interesting and included more RPG gameplay in the locations.

Also you are never lacking for anything and it's very easy to get tons of morale and exploit the AI so as not to be in danger.

I play on a gaming laptop -- which is about 5 years old now and far from top of the line, though it has a dedicated graphics card -- and I haven't had a single crash in 26 hours of play, according to Steam.