The studio has changed a lot since 2013.
We got a first glimpse of the upcoming game State of Decay 3 four years ago with a small teaser trailer that depicted one survivor’s journey through a frozen post-apocalyptic world. But apart from an undead deer, we didn’t actually get to see any of the zombies, which, as it turns out, fits with Undead Labs’ new creative direction.
A dev diary from Undead Labs saw the team explain why the studio recently went through a rebranding. “The previous Undead Labs logos were directly related to making a zombie game,” Wayne Laybourn, studio art director, says. “But I think we wanted something a bit bigger with a bit more room to explore.”
“What does ‘undead’ mean, and what do we want it to mean,” studio head Philip Holt adds. “And how do we make that a bigger concept than just a proxy for zombies?”
Gone was the old logo with zombie hands reaching out of the dirt, and in its stead is now a new logo with shapes that resemble a skull, a key, and an hourglass with a new catchphrase, “We brave the darkness to discover our light. Thus we are Undead.” Instead of focusing on the literal undead, the developers are trying to change the meaning to be more metaphorical, which they hope will allow the studio to be known for more than just zombie games.
“A big part of our games is the story that the players are telling themselves,” studio chief of staff Vicki Ebberts says. “And I feel like a little bit of mystery in our branding opens the door for the possibility of going in whatever direction we want to head in.”
It looks like State of Decay 3 is set to be the beginning of this change that Undead Labs wants to see. Obviously, there’ll still be plenty of zombies lurking around, but there’s no reason it couldn’t also include a greater focus on humanity and morality. It wouldn’t be a stretch to see the last survivors struggling through dark times to find the light, something that the developers refer to throughout the dev diary.
It’s also clear that Undead Labs has more resources and tools to explore this kind of complex theme now. “State of Decay was built when the company was maybe 20 people,” Holt says. “State of Decay 2 shipped with a company size of about 60 to 65—I mean, they were really small teams. Here we are today, double that size or greater. We’re part of one of the largest producing content organisations in the world now and well on our way to making State of Decay 3 with a much greater level of ambition and support behind us.”
I’m excited to see how Undead Labs will put a new mark on the classic zombie series, and honestly, from what I’ve seen of State of Decay 3 so far in various trailers, it looks like there’s real scope to focus on a more meaningful story than just surviving the zombie apocalypse.
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