Every State of Decay game, ranked
All 3 State of Decay games we hold, spanning 2013 to 2020: 3 ranked by the GamingPickz Score and plotted below, the rest listed in release order so nothing in the series is missing. Together they carry 100,380 Steam reviews.
Where to start
- For the best-reviewed: State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition (GamingPickz Score 7.4), the highest-rated entry we can score.
- For canon order: begin with State of Decay (2013) and follow the release-order timeline below.
- For the money: State of Decay: YOSE gives the most score per dollar right now.
The State of Decay games on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueThe same 3 games, plotted rather than listed. The two axes below are the ones the ranking is built from, so a game sitting high and right is a game the formula placed near the top. Change either axis to see the field a different way. Where we hold a publisher wordmark, the game is drawn as its mark rather than a dot.
3 games have both
Axes are fitted to these 3 games rather than the full 0 to 100 scale, because a filtered list shares a narrow band and would otherwise sit in one corner. End values are marked. A point on the left edge is the lowest of thesegames, not a low score.
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
3 best State of Decay games, ranked
Ordered by GamingPickz Score. Every figure links back to the source that produced it.
- 1
State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition
Best for: Playing through with a friend online
7.4GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceState of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition at a glance Released 2020 Studio Undead Labs Player sentiment 83% positive of 69,755 Critics 69/100 Price $29.99 Steam Deck playable Install size 30 GB Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 83% shrinks to 83.0 on 69,755 reviews, then blends with the 69 critic aggregate, giving 7.4.
What the data supports- Cloud saves and cross-platform play, so progress follows you between machines.
Worth checking first- Players rate it well above critics, 83 against 69. Usually a sign it improved after launch, or that it delivers something reviewers undervalued.
- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- 2
State of Decay
Best for: Handheld play, small install and Deck verified
7.4GamingPickz Scorehigh confidenceState of Decay at a glance Released 2013 Studio Undead Labs Player sentiment 85% positive of 17,480 Critics 79/100 Price Not listed Steam Deck verified Install size 3 GB Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 85% shrinks to 85.0 on 17,480 reviews, then blends with the 79 critic aggregate, giving 7.4.
What the data supports- Valve has tested it and rates it Verified on the Steam Deck.
- Small install at 3 GB.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
- 3
State of Decay: YOSE
Best for: A consistently well-received pick in this category
7.0GamingPickz Scoremedium confidenceState of Decay: YOSE at a glance Released 2015 Studio Undead Labs Player sentiment 82% positive of 13,145 Critics No aggregate Price $19.99 Steam Deck playable Install size 4.06 GB Accessibility 1 declared feature Raw 82% shrinks to 82.1 on 13,145 reviews, giving 7.0. No critics data, so that weight was redistributed across the rest rather than counted as zero.
What the data supports- Small install at 4.06 GB.
Worth checking first- Flagged for mature content on its store page.
Best and worst entry
The best-received State of Decay game we can score is State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition at 7.4. The lowest is State of Decay: YOSE at 7.0, a 0.4-point spread across the series. The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
How the series scored over time
GamingPickz Score against release year, 2013 to 2020. It has held roughly steady across the years.
Cheapest way in, and best value
- Cheapest right now: State of Decay: YOSE at $19.99. Prices are read live from Steam and move.
- Best value: State of Decay: YOSE, the most GamingPickz Score per dollar in the series at its current price.
On a Steam Deck
Valve's own Deck compatibility rating for the State of Decay entries on Steam:
- Verified: State of Decay
- Playable: State of Decay: YOSE, State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition
Platforms across the series
Where the 3 State of Decay games have landed, counting every entry we hold:
| Platform family | Entries |
|---|---|
| PC | 3 of 3 |
The State of Decay series, game by game
Every State of Decay game we hold, in release order. Each description is the game's own, from Steam where it has a listing and Wikipedia for the older entries, never ours.
- 2013
The end is here. Life as you knew it has gone to hell after the mother of all zombie outbreaks. Now you and the few scattered survivors must band together to survive and rebuild in a 3rd-person action game set in a dynamic open world. (Steam)
- 2015
Make your stand against the collapse of society in the ultimate zombie survival-fantasy game. Explore an open world full of dangers and opportunities that respond to your every decision. Recruit a community of playable survivors, each with their own unique skills and talents. (Steam)
- 2020
The dead have risen and civilization has fallen. Now it's up to you to gather survivors, scavenge for resources and build a community in a post-apocalyptic world – a world where you define what it means to survive in this ultimate zombie survival simulation. (Steam)
State of Decay, head to head
Two entries side by side on score, price, specs and reception:
State of Decay vs other series
How State of Decay stacks up against other series in the same genre, as a whole:
Also: State of Decay vs DRAGON BALL, State of Decay vs Mass Effect, State of Decay vs Mount & Blade, State of Decay vs Yakuza, State of Decay vs ARK, State of Decay vs Dead Island, State of Decay vs Max Payne, State of Decay vs Risen, State of Decay vs The Witcher, State of Decay vs Torchlight, State of Decay vs Watch, State of Decay vs ArcheAge, State of Decay vs BioShock, State of Decay vs Divinity, State of Decay vs Dragon's Dogma, State of Decay vs Dungeon Siege, State of Decay vs ELDEN RING, State of Decay vs EverQuest, State of Decay vs Friday the 13th, State of Decay vs Gothic, State of Decay vs Kingdom Come, State of Decay vs Kingdoms of Amalur, State of Decay vs Marvel’s Spider-Man, State of Decay vs Middle-earth, State of Decay vs Might & Magic, State of Decay vs NARUTO SHIPPUDEN, State of Decay vs Pathfinder, State of Decay vs POSTAL, State of Decay vs Prototype, State of Decay vs Remnant, State of Decay vs SoulWorker, State of Decay vs South Park, State of Decay vs Subnautica, State of Decay vs The Evil Within, State of Decay vs The Lord of the Rings, State of Decay vs The Surge, State of Decay vs Thief, State of Decay vs Tom Clancy’s The Division, State of Decay vs Two Worlds, State of Decay vs Wasteland, State of Decay vs Zombie Army
Common questions
How many State of Decay games are there?
We hold 3 State of Decay games in the catalogue, released between 2013 and 2020. 3 of them carry enough Steam data to rank; the rest are listed in release order below, including console-only entries with no Steam listing.
Which State of Decay game is best?
By the GamingPickz Score, State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition rates highest at 7.4. That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, computed the same way for every game, not our opinion. The full ranking is above.
What order should I play the State of Decay games in?
Release order is listed below, from 2013 to 2020. For most series that is also story order, but we list dates rather than telling you a canon; the timeline is read from Wikidata.
More franchises
Browse every game franchise ranked the same way, or head to the full grid.