Undead Labs revealed today the skills that will be at players’ disposal inside their upcoming zombie game coming to Xbox Live, “State of Decay.” Every single survivor in the game will have their own set of skills attached to them. Which skills they receive and which ones they start with are a mixed factor of what they did before the zombie apocalypse and what they continue to do in order to survive it. All characters have the following four base skills as described by Undead Labs.
- Cardio — Rule #1 for survival. If you run out of Stamina, that’s it. Can’t fight, can’t run away. You’re done.
- Wits —You need to think fast. The quicker you can assess a situation, the better chance you have.
- Fighting — Sometimes your best option is a lead pipe to the face. Other times, it’s getting out of the way. Master both if you want to survive.
- Shooting — Used to be shooting was just a hobby. Now it’s a daily requirement.
Each of these skills is ranked from 1 to 7 stars. The more stars a survivor has in a particular skill, the more adept he is. Survivors can raise their star level in any particular skill simply by successfully using it. Meaning a character can become more useful over time.
After skills, there are a number of character traits assigned to each survivor in “State of Decay.” These traits are defined by what a survivor did before the zombies came. An athlete is going to be more physically capable of other people, whereas a carpenter will become invaluable due to his ability to construct. The following possible traits that might be attached to any survivor have been confirmed (note that some of them are actually useless after the fall of civilization). Undead Labs included these quick summaries for the traits.
- Construction — Comes from Architect, Mechanic, Electrician, or Engineer, among other jobs and hobbies. This skill doesn’t have much effect when out exploring, but having someone with any stars in Construction is essential for building a more advanced Workshop in your home.
- Leadership — Comes from Presence or Born Leader. As mentioned above, each star of Leadership increases the Trust you gain from your actions. In addition, higher Leadership unlocks special effects from your emotes, allowing you to do things like boost the combat effectiveness of the survivors around you by cheering them on.
- Counseling — Comes from People Person, Funeral Director, Stylist, or other jobs and hobbies. This skill has no impact on your combat or exploration abilities, but provides a chance to prevent community conflicts and to raise the spirits of frightened or depressed community members.
- Sexting — Comes from Sleaze or Flirt. Without phone or internet service, this finely honed skill may be doomed to be something of a lost art.
- Sports Trivia — Just as in real life, this is one of the most common skills. Sure, it might not be useful, but did you know that Randy Moss’ vertical leap was once said to be 51″? I did.
There will be numerous other traits for survivors when “State of Decay” releases on Xbox Live later this year.
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