Look, let's be honest, the State of Decay series managed to turn the dreary zombie apocalypse into something rather compelling by cleverly mashing up action RPG elements with base management. Now, the third installment is gearing up for its second playtest later this year.

The developer Undead Labs shared this bit of news over on the Xbox Wire homepage on August 26. Applications are currently open on the official playtest website, though an exact start date for the session remains under wraps for now.

State of Decay of course already ran a round of user testing back in April. For this upcoming session, the studio plans to roll out various improvements built directly on the community feedback gathered last time around, touching on combat, audio, visuals, and character outfits.

To jog your memory, State of Decay 3 was first unveiled as a zombie action game during the 2020 Xbox Games Showcase, instantly grabbing attention by teasing the franchise's very first animal zombies. Things went radio silent for quite a while after that, but the developer finally broke cover with a shiny new trailer in 2024 to prove survival is still very much on the table.

State of Decay 3 is currently slated for release in 2027 across PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC, though whether it will support Korean remains unconfirmed. Best of luck out there in the wasteland, mate!