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Strategy, survival, base management, story, exploration, and tactical combat in a post-zombie world. The original release of this game was unfortunately buggy and hard to play, so commercial reviewers didn't think as highly of it. With the latest patch, 99% of the bugs and most of the gameplay issues are fixed, although the inventory interface isn't the best.

There isn't really a game directly comparable to Dead State in terms of gameplay, which is a real shame, since this game is a very good implementation of some outstanding ideas. You start as the survivor of a plane crash and are defacto elected to lead the base. You'll need to keep your people fed, safe, happy, medicated, and keep your fighters alive during missions. You'll need to upgrade the base over time to make it more efficient and safe and to keep people happy. The constant build-up and progression of the base is a fun highlight of the game. You start with around 5 survivors and can eventually save around 40 if you play your cards right.

Combat is turn based and similar to Wasteland 2. Using guns is powerful, but the sound draws more zombies, so have melee experts. The farther you explore from your base, the harder combat gets until in the end game you'll really have to try, since you'll be fighting geared and trained soldiers (which you will also be).

There are some interesting moral dilemnas in the game. You don't necessarily have to play goody-goody, and if you do you may miss some interesting quests.

Advice: don't hesitate to use your special luxury resources to keep people happy, build up survival/leadership/melee skills early, and beeline to the car upgrades.

There's probably 100 hours of gameplay available if you want to explore and hoard everything, and it's worth it to do so.