If you read Jeff Cork's review of State of Decay 2, you know the game shipped with its share of technical problems. Despite this being the issue that needed most addressing in moving from the janky-but-promising first entry in the series to a sequel, Undead Labs still had problems tying it all together in time for the May 22 release date; adding four-player co-op to the mix certainly didn't make this easier. This weekend the studio took the first step toward remedying the issue(s) with a giant, 20GB patch.
According to Undead Labs, the main issues this patch addresses are increased stability, improved networking interactions for clients, improved network vehicle interactions, and elimination of "out of memory" crashes. As you would expect with a patch of this size, it also addresses a bunch of smaller issues as well that the studio outlined in the patch notes.
Have you seen improved performance since the patch dropped? Share your impressions in the comments section.
Our Take
Given how starved the Xbox One is for strong first-party games, I'm sure Microsoft hoped for a stronger launch for this title its trying to franchise. But as titles like Rainbow Six Siege have proven in recent years, games with fundamentally interesting ideas can overcome rough technical launches and eventually find their audience. We'll see over time if State of Decay 2 can accomplish the same feat.
Source: Game Informer State Of Decay 2 Receives Much Needed Stability Patch