State of Decay 2 vs The Culling
State of Decay 2
State of Decay 2 is the highly-anticipated and long-awaited sequel to one of the top zombie-survival action-shooters out there, State of Decay. Unlike the original game, this installment has a bit more community management in it rather than simply trying to survive as a lone wolf. Each survivor has their own set of traits, skills, and attitudes that you'll need to keep balanced so that your community will thrive rather than succumb to in-fighting and general discontent.In this game, you can assign tasks to each survivor, upgrade your base, help the community solve its issues (through completing personal quests, heeding advice, or resolving disputes), and of course, recruit more survivors to join your band. State of Decay 2 will also feature a co-op mode - It's about time! - where you can try to survive with up to 3 of your friends. Not to mention, like its predecessor, the game is set in a massive open world that you're free to explore.
State of Decay 2 is definitely among the few biggest games that fans of zombie-survival games but I'm sad to say that although the game does improve on the original, the improvements are just too little and too insignificant. The game is still as shallow as before and the game gets boring and stale pretty quickly (just a couple of hours in). The game might still be worth buying on a steep discount.
The Culling
The Culling is, in many ways, a potentially great PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds alternative game. In fact, many would say that this is perhaps the very first standalone, battle royale game that is inspired directly from the Hunger Games. As such, you'll expect a pretty brutal arena set on a remote island where players will not only need to explore the foreign land to scavenge for resources but also to craft a wide variety of weapons, traps and tools just so you can ambush your fellow players. Naturally, being battle royale and all, the last man standing will be the victor.Each match can contain up to 16 contestants (and yes, like Hunger Games, The Culling is apparently a game show) and the game lasts for around 20 minutes. There is also a tutorial, a training mode where you play against AI bots, and a special 8-player Lightning Round where players get access to the best weapons early on in the game. As a game show, the "organizers" will often spice things up with special in-match events that have some pretty crucial rewards too. Like the Hunger Games, players can also each call in an airdrop (a.k.a. "care package") containing valuable items but getting to that airdrop in one piece without having your stuff stolen before you reach there can be quite a challenge in itself.
Now, unlike PUBG's shooter-heavy gameplay, The Culling has a more visceral, action-based, melee-oriented gameplay that will make every successful kill a very satisfying one. Don't get me wrong - the game does have ranged options like bows and guns but having a firearm or any ranged weapons may not be an advantage if you don't know how to keep your distance. Players can easily be disarmed of their ranged weapon if they are ambushed by a melee player, and of course, if you missed your aim, you may not have a second shot.
However, due to a plague of problems between the developers and its community, The Culling seems to be a pretty dead game at the moment and hence, finding a match can be quite difficult. Similar to PUBG, The Culling is not a free game either and this game is on the pricey end considering its almost non-existant player base.