New "Challenges" game mode idea

[Sir Costigal]

State of decay 2 has a very addictive and engaging game loop and while there is a lot of content eventually, like all games, it becomes repetitive. I appreciate game modes like heartland for the story aspect, although the best for me is homecoming, a great mix of campaign mode and story. I was thinking that it would be cool , and would extend the game even more, to have some sort of "Challenges" mode, were you would choose a scenario with predetermined starting conditions and continue from there, spiced up with maybe new or modified missions and legacy goals. Imagine a scenario like this one :

Backstory : In the desolate Meagher Valley, the once thriving community of Quorum finds itself on the brink of destruction. Under the leadership of Marcus, a stalwart and resilient man, they had weathered countless horde attacks and scarce resource shortages. But a recent onslaught had left their defenses shattered, their facilities in ruins, and their people injured or infected. With supplies dwindling, Marcus made the difficult decision to lead a team on a risky and desperate supply run into plague territory. As days passed with no word from Marcus or his squad, worry gnawed at Quorum. Their radio communications had gone silent. Finally, a frantic message reached their ears: Marcus and his team had stumbled upon a cluster of Plague Hearts - and in their efforts to secure the valuable resources they unintentionally awakened them all. With a horde closing in and no escape, Marcus' last words were a heart-wrenching goodbye. The morale of the community plummeted further as they listened to the screams and desperate pleas for help over their radios from the allied enclaves, announcing the coming of a big horde. Their once bustling settlement now stood on the brink of collapse. Supplies were scarce, hope was gone, and fear gripped their hearts. But just when all seemed lost, a new leader emerged: Thomas, Marcus' son, stepped up to face the challenges at hand with courage and determination. With the biggest horde they had ever seen closing in, Quorum teetered on the edge of survival - could they hold out long enough? Could Thomas lead his people to safety and rebuild their once-thriving community, or would they succumb to the horrors that lurked beyond their walls?

Situation : You start in one of the biggest bases in the game, with 2 or 3 outpost and some of the facilities damaged. Supplies are low, 1 day of food, not enough materials to repair or build, rest low as well. You also start with 8 survivors, 2 infected and checked in the infirmary, another 2-3 with injuries and partial infection, and the 4 recent deaths in the community(Marcus + his team) - morale penalty. Equipment situation is not good either, some survivors have guns, others don't. A big horde is closing in and will attack soon, other allied enclaves(2-4) are being attacked when the game starts(you can try and help them).

Goals : 1st goal is to survive the attack, then rebuild the community, become allies with 4-6 communities and secure the territory. Another main goal could be to keep Thomas alive(huge penalty if he dies), there could be an alternate possible ending with another survivor as leader.

Side goals: find Marcus and team final resting place -> this could trigger a new mission to recover some goodies(guns, facility mods, etc.) + morale boost. Defend starting allied enclaves.

Thomas could be a hybrid type of leader, for instance sheriff and trader, let's call it 'Governor' and have slightly altered missions from both legacies mission pools. The core of the game will be the same as in campaign mode but there could be some custom or modified negative curveballs (like a permanent nasty one above the plague hart cluster). it would be nice if it had custom voices(for Thomas at least), intro and ending but it's not necessary. There could be 3 challenges one for each of the original SoD2 maps, as Trumbull has already been featured 3 times and Providence ridge has the extended tutorial. What do you think? Would you play this game mode?

[Sir Costigal]

nobody?

[Scorp721]

I'd be all for it. I made a post on the SoD2 reddit a while back about pretty much the same thing. I was comparing it to Sim City's scenarios mode, where you take over an already established town after some kind of disaster, and have to rebuild. Would be the same in SoD2. You take over an already established community, and have to get them back on their feet.

[Sir Costigal]

Yeah, it's seems like a rather obvious thing right? pretty much all the elements are already in the game. I just love starting with a new community , but having some variation with the challenges would be dope. At the same time i understand that nothing like that will be added to SoD2 as the third one is underway and implementing this, even the simple version, would take time and resources. I still think that it would be awesome, who knows maybe we'll have something like that in SoD3 or Undead Labs will provide modding tools and we can create these "scenarios" ourselves.