State of Decay 2: Heartland Announced, Available Now

Heartland, a brand new story-based adventure for Undead Labs’ zombie-survival RPG State of Decay 2 was announced during this year’s E3, and if you own the game, you can already play through this new chunk of content for free. This new expansion will give you a chance to re-visit Turnbull Valley, the site of the original State of Decay, explore the massively changed yet still familiar areas, and face plenty of new challenges.

In order to better understand what this new expansion is all about, let’s first check out the official E3 2019 trailer:

And then read a bit about its features:

Back in November during XO18, you might have watched the announcement that players can expect to “return to Trumbull Valley in 2019.” Today, that promise came true, announced live during Microsoft’s E3 briefing[link this] introducing Heartland, the moment we’ve all been waiting for! It’s been exciting and challenging keeping something this big a secret for that mic-drop moment when Phil Spencer says, “…and it’s available now.” Woo! We are thrilled to be part of E3 and most importantly, to launch this very special story campaign.
Welcome to Heartland.
State of Decay 2: Heartland features a return to Trumbull Valley in a new story-based adventure. Once the iconic site of the original State of Decay game, the towns of Spencer’s Mill and Marshall are now overrun with an advanced form of blood plague: a more aggressive and far deadlier version than exists anywhere else. Though it may be familiar territory to those who homesteaded here years ago, Trumbull Valley is packed with new dangers… and unspeakable horrors.
The Past Is Never Dead.
In Heartland, players choose from two sets of starting characters who have traveled to Trumbull Valley for different reasons. Both pairs of survivors are on a mission to find people important to them: characters who appeared in the original State of Decay. Players must also find and recruit crucial hand-crafted characters in order to build a strong community. They can also claim the beloved Jurassic Junction as their homesite and build the biggest base yet, blending nostalgia with new features.
Key Features
New map! Explore Trumbull Valley, the site of the original State of Decay game.
Narrative-driven single-player adventure with branching storylines
Choose your heroes! Heartland features two starting pairs of survivors:
Quincy, an ex-con and member of the Network, and his partner Helena
Larisse, the long-lost daughter of Mickey Wilkerson, and her aunt Fiona
Custom characters including recruitable survivors
Claim your base at Jurassic Junction, the largest homesite in the franchise
All blood plague freaks! Blood plague screamers, ferals, juggernauts, and bloaters featuring deadly new attacks
Over 8 hours of story-focused gameplay culminating in the Gauntlet, a grueling challenge that requires skill and strategy to overcome
Provides answers players have wanted since the launch of the original game
New achievements worth 500 Gamerscore
Heartland is available now for all State of Decay 2 players on Xbox and Windows 10, and included for Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers.