State of Decay 2 developer adds touching tribute to player's father who passed away
"They made him immortal."
Undead Labs added a touching tribute into State of Decay 2, immortalising a player's father who passed away three years ago.
In a reddit post over the weekend, community member EmbarrassedBudget859 said they contacted the developer after their father passed away a few years ago, asking if Undead Lads would include him in the game. "And they did what they could, which means just adding his name to random survivors," EmbarrassedBudget859 wrote.
The State of Decay 2 team did more than just include EmbarrassedBudget859's father's name, however. The developer actually created a fleshed out character called Bruce Allen Buncombe in his honour, complete with traits and all. And, over the weekend, EmbarrassedBudget859 finally found him.
According to the character's State of Decay 2 traits, Bruce Allen Buncombe ran a medical office, led a quiet life, and is "old and tired". These traits are in line with EmbarrassedBudget859's father, the poster said.
"This will always be my forever community... These devs need more recognition," EmbarrassedBudget859 wrote, with an accompanying photo of Bruce Allen Buncombe in the game. "Sorry the photo is trash but I'm still in shock," they said.
My dad passed away 3 years ago. Found him in the game.
byu/EmbarrassedBudget859 inStateOfDecay
Needless to say, the State of Decay 2 community has offered their support and kind words with EmbarrassedBudget859. "I just want to say I really appreciate you guys. It's thanks to people like you and Undead Labs that my dad's immortal," EmbarrassedBudget859 said in a follow up comment.
"We may get older and forget this game (highly doubt it) but no matter what he'll always be a part of it. So thank you. And thank you Undead Labs for being literally the best understaffed team who makes the best games.... Idk what else to say but I love you all."
They also added they accidentally took Bruce Allen Buncombe into a rather perilous multiplayer situation, but their dad stood his ground and "was the only one who didn't die".
"You know my dad's out there kicking ass," EmbarrassedBudget859 wrote.
This touching State of Decay 2 tribute appears to be the work of Undead Labs game designer Geoffrey Card. Resharing the reddit post on social media platform X, the State of Decay team said it was glad EmbarrassedBudget859 found their father, tagging Card in the process.
"I'm not crying, you're crying," the account wrote
If you are looking for a similarly heartwarming story this morning, back in January it transpired the Baldur's Gate 3 team had included a tribute to a player's father living with Alzheimer's.