5 Games Like Decision: Red Daze for Action, Settlements, and Scavenging

State of Decay 2 is the clearest match if you want Decision’s roaming fights and settlement stakes. Pick a community member with useful skills and supplies, then control that survivor across an open map. Firearms, melee, stealth, and vehicles handle threats, while each run carries food, medicine, and ammunition back to the group. Who you send out shapes who is left to defend home and which needs get met. A survivor who dies is lost permanently, so an unlucky expedition can cost more than its cargo.

Facilities such as an infirmary, workshop, kitchen, and food production give scavenging a purpose, though you do not command Decision-style squads or claim new settlement sites to expand your footprint. Co-op lets friends join outings; an open map and recurring community needs add more logistics than an isometric action campaign. It best combines combat, supply runs, and a persistent survivor group.

The verdict

Choose State of Decay 2 for direct third-person action tied to a community and upgradeable facilities. A run puts a real survivor at risk, even though facility bases and single-character field control differ from Decision’s specialist squads.

Desktop controls pair top-down movement with cursor aim, firing, ammunition, and reloads; touch uses a movement joystick and a fire control that targets the nearest living enemy. Sector battles, endless scavenging, and separate Scrap expeditions give outings different objectives; expeditions let you search the city and choose when to extract. Scrap collected on an expedition remains after extraction or defeat, subject to storage limits, so the risk is lighter than in full-loot-loss extraction games.

At home, workers, production stations, weapon crafting, research, water, and crops give Scrap several uses, while room upgrades persist after defeat. The route from shooting to shelter investment is direct. The trade is scale: the shelter uses set rooms and stations rather than captured settlements, and the demo has Mara as its only playable survivor. The overlap with Decision is the outing-to-refuge loop, not squad leadership or freeform expansion.

The verdict

Explore Zombie Defence if you want to handle a weapon, recover Scrap, then turn it into a more capable shelter. Its focused production loop is a strong systems match, while its roster and settlement scale are smaller.

If you want settlement investment to feel personal, Survivalist: Invisible Strain is the deeper colony simulation. Characters have names and memories; recruit them through friendship, respect, or fear, then assign jobs such as farming, cooking, or crafting. The community needs food, beds, warmth, morale, and defenses. Agriculture and production can eventually support a self-sufficient base, including ammunition.

Combat stays active: take direct third-person control, target body parts, dodge or block in melee, or switch to an overhead view and issue orders. Story and randomized sandbox modes, plus up to four-player co-op, round out the colony. The cost of that depth is frequent management: relationships, morale, infected infiltrators, survival needs, and jobs all compete with scavenging for attention.

The verdict

Pick Survivalist: Invisible Strain if the people and routines in your settlement matter as much as the next fight. It simulates a colony more deeply than Decision’s production sites, but its systems require more planning.

Dead State trades Decision’s real-time action for turn-based tactical combat, while keeping a field team tied to a permanent refuge. Send survivors out for supplies, then assign residents at the school shelter to maintenance, construction, repairs, specialist work, or another scavenging party. The rooftop garden produces food; facilities such as an infirmary and recreation room address health and morale.

Action points pay for movement, attacks, reloading, and other choices, so placement and party skills matter more than cursor aim. Individual moods contribute to shelter morale; people may leave or rebel if leadership fails, and a broken fence or the player character’s death can end a campaign. It suits players who want shelter consequences, but not anyone expecting Decision’s continuous shooter combat.

The verdict

Choose Dead State if survivor needs, supply planning, and tactical positioning appeal more than hands-on shooting. Shelter jobs and morale matter, but the combat rhythm is turn-based rather than continuous.

The Last Stand: Aftermath suits players who want action first. Search ruined locations for fuel and materials, choose when to sneak or fight through infected, and craft weapons or supplies from what you find. Mutations can make an infected survivor stronger, but the disease continues to threaten them.

A fixed camp anchors the between-run upgrade layer, and unlocks carry into later survivors. It offers a lasting home base, but not an expanding settlement where you capture sites, assign workers, and build production or defenses. Each survivor eventually dies; the next inherits perks and upgrades earned from earlier progress. That is a strong roguelite loop, though it replaces Decision’s community of specialists with survivor-by-survivor progression.

The verdict

Pick The Last Stand: Aftermath for single-player action runs that return to a fixed camp and carry upgrades forward. Choose another game if capturing and staffing a growing settlement is the main appeal of Decision.