Zombies are big a part of modern popular culture, they’ve been on film, television, and gaming. So it would go without saying – seeing as they’re a fan favorite – that they would find their way into Virtual Reality (VR) gaming.
Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead, in the VR title, The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, puts the player – through immersion – in a zombie tale similar to the ones the franchise usually present. The player even has the opportunity to make moral choices, which have an effect on gameplay.
Arizona Sunshine, developed by Jaywalkers Interactive, and Published by Vertigo Games, sees the player dealing with a lot of loneliness, while fending off waves of zombies. It relies on a single, nameless character – who may be the only surviving human – as opposed to it’s genre-mate, which has players deal with a good number of in-game characters.
We gave a look at both Zombie titles to see which was best. Here’s what we found:
Saints & Sinners
Developed and published by Skydance Interactive, in close association which The Walking Dead franchise creators, Skybound Entertainment, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is a VR-based First-Person-Shooter, Survival Horror title based on Robert Kirkman’s zombie franchise.
The game follows a lone traveller known as the Tourist. As the Trourist, who can be male or female – as the player chooses – one happens upon a post-zombie outbreak New Orleans. There are two factions vying for control of, zombie infested, New Orleans, the Reclaimed, and the Tower.
The game doesn’t get off to a friendly start, and informs the player of the realities of a zombie apocalypse right from the get-go. The first acquaintance one makes in the game – who is good for orientation purposes – soon meets his end, after the player is swarmed by zombies in the water. The player can either mercy-kill character known as Henri or let him die.
This is the first of several moral choices that the game will put in a player’s hands. Killing May Benoit, or not? Flooding an old military facility, or not? which of the factions to side with? The player faces a few choices that affect the overall storyline.
The game, released in 2020, saw a lot of critical praise after release. In addition to being nominated for awards, Saints and Sinners was lauded on if the best things to happen to the VR title. Though much of the praise could be attributed to the franchise it’s attached to.
Arizona Sunshine
This title puts the player on a lonelier path. As – what is seemingly – the sole human survivor of a zombie apocalypse, the nameless protagonist of this title has no allies to rely on, and must rough it alone. Waking in the middle of the Arizona River Valley, the player must hack and slash through zombie hordes until they come across a radio, wich offers one’s first glimmer of hope.
After finding a stronger radio, and determining the source of the signal (a refinery that enjoys military protection.) disappointed to find the place overrun by zombies, he goes into a fit of rage, and kills everything walking. His next stop is Sunshine, an Arizona town, which reveals an interesting twist in the plot.
Dates of Release: Arizona Sunshine was released in December of 2016, while Saints & Sinners saw 3 separate platform releases – January, May, and October – during 2020. Saints and Sinners has the advantage of being a newer game, allowing for updated graphics, and VR gameplay improvements, though Arizona Sunshine is no slacker on updates.
Platforms: Saints & Sinners can be enjoyed on Oculus Rift PC, PlayStation VR, and Meta Quest. Arizona Sunshine – on the other hand – is available on a number of VR platforms, Windows, PlayStation 4, Oculus Rift, Oculus Quest, Windows Mixed Reality, HTC Vive, Valve Index, on account of being an older game.
Which Is Best?
Well that’s a matter of preference. Both titles have something to offer. While The Walking Dead’s storyline offers a lot of characters to interact with, one cannot enjoy multiplayer action while running through this title, Arizona Sunshine, on the other hand, allows for multiplayer, and single player action.
As we said, it depends on your style of gaming, Arizona Sunshine, though allowing multiple players to connect, only has zombies as in-game characters, while Saints & Sinners tries to be a complete story, having one make decisions around what a certain in-game character may have said, or done.