Hit VR (Virtual Reality) first-person survival game – based on Skybound Entertainment’s The Walking Dead comic series – The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is coming to Oculus Quest in October. The announcement was made by game developer Skydance Interactive, during Facebook Connect on September 16th. The game is set to be made available for the Oculus Quest system, just in time for the release of the Oculus Quest 2.
Set in a zombie-overrun New Orleans, “most brutal and immersive survival game in VR” pits the player against walker & human, in an open-world game of survival, where some choices may affect how the overall story pans out. The Player is free to fly solo, team up, fight their way through the undead-infested streets of the Big Easy, or negotiate with the factions they find themselves crossing paths with.
The Oculus release of the game will also feature the Meat Grinder update, which has players blast their way through horde-after-horde of Walkers (characters from hollywood’s adaptation of The Walking Dead like to refer to the ravenous undead.) This will not be the game’s first release, as it has already been available on Steam for PC, and Oculus Store for the Oculus Rift for a good amount of time (since January 23rd, of this year,) and later made available on PlayStation VR, in May. The Oculus Quest release marks the first time that players will be able to enjoy the game without tethering their headset to a movement limiting piece of hardware.
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, immerses the player into a gripping and, almost real, experience (the only thing missing is the smell of rotting flesh). That’s how engaging it is, the moments where one is blindsided by Walkers and finds themselves having to put up a frantic fight, in order to avoid being eaten alive, makes this game a top contender for the VR Release of The Year title.
In this terrifying game, one will find that the odds are continuously stacked against them, as they have to scrounge around for supplies and parts to put together items that will aid them on their quest. The player also has to deal with hunger and limited stamina, meaning all actions will need to be carefully thought out before execution. Easier said than done, considering the fact that most of the people (dead, and alive) usually want you dead.
The game’s immersion is one of the reasons it received rave reviews, with an audio soundtrack that will keep folks, both engaged and fully alert, out of genuine fear of what may happen next. Changeable Field of View blinders keep forward and turning motion as comfortable, and natural as possible though FOV can get a little uncomfortable during climbing scenes, or when one is grabbed by a Walker, at times but that tends to add to the fear factor.
Conclusion
The Walking Dead: Saint & Sinners is a brilliant game, with the only complaint, anyone could have, being that it is rather short. The player follows a set storyline with minimal deviation, thus limiting possibilities for the final outcome of the game. This isn’t an altogether bad thing, and opens the game up to a bigger sequel release (hopefully). It’s release on Oculus Quest, will likely send The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners’ sales into the stratosphere.
