The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners
Developer(s)	Skydance Interactive
Publisher(s)	Skydance Interactive
Engine	Unreal Engine 4
Platform(s)	Oculus Rift Microsoft Windows PlayStation VR Oculus Quest
Release	Oculus Rift, PC January 23, 2020 PlayStation VR May 5, 2020 Oculus Quest October 13, 2020
Genre(s)	First-person shooter, survival horror
Mode(s)	Single-player

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is a virtual reality first-person shooter survival horror game for Windows, PlayStation 4, Oculus Quest, and Oculus Quest 2, developed by Skydance Interactive. It is based on the Skybound Entertainment comic book series The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman. Initially released on Steam and Oculus platform on January 23, 2020, it was also released on PlayStation VR in May 2020. It was then released on Oculus Quest in October 2020 under the "tourist edition" surname.^[1]

Gameplay[]

The player can kill "walkers" by "braining" them, stabbing them through the skull, puncturing the brain. The player is able to scale buildings to ambush enemies and attack from a distance with throwing weapons, bows, and long-range firearms. Physics-based combat control how melee weapons are controlled.^[2] There is a timer on the game called "The Bells," where after a certain time, the Tower rings the bells to "Stir the Herd" Once the bells are rung, a horde is spawned in and chases after the player.

There is a linear crafting system at the home base, where the player must scavenge different items and salvage them to make new items or weapons. Crafting recipes are unlocked by either upgrading crafting stations or finding them in safes or random drops. There is a random event in each location that an Exile will appear, who will either ask the player for supplies in exchange for materials, or hold the player at gunpoint demanding for supplies. There are four types of zombies, or "Walkers”. The first is a regular zombie that is spawned in naturally. The second is spawned from when a regular human is killed without "braining" them. The zombie that is spawned in replicates the human that is killed, replicating cut off limbs, helmets, armor, and looks. The third is a special "infected" walker which, when stabbed using melee weapons, will bring down the player's max health. The fourth walker is an "elite walker". These walkers are usually seen wearing helmets and body armor, and are more difficult to kill due to their helmets blocking “braining” attempts. Weapons can have different weights that effect how the weapon is held. Occasionally, there will be territories claimed by either the Tower, or the Reclaimed.

An alternate game mode is available on all existing platforms is called "The Trial." In the game mode the player must kill zombies to earn "bitecoin" which can be spent unlocking more supplies. "The Trial" can be played on three maps, with two difficulties. Hanging zombies can appear within the maps, and can be shot or stabbed for a bonus boost, whereas if the player shoots a hanging zombie, they get a food which when eaten, gives the player infinite ammo and weapon durability, while if the player uses a melee weapon to kill the hanging zombie, they will get a food that, like the previous boost, gives them infinite weapon durability with infinite stamina.

A new gamemode called "Aftershocks" released on September 23, 2021 as a free update. It takes place after the main story of the game. It is designed to add new end-game content to the experience including new missions, story elements, and threats.^[3] The player will be sent to supply caches to bring back to the base, with Skydance noting the update is "a small bite of what we have planned for Saints and Sinners, and is in fact only the first taste of new content planned to come for the game. Explore Afterocks to it's fullest and you may get some more insight into what comes next for both the Tourist and all of post-apocalyptic New Orleans."

Plot[]

The game is set in New Orleans after the zombie outbreak. The player is taking the role of the so called Tourist, who is either male or female depending on the player's choice. At a campfire, an old man called Henri tells the player the legend of The Reserve, an old military bunker filled with supplies and weapons. Henri also explains that there are two factions attempting to take control of New Orleans, the Reclaimed and the Tower.

While in a boat, the player gets swarmed by zombies hiding in the water and crashes onto a cemetery. After navigating through the cemetery, the player finds Henri strung upside down and close to death, the player can either talk to him and find out what happened and then mercy kill him or let him die. After Henri is dead, the player finds a broken down bus made into a survival shelter where Henri was doing his research. In the bus the player finds some food, old military codes, and a broken radio, which Henri was trying to repair. The player already has an Automotive battery and an Antenna (radio), but is still in need of a microphone. The player must then head out to the first location on the map to salvage the sought after item. After installing it, the player then makes contact with Casey, who is trapped in the reserve due to a flooding of the bunker. The player then agrees to help Casey get out of the Reserve in return of the valuable items inside it. Whilst talking to Casey, the conversation gets interrupted by a lantern lighting up on the graveyard. After further investigation by the player, a coffin is found where a mysterious person has been gathering intel from the Tower. After finding the intel and putting it in the coffin, the unknown person then asks the player to meet them in front of the church courtyard. The unknown person is revealed to be May Benoit, who is a wanted traitor of the tower. She asks the player to gather tower intel for her in order to help her and her group of protégés. After getting all of the intel, May gives the player the Reserve key. (May can also be killed to skip her entire story line and get the key immediately). Casey also wants the player to find and install pumping systems to pump out the water in the Reserve. After finding the first two, the player travels to one of the locations (The Bastion) and meets JB, the leader of The Reclaimed, who gives the player the water pump after talking as well as the code to control the water pumps, telling the player to flood all of the reserve, as it would be better for everyone. After leaving the building that JB is in, the player is stopped by Georgia, the commander of The Tower and niece of Mama, the leader of The Tower, who tells the player to kill JB and they'll forgive the player for all that happened. The player can either tell JB that The Tower is right outside the door and fight alongside him or kill JB in favor of the tower. The player then returns to the graveyard and installs the last pump which then lights up the entire Reserve, showing everyone where it is.

The player then scrambles to hurry to the church to get to the Reserve, where a huge battle breaks out. If the player chose to kill JB, the Tower people will not attack the player, if not though, the Tower will attack the player but they will be ignored by The Reclaimed. During the battle, the player sneaks into the church and finds the control room where he is informed by Casey that something has gone wrong and that the player had to flood a room to save him. The player can either flood the communication room where Casey is trapped in, killing him instantly, flood the armory where the weapons and supplies are stored, or flood everything. If the player floods the Armory, Casey will come out in the church. If May is still alive by that point of the game, she is tugging on a rope of the church bell to send the horde after the factions that are fighting. The player can either choose to kill May, or let May pull the bells and kill everyone. After deciding, the player heads down into the Reserve, gathers whatever supplies are left from either the communication room or the armory, and leaves on a boat.

Reception[]

The game has received generally favorable reviews from critics according to review aggregator Metacritic.^[11] IGN, giving the game a 9 out of 10, described the game as a fantastic example of what VR can be,^[12] while Destructoid wrote that the game is one of the leading VR experiences to date and gave the game a 7.5 out of 10.^[13]

It was nominated for Best VR/AR at The Game Awards 2020.^[14]

References[]

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