The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners, a virtual reality first-person shooter being developed by Skydance Interactive, now has a 30 minute video showing off the title's opening gameplay. The game, releasing on January 23rd, will follow a brand new storyline set in the Walking Dead universe.
Saints and Sinners's gameplay revolves around aspects core to The Walking Dead, featuring exploration of its ruined world, in which the player will scavenge weapons, ammo, and miscellaneous items, all while avoiding or fighting living and undead enemies. Combat will take place either at a close range with bludgeons and blades, or at a distance using the likes of bows and firearms.
The game seems to play similarly to other successful VR titles. For example, its gameplay might look familiar to fans of fellow first-person VR zombie shooter Arizona Sunshine. Saints and Sinners also features the ability to grab hold of zombies with one hand, while pummeling them with the other, in a way that's reminiscent of the VR gladiatorial deathmatch games Blade and Sorcery and Gorn. Other mechanics showcased in Saints and Sinners's gameplay video include an in-game items menu, interacting with survivors, and the possibility of being grabbed by, and needing to shake off, zombies.
A Walking Dead VR game makes sense for the franchise. Not only is the virtual reality market dominated by zombie shooters, but The Walking Dead has already shown itself willing to dabble in the medium, releasing various VR videos set in its universe.
It should be noted though, that the Walking Dead franchise has a mixed reputation with video game adaptations. Telltale's The Walking Dead, for example, was widely acclaimed for its emotional story and cast of beloved characters. Conversely, however, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct was panned for its AI and Overkill's The Walking Dead received poor enough reception to have its console ports canceled and its Steam page taken down.
Whether The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners takes after the franchise's best virtual outings or worst remains to be seen, but fans will find out sooner rather than later.
The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners launches on January 23 for PC-powered VR headsets like HTC Vive and Oculus Rift, with a port coming to PlayStation VR and Oculus Quest later this year.