The Walking Dead Saints and sinners is now available on PC VR systems and PSVR and later Oculus Quest. The game was developed by Skydance Entertainment and published by Skydance Interactive.
The Walking Dead Saints and Sinners throws you into New Orleans where two big factions, The Tower and The Reclaimed are fighting for control over the city and wanting access to the Reserve, a bunker full of supplies that would give one of them full control over everything. In The Walking Dead, you are the tourist, a guy that is also after the Reserve for his reasons. This is a game where player-choice is often given and each choice from small to large ones has an impact on how this fictional New Orleans pans out. For a VR title seeing this much choice in the game and some of them are quite hard to make without clear morals which is fantastic.
The Walking Dead Saints and Sinners is by far the best VR title I’ve ever played, the combat is perfect, every impact on the zombie from a melee weapon is realistic and immersive, the gunplay feels satisfying once you learn the mechanics of reloading and jamming, you can interact with the World around you picking up most items to scrap for crafting, explore open areas that change as each day goes by and so much more. If I were to keep writing each feature we’d be here a while. A lot of VR games I’ve played in the past are fun and I love the system but I feel that The Walking Dead has finally shown us what the PSVR is capable of with it’s immersive and exciting gameplay. The title keeps throwing punch after punch, one of the most terrifying features is the church bells. Every day after a certain amount of time The Tower will ring the bells to attract hordes, this is when you have to escape by any means and it is not easy. Looking at your watch seeing the black mark slowly approach the bell causes such anxiety because you know after your first time what’s coming. My first time was waiting to steal something from The Tower. I had waited until the NPC’s had gone away and the horde came, I had 2 bullets in my revolver, no melee weapons apart from the odd glass bottle dotted around and I had to figure a way to get off a roof and get to my boat. I took my journal out, figured a way around the map to get to my boat, quickly searched the house while the odd zombie slipped in through the door and found a gas tank. I threw the gas tank off the roof into a crowd so I could make a quick get-away and it worked. I’d managed to escape somehow and boy does it leave you with a racing heart afterwards.
The Walking Dead Saints and Sinners is a game that I can’t recommend enough, this is the closest you’ll ever get to living in the apocalypse and the price-tag of £28.99 is generous, this game is easily worth £49.99 in my experience. You get a decent 15-hour campaign, side missions, exploration, an ever-changing World, the trophies for trophy hunters are reasonable, and the choices and way you take on missions makes it worth a replay. Though there are issues here and there, I found the stamina system a pain, some of the inventory management can be troublesome at times but never enough to annoy and the AI can be a bit daft in the best of times but it makes it easier when having to pick the humans off one by one. Though make sure you double-tap, like in the TV show and comics if you don’t perform a head-shot, they will be back, I learnt the hard way just before writing this review after raiding the base at The-Ward. The save system is also a pain, I find myself having to go to a new location or sleep just to save and sleeping tends to bring more zombies the next day which sometimes I’m quite unequipped for. It takes getting used to at first, trying to level up the crafting tables, making sure your weapons are fixed up and in good condition, before you head off for another day of zombie killing.
The Walking Dead Saints and Sinners looks very good even on the PSVR which isn’t as powerful as the PCVR systems. There are moments where the distance can look a bit sharp with no AA but overall the areas look great and are a joy to explore, the zombies when taking weapons to the head each have different wound marks, so if you use a screwdriver you’ll see the hole, if you use a knife you’ll see the stab wound, it’s all very gory looking but a great added touch and each weapon looks fantastic and well designed. I enjoyed the art style they went with, it feels a little reminiscent of the old Telltale series but pays off in the long run by introducing that comic book style feel that The Walking Dead has always gone for. The sound design is fantastic and terrifying, the music is brilliant and fitting for the New Orleans theme, hearing a zombie with the 3D audio coming at you from behind will cause fear, trust me, the only negative thing I can think of really is the voice acting can be a little off at times but it didn’t affect the game at all.
Verdict
When The Walking Dead Saints and Sinners was announced I was excited but also disappointed as I thought it might not make it on PSVR, how could a game that looks that good be put onto it. I was glad that I was wrong, as soon as it silently released on PSVR I got very excited as I’d been following it from the start being a zombie game mega-fan and I bought it straightway, no hesitation I had to have this. The highlight for me is the melee combat, never has a game delivered more satisfying melee combat ever, having to try to grab zombie’s heads and sinking a sharp weapon into it is oddly satisfying if not also disturbing. I’ve hit the window several times in doing this but it’s all worth it.
It truly amazes me though at how a game of this scale works so smoothly and has so much to do on the PSVR if this is what the PSVR can do, I want to see more like this, I hope we get DLC for this game as this is one I wouldn’t mind sinking money into. The feelings it creates, the dilemma’s you’ll face, what’s not to love?
9.5/10
nerdybirdgames.com 