Category: The Walking Dead VR

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Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2 Gets New PSVR 2 & PC VR Trailer

Skydance Interactive released a new The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution trailer, offering a fresh look at the PC VR and PSVR 2 editions.

Arriving next month on both platforms, this new trailer follows last year’s Quest release for Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution, which shambled at launch with performance issues. Developers have been issues fixes, though, and this latest trailer is called “Save the City” and aims to highlight the “greater visual and graphic heights” on both platforms. Footage is captured from the PC build in the trailer. You can watch that below: 

A new hotfix is also available for the Quest version, while a larger update on March 21 will bring “more improvements” and a new weapon recipe for The Orphan. You can find the hotfix patch notes below:

  • Missing Open Chem Vials can now be found.

  • Steel Pipe material spawn rate increased.

  • Bugs related to Sable have been corrected.

  • Enemy spawns during certain Sable missions are corrected.

  • Salvaging crash fixed.

  • When players complete the “Scribe’s Boon” task they will now be properly rewarded and the task will be marked in your journal.

We had mixed opinions in our Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2 review on Quest last December. While we praised Retribution’s storytelling and “outstandingly visceral” combat, Retribution’s buggy launch performance with gameplay systems “almost identical” to the first Saints & Sinners left us unable to recommend it at launch.

At launch, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution is reasonably allegorical with its own subject matter. Something that was once alive, visceral and vibrant has been reanimated into a pale imitation of itself, shambling aimlessly and consuming the world it once created… The deeply atmospheric world of post-apocalyptic New Orleans, complete with its rich characters and its brooding, oppressive sense of desperation remain fundamentally intact.

We’ll be looking to revisit Retribution on PSVR 2 and PC for graphics comparison and updated thoughts as soon as we can. The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution arrives on March 21 for PC VR, PSVR, and PSVR 2. Otherwise, it’s available now on the Meta Quest platform.

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‘The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners’ Sequel Coming to Quest 2 & PCVR Later This Year, Trailer Here

It’s been a little over two years since The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (2020) shambled onto VR headsets, serving up 20+ hours of zombie-slaying nightmare fuel. Now the developers are unveiling more of the upcoming standalone sequel, Chapter 2: Retribution.

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution lets you continue your journey through the post-apocalyptic world of New Orleans, one that studio says is “even more dangerous than before.”

Unveiled during the Meta Quest Gaming Showcase, we learned that means we can expect fewer resources, more walkers, and what Skydance Interactive calls “a new and bloodthirsty threat that will hunt you across the city.” That sounds like some added pressure to keep you on your toes.

Playing again as ‘the Tourist’, the game is said to feature an original storyline, more patented freedom of choice, and plenty of visceral combat and opportunities for bone-splitting melee.

Chapter 2: Retribution is coming later this year to Quest 2 and PCVR headsets. The studio says other VR platforms will be announced at a later date.

The post ‘The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners’ Sequel Coming to Quest 2 & PCVR Later This Year, Trailer Here appeared first on Road to VR.

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‘The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners’ Surpasses $60M in Revenue Since Launch

Don’t ever say there isn’t money in VR game development. Skydance Interactive today announced that its hit zombie-slaying adventure The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (2020) has now passed the $60 million revenue mark across all supported platforms.

Update (January 24th, 2022): The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners has now reached $60 million in overall revenue—making for a $10 million bump since Skydance last released revenue figures in October 2021. Although not stated explicitly by the studio, this is likely a direct result of Quest 2’s popularity this holiday season.

Here’s some ‘back of the envelope’ math: assuming most of that $10 million was generated through the app on Quest, which regularly costs between $30 and $40 depending on periodic sales, this would indicate that TWD: SS sold between 250,000 – 333,333 units during the three months since they last released revenue figures. That makes for around 1,250,000 – 1,583,000 in copies sold to date.

The original article follows below:

Original Article (October 26, 2021): The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners initially launched on PC VR headsets in late January 2020, immediately garnering critical acclaim for its gritty physics-based combat and immersive zombie-killing action. Having arrived later that year on PSVR and the Oculus Quest platform, the game then celebrated its first year anniversary in January 2021 by announcing it had passed the $29 million revenue mark.

Since then, developers Skydance Interactive announced now they’ve nearly doubled the game’s first year revenue, which no doubt had something to do with the ongoing success of the Oculus Quest 2 headset, which arrived in October 2020.

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners won Road to VR’s Oculus Quest Game of the Year in 2020 for good reason. Its highly immersive campaign focuses on a truly gruesome level of realism, and provides you with all of the tools necessary to resist hordes of walkers (and human gangs) that populate the murky, post-apocalyptic wards of a shattered New Orleans. It’s a bit like a pared down RPG with some open world elements, and we came to appreciate just how truly made-for-VR the entire thing was.

We gave it a resounding [9/10] in our full review on PC VR back then, however it’s changed a bit since launch in 2020. Saints & Sinners now boasts more than 20 hours of gameplay, which is partly thanks to continuous free content updates that have arrived over the past year. Outside of the truly awesome campaign, the game now includes a wave-based mode called ‘The Trial’ and an expanded bit of campaign in ‘The Aftershocks’ update, which includes a collection of post-game missions.

Here’s of some back of the envelope math, which we should note doesn’t include times when the game was discounted:

The more expensive ‘Tourist Edition’ on PC and PSVR sells for $50. That edition comes with a few digital perks that may not appeal to everyone though, so it’s likely most people purchased the standard $40 edition, which includes the campaign and all of the recent DLC. To date, that may put it somewhere between 1,000,000 – 1,250,000 total units sold across all platforms.

You’d be hard-pressed to find an exact formula for such relatively meteoric success in VR, since these sorts of numbers are still the exception and not the rule, although we’re willing to bet it has something to do with creating an extremely well-crafted game built from the ground-up for VR, hitching it to recognizable IP, and launching it on every headset possible.

The post ‘The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners’ Surpasses $60M in Revenue Since Launch appeared first on Road to VR.

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The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Aftershocks Keys Explained: Where To Use Them

Already sliced and shot your way through The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Aftershocks? Then you’re probably wondering what the hell those keys are good for.

Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

Note: Obviously there are spoilers for The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Aftershocks included in this article. If you want to go in fresh, best avoid!

What Are The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Aftershocks Keys?

As you play through Aftershocks, which is accessed after the main campaign is over, you should find three keys. Each is a different shape – there’s a square, triangle and circle. They are missable in the campaign, but I found them near cache drops and off of dead enemies too. Once you’ve completed all of Aftershocks’ main objectives, you’ll have just one task: find out what the keys are for.

How Do You Start The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Aftershocks Keys Quest?

Want to complete this quest on your own? Then start here; the game gives you no real direction on how to start off so we’ll just give you the main hit to get the ball rolling. Shine your new UV light inside the bus you sleep in back in the hub area. And off you go!

How Use The Keys In The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Aftershocks?

Okay, time for the meaty explanation. Go inside your bus and shine the UV light on the map. You’ll see the Bastion level has been circled by someone. Seems like a clue, no?

The Walking Dead Saints & Sinners Aftershocks Keys How To

Travel to Bastion and switch on your flashlight once again. With the UV on, you’ll see a message about supplies right in front of you. Walk forwards and you’ll eventually see an arrow on the wall to your left. It leads you out onto the street where you’ll want to head right.

The Walking Dead Saints & Sinners Aftershocks Keys How To 7

Keep going down the road, you should see more arrows on the floor as you walk. Eventually, you’ll come to a crossroads.

The Walking Dead Saints & Sinners Aftershocks Keys How To 7

Over on the right side, across the road is a house with a crashed car in the corner. You’ll have visited it earlier in Aftershocks’ campaign, but this is where the three keys need to be used. Again, the UV lights will point you in the right direction but just in case:

The triangle key goes in a cupboard in the kitchen area.

The Walking Dead Saints & Sinners Aftershocks Keys How To 7

The circle key is behind the toilet in the bathroom.

The Walking Dead Saints & Sinners Aftershocks Keys How To 7

The square key goes between the bed and desk in the bedroom.

The Walking Dead Saints & Sinners Aftershocks Keys How To 7

Use all three and you’ll hear a noise. Travel back into the hallway and look for some washing machines. One appears to have shifted. Your prize is just beyond there.

The Walking Dead Saints & Sinners Aftershocks Keys How To 7

What Do The Keys In The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Aftershocks Unlock?

Okay, now you want the real spoilers? Well, the keys unlock what appears to be a safe room. Unlike the other missions in Aftershocks, the room isn’t loaded with valuable resources to take back to camp (though there is some food). Instead, the room seems to be dropping hints about a new character, one that stayed in the safe room, sports an armored Tower costume and has been doing some pretty meticulous planning. There’s also mention of the historic French Quarter not seen in the game’s existing levels and one letter found on their desk simply reads: “Murderer Tourist”. Sounds like someone doesn’t think very highly of you.

Could Skydance be teasing more DLC for Saints & Sinners? Or is it perhaps giving us the first hints about a full on sequel to the smash hit VR game? Only time will tell.

So there’s how to use the keys in The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Aftershocks. Did we miss anything? Do you have any extra tips? Let us know in the comments below!

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The Walking Dead Aftershocks Hints At Possible DLC/Sequel

As great as The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners’ Aftershocks update, it left us eager to hear what’s next for Skydance Interactive’s hit VR game.

As it turns out, the update drops a few hints itself.

Note: There are spoilers for The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Aftershocks in this article.

Once you’ve completed all of Aftershocks’ main campaign, you’ll be left with just one objective – to find a use for three mysterious keys you collected along the way. Actually figuring out what to do with them is tough (but we have a handy guide to help right here).

You end up using them inside one house in the game’s Bastion map. Doing so unlocks a hidden safe room underground. Inside appears to be hints for what’s next for Saints & Sinners.

The safe house has been used by a mysterious new character. We don’t get to meet them, but there is a large mannequin in the room sporting what looks like armor pried off one of the members of The Tower faction. Crazed, cult-like writing is sprawled over some walls talking of wrath and everyone being guilty. In one area is a sprawling map of New Orleans and the encounters this character seems to have had. They also keep a list of others that have either ‘Betrayed’ or ‘Lied’ to them.

Oh, and flip the list over and there’s a category on it for ‘Murderer’. And, yup, The Tourist is written on it. Eek.

A postcard, meanwhile, displays the message: ‘Greetings From The French Quarter’, referencing one of New Orleans’ most historic areas. On the back it reads: ‘See you soon!’

It certainly seems like Skydance is dropping hints for what’s next, then. Could the studio be hinting at a new DLC expansion that introduces this character and the French Quarter area? Or could we perhaps see a full sequel that uses the district as its setting?

Either way, we’ll be keeping our eyes peeled for more.

 

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The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Aftershocks Update Delayed

Skydance Interactive delayed the release of the upcoming Aftershocks update for The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, after revealing technical issues got in the way of the original May 20 release date.

Skydance first revealed the updated last month – it was slated to release on all platforms simultaneously as post-campaign content that would “offer players hours of new content to explore in the form of new missions, collectibles to find and new survival tools to use.”

Skydance announced the delay in a Twitter thread, which which we’ve compiled into one full statement for convenience:

Hello Tourists,

We’ve been spending a lot of time in the past weeks getting our game ready for the announced Aftershocks update. However, technical issues have arisen which we didn’t anticipate.

Launching on multiple platforms and upgrading to a new engine version is tricky to say the least.

The bottom line is that we don’t want to ship without knowing that you can access the Aftershocks update on whatever supported VR hardware you’re using and have an experience up to our standards.

As such, we’ve made the hard decision to delay this update initially planned for May 20.

This delay may push the launch by several weeks. We know having a definitive answer is important, so we’ll reach back out on our social channels once we have a final date we’re confident we can hit.

Thank you for your support and patience.

-The Skydance Interactive Team

As you can see in the statement, there’s no revised date given for the update except that the delay could push the release out for “several weeks.”

Keep an eye peeled for more details, but it’s fair to say that the Aftershocks update might not be coming for a while yet.

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is available for Oculus Quest, PC VR and PSVR. You can read our review here.

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The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Quest Launch Tripled PC VR Sales, Chat Shows

Sales for The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners tripled when the game launched alongside the Oculus Quest 2 compared to its release month on PC VR.

That statistic can be grasped from a chart developer Skydance Interactive revealed at a digital GDC talk last week. Skydance Interactive’s Guy Costantini and Chris Busse revealed a graphic that didn’t feature any specific numbers, but did give a general outlook of how the game performed over the past year. Saints & Sinners first launched on PC in January 2020. But the sales for that month were more than tripled in October, when the game came to Facebook’s standalone headsets.

The Walking Dead Saints & Sinners Gameplay

In fact, it looks like the first four months of the game’s launch just about match what it sold in October. Saints & Sinners hit PSVR in May, though still didn’t sell as much as standalone launch. Granted figures from the October window onwards account for all three versions of the game, not just one or two. Still, subsequent sales in November 2020, December 2020 and January 2021, meanwhile, all surpassed October 2020. In general, there’s a dramatic uptick to say the least.

Statistics like this support the growing narrative that developers are seeing more success on the Oculus Quest platform than they have in the past. A few weeks ago Facebook shared that over 60 apps have generated more than $1 million in revenue on Quest, for example, and games like Superhot VR have seen massively increased performance on the platform.

The success is well-deserved; Saints & Sinners sits high atop our list of all-time best VR games.

We’re anticipating seeing more from Saints & Sinners later this week – Skydance is confirmed to be taking part in the Oculus Gaming Showcase on April 21 and has hinted its news will be Walking Dead-related.

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Skydance: ‘More In The Works’ For The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, Players ‘Don’t Have Long To Wait’

After a year of success and huge sales, Skydance Interactive is still not done with The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. Studio head Chris Busse told us in an interview this week that there is still “more in the works” for the zombie apocalypse action game and players “won’t have to wait long” to find out more.

We spoke to Busse earlier this week about The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, the recently released Trial update for Oculus Quest, and what it’s been like working on such a well-known licensed property in VR. Naturally, the conversation drifted towards future plans more than once.

Now that The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners has platform parity, meaning all of the updates have been deployed to all three versions of the game (PC VR, PSVR, and Quest) it should theoretically be easier and faster to iterate and create more new content.

At least, that’s what I was assuming — so I asked Busse about it.

“Absolutely,” says Busse. “We certainly have more in the works, but we’re not prepared to announce anything yet. We’re working on more stuff, we’re not done with Saints & Sinners, for sure…here’s what I can tell you: stay tuned. You don’t have long to wait.”

From the sounds of it, this is likely either more replayable DLC content similar to The Trial’s new wave-based survival mode, or is actual story DLC. I think most fans of Saints & Sinners would prefer to pay a small fee for the latter option if they could pick.

The big, obvious desire would of course be co-op of some kind, but that sounds unlikely based on the response I got to the topic.

“Is [multiplayer] for sure not going to happen in Saints & Sinners? No,” says Busse. “But I wouldn’t want people excited and expectant, because it’s not immediately about to happen…we want to capture that, but technologically it’s not trivial so it’s a balancing act.”

I got the sense from the conversation that there will likely be a follow-up to Saints & Sinners of some kind that may include multiplayer support. If you recall, Archangel was a linear single-player mech combat game, but then Archangel: Hellfire focused entirely on PvP multiplayer. Maybe they’ll do something similar here or just save it for a full-fledged sequel. I’d love for something like State of Decay in VR with co-op base building and supply runs.

Let us know what you’d want from future updates and/or DLC down in the comments below and read or watch our full The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners review for more info.

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The Walking Dead Trial Mode Now Available On Oculus Quest

After a delay and much waiting, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners has finally received the Trial update on Oculus Quest, adding a wave-based horde mode.

The Trial update arrived for PC VR midway through last year, but wasn’t available in the Quest version of the game for its October launch. Last month, Skydance Interacitve announced that the mode had been delayed, with no exact release date except that it had been “pushed back a bit.”

Now, The Trial is finally available on Oculus Quest as a free update for existing owners of the game. The main chunk of content in Saints & Sinners is the campaign, which is quite structured and narrative-focused. The Trial adds an element of replayability to the game, introducing a horde mode where walkers come at you in waves and you’re scored differently depending on how stylish your kills are and how many different combat options you employ.

When the update released for PC VR, we talked to the developers at Skydance to get their tips on how to do well in the Trial mode and get the best score possible.

Just two weeks ago, Skydance also announced that Saints & Sinners made an incredible $29 million revenue in its first year, one of the highest reported revenue sums we’ve seen for a VR game.

You can read our review of The Walking Dead Saints & Sinners here. We reviewed the PC VR version, but the content remains mostly the same besides some expected graphic downgrades. Be sure to also check out our graphics comparison between the game on Quest 1 and Quest 2 as well.

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Skydance Hiring For ‘Next Generation Of Games’ As TWD Turns 1

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners turned 1 this week, and in a celebration video members of developer Skydance Interactive teased they can’t wait to share “what’s next”.

The two-minute video, recently posted on Twitter, has individual members of the development team thanking fans for the game’s first year, in which it generated more than $29 million in revenue. Amongst the messages, a handful of staff including Marketing Coodinator Alex Eden note that they “can’t wait to show you what’s next”.

That’s about the only tease you’ll get out of the video but it is worth noting that Skydance is currently hiring for a number of roles in its VR team. Included among the listings is one for a Narrative Director “to conceptualize and drive the narrative vision of a complex virtual universe” and a Senior Software Engineer “to help develop our next generation of groundbreaking games.”

Certainly, it seems like Skydance is ramping up work on at least one new VR title, then. Saints & Sinners was one of our favorite VR titles of 2020, so we’re definitely looking forward to what else the team has in store. For now, though it’s still working on the Quest version of Saints & Sinners’ Trial update, which is due out on February 4th.

But just what could the studio be working on? Can we expect a full sequel to Saints & Sinners? Or does the Narrative Director listing hint at something more original? What do you think Skydance Interactive is working on next? Let us know in the comments below!