The long-awaited The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Quest Trial update arrives early next month.
The update, which was recently delayed just ahead of its intended launch date, will now arrive on February 4th. The Trial adds a new horde-style survival mode to Saints & Sinners, getting players to take on waves of zombies and kill them in stylish ways to rack up points.
The news comes as developer Skydance also revealed that the game has made some $29 million in revenue in its first year on sale. In fact, Quest sold 10 times more copies than that Oculus Rift version of the game, despite the PC VR edition launching last January and the Quest version not coming until the following October.
So far The Trial is the only free update we’ve seen to Saints & Sinners, and it’s not clear if Skydance will continue to provide more content for the existing game, or if it might move onto new projects. Either way, we’ll be keeping a close eye on what comes next from the studio.
“Despite its minor issues like relatively boring environments, repetitive mission structure, and human AI that leaves a bit to be desired, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is easily the best zombie game in VR to date,” we said in our 4/5 review of the game. “The shooting mechanics feel heavy and impactful and melee is extremely violent in just the right ways.”
Will you be checking out The Walking Dead’s Trial update on Quest? Let us know in the comments below!
Skydance Interactive’s The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners made over $29 million in revenue in its first year on-sale.
The game, which first hit PC VR on January 23, 2020, also released on PSVR and Oculus Quest over the course of the last year. Skydance says this figure accounts for sales across all platforms. Notably, though, the team pointed out that the game sold 10 times more on Quest than it did on Rift and Rift S. The Quest version launched just four months ago.
This is easily one of the largest revenue sums we’ve seen for a VR title, albeit over a long stretch of time. It’s difficult to find lifetime revenue stats for other games – we know that Superhot VR had sold over two million units as of May 2020 and made more than $2 million in revenue over the Christmas 2019 period, but haven’t seen updated figures since Quest 2 launch in October 2020. Many developers reported dramatically increased sales over that period.
The Walking Dead can no doubt attribute much of its success to the quality of its content, delivering a full, multi-hour single-player campaign with deep survival mechanics and an impressive physics system. We gave it 4/5 in our review, saying: “Despite its minor issues like relatively boring environments, repetitive mission structure, and human AI that leaves a bit to be desired, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is easily the best zombie game in VR to date.”
Not only that, but the game saw first-class ports to PSVR and Quest despite these systems being less powerful than many gaming PCs. Plus the game launched alongside Quest 2 itself.
Going forward, Skydance is set to deliver the game’s first free content update, The Trial, on Oculus Quest next month after the PC and PSVR launches last year. Given today’s numbers, though, it seems likely we’ll be hearing more from Skydance in the future.
Today Skydance Interactive announced in their community Discord server that the highly anticipated, free, horde-style wave-based mode, The Trial, is delayed for the Quest version of The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners.
The wave-based combat mode is already available for PSVR and PC versions of The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, but unfortunately is getting hit with a last-minute delay on Quest just two days before it was scheduled to release. In the community Discord server the developer released the following statement:
“Hello Tourists! We know you all are excited for The Trial’s launch on the Oculus Quest, but we wanted to share an update that the release date will be pushed back a bit. We are just as eager for you all to jump into this new mode, and will have more information for you guys soon – stay tuned!”
There is no exact new date set yet, but it probably won’t be very long since last-minute delays aren’t common for this studio. The “Meatgrinder Update” is most notably known for its inclusion of The Trial game mode which pits players against waves of zombies in relatively small arena-style levels. As you kill zombies in creative ways you rack up points that can be spent crafting new gear and supplies to try and last as long as possible.
It’s a really fun game mode that adds some neat replayability to a game that is otherwise quite campaign-focused with its structure. One of The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners biggest draws is the excellent physics-based combat, so this game mode is the perfect way to drop in for some quick thrills without the stress of gearing up for a supply run into your base game save file and all that it would entail in terms of risk.
The Walking Dead Onslaught (2020) launched onto PSVR and PC headsets late last month to less than glowing reviews. Developers Survios aren’t giving up on the single player zombie shooter though, as the studio has released a new patch that aims to rebalance zombies, weapons, and the game’s combat system.
There’s a long list of changes (seen below) that are now live on all versions of the game. Survios says the patch was created to
“help players achieve our goal of walker-slaying fun.”
Since its September 29th launch, user reviews haven’t been super consistent across the board. At the time of this writing, The Walking Dead Onslaught is sitting [3/5] stars on the Oculus Store, a more positive [4/5] stars on the PlayStation Store, and undoubtedly the worst over on Steam at ‘Mostly Negative’ user reviews.
In our own review we gave it a [4/10] for being too grindy, and not presenting enough of a challenge when it comes to zombie-killing action. In short, the shambolic goons felt more like generic bullet sponges than identifiably different classes of zombies, and the one-way run and gun levels, although beautiful, felt like distractions to the game’s overall story, narrated by Daryl Dixon (reprised by Norman Reedus).
With the rebalance, Survios seems to be trying to reframe zombie encounters to be more deadly, and therefore more important obstacles to the main task of running and scrounging. Anyway, check out the full update list below, provided by Survios via Steam.
The Walking Dead Onslaught Combat Rebalance Patch
1) Significant Ranged Weapon Combat Overhaul
All ranged weapons have been tuned to allow for one-hit kills to the brain at close range; less damage is dealt to the jaw and significantly less damage is dealt to the neck and below.
Ranged weapons now have custom fall-off damage over distance, which can be improved via weapon upgrades (“Refined Powder”). This excludes the Lever Action Rifle, Revolver, and Crossbow.
Simulated weight on heavier / longer ranged weapons has been adjusted for better usability; this weight can be neutralized by stabilizing (two-handing) a weapon.
Ammo Pickups now grant less ammunition per weapon, increasing ammo scarcity.
All ranged weapons have had their maximum ammunition and upgraded ammunition capacities re-balanced to the new weapon damage values.
Ranged weapons brought into a Scavenger run as part of the player loadout now start with a single magazine’s worth of ammunition rather than the maximum for the weapon.
The ammo bonuses granted by The Forge have been increased from +40% at max level to +125% (+25% per upgrade).
Increased blunt melee damage on all ranged weapons (pistol whipping).
The “Copper Tips” upgrades for the Heavy Pistol, Lever Action Rifle, and Crossbow are now more effective; penetration values have been increased.
The Basic Pistol is now less accurate at range to compensate for its new one-hit kill capability.
2) Significant Melee Weapon Combat Overhaul
All melee weapons have had their damage values tweaked; less damage is dealt to the jaw and significantly less damage is dealt to the neck and below.
Sharp melee weapons (blades and axes) now stick inside of a Walker’s skull on kill and will resist easy removal; higher quality sharp melee weapons such as the Katana and Battle Axe have the least resistance of removal.
Dead Walkers no longer automatically detach from sharp melee weapons when impaled.
While impaling a Walker with a sharp melee weapon, player movement is restricted for as long as the weapon remains stuck in the Walker.
Additional simulated weight has been added to heavier / longer melee weapons; this weight can be neutralized by stabilizing (two-handing) a weapon.
Reduced blunt melee damage for sharp melee weapons when striking with the hilt or other non-sharp surfaces; the Crowbar, Battle Axe, and Shovel have retained higher damage for these blunt attacks.
The Knuckle Knife has been completely re-tuned to better emphasize blunt damage (two-hit punch to the head, one-hit when upgraded); the knife end is no longer an instant kill head strike but also does not stick in skulls on kill.
The “Impact” upgrades for the Hammer, Bat, and Battle Axe are now more effective; explosive damage values have been increased.
3) Walker Aggression and Difficulty Increased
Walker perception and aggression has been increased.
Walkers now deal significantly more damage when biting.
On Survivor and Veteran difficulty, Walkers now also deal initial grapple damage before biting starts.
Increased number of Walkers in Campaign Chapter 1.
Armored Walkers and Spiked Walkers are now more difficult to kill.
Spiked Walkers are now noticeably more deadly than other walkers.
4) Progression Has Been Eased
There is more Food in the early game to allow for smoother level progression.
Changed the first time user Scavenger site mission from Main Street Supply Run to Military Checkpoint Supply Evac.
Reduced the speed of the Scavenger Herd Wall when playing on Novice or Survivor difficulty.
5) Additional Changes
Added an option for Left-hand Dominant players who use Smooth Locomotion to swap the Movement and Turning inputs with each other.
Reversing grip on a bladed weapon will no longer cause a choked Walker to detach.
Choked or impaled Walker corpses have increased simulated weight, but no longer automatically fall to the floor.
Increased velocity when throwing Walker corpses..
Choked Walkers can now be brought closer to the player’s face.
The Walking Dead Onslaught (2020) launched onto PSVR and PC headsets late last month to less than glowing reviews. Developers Survios aren’t giving up on the single player zombie shooter though, as the studio has released a new patch that aims to rebalance zombies, weapons, and the game’s combat system.
There’s a long list of changes (seen below) that are now live on all versions of the game. Survios says the patch was created to
“help players achieve our goal of walker-slaying fun.”
Since its September 29th launch, user reviews haven’t been super consistent across the board. At the time of this writing, The Walking Dead Onslaught is sitting [3/5] stars on the Oculus Store, a more positive [4/5] stars on the PlayStation Store, and undoubtedly the worst over on Steam at ‘Mostly Negative’ user reviews.
In our own review we gave it a [4/10] for being too grindy, and not presenting enough of a challenge when it comes to zombie-killing action. In short, the shambolic goons felt more like generic bullet sponges than identifiably different classes of zombies, and the one-way run and gun levels, although beautiful, felt like distractions to the game’s overall story, narrated by Daryl Dixon (reprised by Norman Reedus).
With the rebalance, Survios seems to be trying to reframe zombie encounters to be more deadly, and therefore more important obstacles to the main task of running and scrounging. Anyway, check out the full update list below, provided by Survios via Steam.
The Walking Dead Onslaught Combat Rebalance Patch
1) Significant Ranged Weapon Combat Overhaul
All ranged weapons have been tuned to allow for one-hit kills to the brain at close range; less damage is dealt to the jaw and significantly less damage is dealt to the neck and below.
Ranged weapons now have custom fall-off damage over distance, which can be improved via weapon upgrades (“Refined Powder”). This excludes the Lever Action Rifle, Revolver, and Crossbow.
Simulated weight on heavier / longer ranged weapons has been adjusted for better usability; this weight can be neutralized by stabilizing (two-handing) a weapon.
Ammo Pickups now grant less ammunition per weapon, increasing ammo scarcity.
All ranged weapons have had their maximum ammunition and upgraded ammunition capacities re-balanced to the new weapon damage values.
Ranged weapons brought into a Scavenger run as part of the player loadout now start with a single magazine’s worth of ammunition rather than the maximum for the weapon.
The ammo bonuses granted by The Forge have been increased from +40% at max level to +125% (+25% per upgrade).
Increased blunt melee damage on all ranged weapons (pistol whipping).
The “Copper Tips” upgrades for the Heavy Pistol, Lever Action Rifle, and Crossbow are now more effective; penetration values have been increased.
The Basic Pistol is now less accurate at range to compensate for its new one-hit kill capability.
2) Significant Melee Weapon Combat Overhaul
All melee weapons have had their damage values tweaked; less damage is dealt to the jaw and significantly less damage is dealt to the neck and below.
Sharp melee weapons (blades and axes) now stick inside of a Walker’s skull on kill and will resist easy removal; higher quality sharp melee weapons such as the Katana and Battle Axe have the least resistance of removal.
Dead Walkers no longer automatically detach from sharp melee weapons when impaled.
While impaling a Walker with a sharp melee weapon, player movement is restricted for as long as the weapon remains stuck in the Walker.
Additional simulated weight has been added to heavier / longer melee weapons; this weight can be neutralized by stabilizing (two-handing) a weapon.
Reduced blunt melee damage for sharp melee weapons when striking with the hilt or other non-sharp surfaces; the Crowbar, Battle Axe, and Shovel have retained higher damage for these blunt attacks.
The Knuckle Knife has been completely re-tuned to better emphasize blunt damage (two-hit punch to the head, one-hit when upgraded); the knife end is no longer an instant kill head strike but also does not stick in skulls on kill.
The “Impact” upgrades for the Hammer, Bat, and Battle Axe are now more effective; explosive damage values have been increased.
3) Walker Aggression and Difficulty Increased
Walker perception and aggression has been increased.
Walkers now deal significantly more damage when biting.
On Survivor and Veteran difficulty, Walkers now also deal initial grapple damage before biting starts.
Increased number of Walkers in Campaign Chapter 1.
Armored Walkers and Spiked Walkers are now more difficult to kill.
Spiked Walkers are now noticeably more deadly than other walkers.
4) Progression Has Been Eased
There is more Food in the early game to allow for smoother level progression.
Changed the first time user Scavenger site mission from Main Street Supply Run to Military Checkpoint Supply Evac.
Reduced the speed of the Scavenger Herd Wall when playing on Novice or Survivor difficulty.
5) Additional Changes
Added an option for Left-hand Dominant players who use Smooth Locomotion to swap the Movement and Turning inputs with each other.
Reversing grip on a bladed weapon will no longer cause a choked Walker to detach.
Choked or impaled Walker corpses have increased simulated weight, but no longer automatically fall to the floor.
Increased velocity when throwing Walker corpses..
Choked Walkers can now be brought closer to the player’s face.
The Walking Dead Onslaught is this year’s second Walking Dead franchise game for VR, following the release of the The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (2020)in January. Unlike its scrappy RPG-style older sibling, Onslaught does away with dark and gloomy trepidation of entering a room halfcocked, instead replacing it with a constant pressure to run, gun, and scrounge your way through levels to an oftentimes ineffectual conclusion.
The Walking Dead Onslaught Details:
Available On: Oculus PC, SteamVR, PlayStation Store (PSVR) Release Date: September 29th, 2020 Developer: Survios Reviewed On: Oculus Quest (via Link), Oculus Rift
Gameplay
I quit watching AMC’s The Walking Dead probably after the third season, which, for me, was when the show stopped being about surviving zombies and sort of became a zombie it is own right. It shambled along in a way that just made me question: where the hell is this all going?
Whatever your level of fandom though, if you’re going to play The Walking Dead Onslaught, you only really need to know a few things to succeed: Methodically search through every building for supplies. Have a balanced loadout with at least one edged weapon. Make sure to point the shooty part of the gun at the zombie’s head. And run.
Image captured by Road to VR
You don’t need to know where to go, or what to do, and you won’t need to solve any puzzles along the way. Just aim down the iron sights, shoot, reload, and run from the constantly marching red fog of zombies behind you until the credits roll. The red fog works just like in a battle royale, which gives you all the motivation you’ll need to make your way to the finish line.
There’s no stamina, thirst, or hunger bars to worry about here (not a bad thing), making it all about moving quickly through the one-way snake-like pathway through each level—but not so fast that you’ll breeze past the inexplicably massive amounts of food, wood, metal scraps, adhesives, etc—all of which either helps you upgrade weapons or unlocks the next bit of story.
The game is divided into two discrete sections: Daryl, reprised by Norman Reedus, has a story to tell about trying to save a little girl. As Daryl, you play through a half-dozen levels to meet the conclusion of his story arc. It probably took around 3 hours to play through Daryl’s bit alone, but you aren’t set loose right away to run through each chapter as you please.
Image captured by Road to VR
For some reason you need to attract survivors to your encampment which is done by scrounging for food across a map that sequentially unlocks different zones after you meet a survivor number requirement. This basically ties you to grinding through scrounging missions to unlock Daryl’s story which then kicks you back out to more scrounging missions, rinse and repeat.
Image captured by Road to VR
It all felt a bit like the game was tacking on a pretty useless bit in the name of extending gameplay length. You’re forced to go through these missions, which have no other purpose than to find stuff, to then make self-serving upgrades to weapons, health, and supply retrieval ability.
Daryl’s story was interesting, and acted somewhat of a retreat from the grind, but I found myself mechanically repeating the same scrounging levels over and over just to get enough supplies to unlock the next chapter. These missions quickly started to feel like a dull chore than an honest way of engaging with the game.
The red fog of the horde, Image captured by Road to VR
That’s not to say there aren’t some really fun bits in shooting a massive crowd of walkers (all of them slow until they get within striking distance) and seeing the hardest zombies go down. The constant pressure of an enclosing zombie horde fog also keeps you on your toes during scrounging missions, never giving you enough time to search the byways for everything. Stabbing, slicing, shooting, and pushing the physics-based baddies around is all really satisfying.
I also liked that you can attack each level of the game, both story and scrounging missions, in easy, medium or hard difficulty modes, although the amount of stuff you find decreases the easier you take it. Onslaught does those things well, but I feel like it would be better served with a larger, more engaging storyline and significantly less supply grinding.
Image captured by Road to VR
As for the game’s antagonists, there’s not a ton of functional variation to the slow walking zombies in Onslaught. Later in the game, you’ll meet armored zombies in riot gear or covered in spikes that add additional pressure to the level’s slolam, however its overwhelmingly populated with civilian walkers that can die with a single knife plunge to the brain. Have enough ammo, aim for the head, and eventually all of the bullet sponges will lurch their last step.
In all, both Daryl’s story and the scrounging missions took me a little over seven hours to complete. After the credits roll, you can always head back in to upgrade every weapon, melee and gun alike, but I just didn’t see a need since I’d be playing through all of the same missions again with the only real variation being where key items are located.
Immersion
Onslaught misses the mark by being a little too simplistic and overly grindy, but it also misses the mark somewhat in the Immersion section too by being too damn predictable.
Level design is nearly always built around a one-way slog through a ruined town, which all starts to feel the same after about the first hour. It’s a shame, because the visual variety of the levels feels actually really quite good. Although you aren’t going to stop and smell the daisies ever, it’s clear there was some serious love in making the each level feel uniquely ruined by the zombie apocalypse.
Image captured by Road to VR
Unfortunately there’s no object interaction to speak of, as your dominant hand is tied to your weapon until you switch it out for another. Force grab is used in place of actually picking things up. Those aren’t bad things in and of themselves, but the abstraction away from actually holding something with your hands does limit user immersion somewhat.
Both character design and voice acting are however pretty exceptional considering Norman Reedus was the only original actor in the game. There is somewhat of an uncanny valley effect when characters speak, which only happens when you’re back at base, but it’s not very often that you even see another human being in the bulk of the game, so it’s mostly a non-issue. Although zombies are functionally the same, with the only variation being armor level, the designs are extremely well crafted.
Image captured by Road to VR
Onslaught’s clever use of positional audio is a highlight too, as you have to keep your ear out for the foggy horde inching ever closer behind you, free range zombies lurking around the level, and valuable caches of supplies, which sound like a soft radio fizzle when you get near them.
The game’s UI also smartly stays out of the way, which is a nice touch, letting you more fluidly engage with the hordes of zombies. You can also turn the UI completely off in the settings, although you may not even notice it most of the time since it hides in the upper and lower registers of the screen.
Comfort
The game’s developers, Survios, are old pros when it comes to VR comfort design. You can choose a number of locomotion options including teleport, snap turn, smooth turning, head or hand- relative forward motion, and even the arm-swinging style they’ve used in Creed: Rise to Glory (2018) and Sprint Vector (2017).
All of this, combined with a well-studied use of particle effects to help you stay grounded as you move forward, give you a wide swath of options according to your individual comfort level.
You can play both seated and standing, which is done through an automatic calibration process. An in-game recalibration button is also there if for some reason you want to switch between standing and sitting.
The Walking Dead: Onslaught from Survios is the second VR game to release this year based on the iconic zombie apocalypse universe and the only one to feature the same cast of characters as the AMC TV show. What it gains in familiar faces though, it loses everywhere else. Read on for our complete The Walking Dead: Onslaught review to see what we thought of this post apocalyptic action game.
The Walking Dead: Onslaught is not a very good game, but it could have been. The original demo I first tried nearly a year and a half ago back at E3 2019 had promise with its gory combat and focus on replayable co-op missions. There was a clear arcade-style focus there that seemed to fill a niche and had enough setting it apart from The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners by Skydance Interactive, but most of that initial charm is all gone now.
After Saints & Sinners was announced and released, something seems to have happened with Onslaught. For starters, we knew multiplayer was getting axed in favor of prioritizing the story. Norman Reedus took on a bigger part in the project, reprising his role as Daryl Dixon. Carol and Eugene are the same actors as the show as well, but Rick and Michonne are not — it’s immediately apparent. Those two performances are pretty hit or miss depending on the moment, which is a shame considering Rick is a major character in the game from start to finish.
As it stands, Onslaught is quite literally two separate games mashed together. You switch back and forth between them over the course of six or so hours. On the one hand you’ve got the story-driven campaign that ushers you along a collection of linear levels featuring narration by Daryl and Rick as you play through a series of flashbacks that eventually culminate in a larger event. Then there’s all the Scavenge missions. This is the real meat of the game and where Survios hopes you’ll want to spend most of your time replaying missions, getting more loot, and investing the time to upgrade your camp.
But the Scavenge missions have a huge, massive, glaring flaw: exploration is heavily discouraged. So much so that you’ll literally just die if you take too long. During missions a foggy red cloud slowly encroaches on you, closing in the level from the back like something ripped out of Fortnite or PUBG. The red haze is supposed to represent “The Horde” but there are no zombies anywhere in the red cloud. It’s just…foggy. And red.
If you stand it too long then you slowly lose health until you died. The game never explains this so you just sort of find out on your own. There is zero narrative justification for why “The Horde” is a red cloud and I can’t think of a single explanation gleaned from the show. It comes off as lazy and uninspired. I’d have preferred a countdown timer until “The Horde” arrives, at which point the screen fades and you die or something. Anything other than misty red haze that saps your health for no reason.
The functional results of this red cloud is that every Scavenge mission is limited, forcing you to memorize maps and try to loot as quickly as possible. This could have caused some interesting tension, but instead it’s just frustration. The discrepancy occurs because there is a complete and utter lack of fear. This isn’t a stealth game or a survival game, at all, and it’s hardly even a horror game unless you just get really creeped out by dumb, slow-moving zombies.
The Walking Dead: OnslaughtComfort Settings
The Walking Dead: Onslaught has about what you’d expect in the way of comfort options for a VR title in 2020, especially from Survios. In addition to snap and smooth turning, there are both teleport and smooth movement. You can also use their brand of arm swinger movement, similar to how it works in Creed: Rise to Glory. There are some FOV limiting features as well and that’s about it. Everything else is just good old fashioned swinging your arms and pointing guns. I found it most appropriate to play standing, but seated does work.
The Walking Dead universe is one where death can come for you at anytime as the relentless walkers will stop at nothing to gnaw on your face. But in Onslaught, they’re nothing more than a time sink due to how unbalanced combat is.
Everyone knows melee is usually preferable in a zombie game because it’s quick, clean, and usually the stealthier option. But in Onslaught, that mantra is taken to another level. Since there is no stamina system and no weapon durability system you have basically no reason to use anything other than the knife, machete, etc. With a tiny bit of force I can kill any walker with a quick poke to the face, yank out the knife, and keep on stabbing.
Meanwhile the pistol takes three headshots to down a single enemy. It makes no sense. Shotguns and assault rifles feel fine, but I have no incentive to use them. If anything, they’re more of a nuisance since you need to eject magazines and reload clips from your belt. Knives are just indestructible.
As you gather scraps and loot you can create upgrade mods for weapons, but once again you just don’t really need to. It feels like a half-baked feature that was added in at the last minute before being fully realized.
Visually, it’s not bad other than the bland yellow/brown tones on everything. Most textures and areas look pretty good, especially from a distance, but there is a lot of clutter to prevent you from going where you’re not supposed to go. Levels are very linear across the board, save for a few destroyed buildings you can poke around in briefly.
And you can’t interact with anything at all. All of the various objects on tables and items on shelves you see lying around? They’re bolted down and can’t be moved.
With all the leaps forward we’ve made in VR game design, especially when it comes to interactivity and physics in games like Saints & Sinners, Boneworks, and Half-Life: Alyx, Onslaught feels like a major step back.
The most unique and compelling thing Onslaught has going for it is Alexandria. The small village starts out looking like a run-down farm but over the course of the game as you gather gear and supplies from Scavenge runs you’ll start to rebuilt the settlement with new buildings and more survivors walking about. It’s satisfying to see your hard work paying off with actual tangible rewards that make the world feel more alive.
But the problem is, without a compelling gameplay loop to motivate you, there is little reason to keep building the town. Ideally, I’d want a feature like this tacked onto the end of Saints & Sinners, with co-op support, and a bit more customization about how you configure your camp and what each building does. Then it’d honestly be like the dream zombie game. But as it stands in Onslaught, the Alexandria settlement is another feature that falls short of really selling itself fully.
The Walking Dead: Onslaught Review Final Impressions
I’m struggling to think of a scenario in which I’d recommend The Walking Dead: Onslaught. Functionally, it works, and there are some bright spots here since you get to step foot inside the world of the show and interact with iconic characters — but the compliments mostly stop there. Campaign missions are extremely linear and uninspired, Scavenge runs utilize a ludicrous red fog to represent “The Horde” while you collect random scrap parts, and combat fails to ever give you much of a reason to graduate beyond the basic combat knife. I hate to say it, but The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is just a much better example of how to create an immersive VR world, much better use of the source material, and much better game in general.
Thanks for reading our The Walking Dead: Onslaught review! Onslaught is out today for PC VR and PSVR for $29.99. This review was primarily conducted on an Oculus Quest using Link and Oculus Rift S.
This is the big one – our The Walking Dead Saints & Sinners Quest 2 graphics comparison.
For months, we’ve waited with bated breath to see how Skydance Interactive’s excellent zombie-slasher runs on the Oculus Quest. Now we have an early look on not just the original headset but also the new Oculus Quest 2. What’s the result?
Pretty darn good, actually.
Before we continue, we need to note that the below video is based on an early demo Facebook provided us with for testing Quest 2. It isn’t meant to be indicative of the final game – launching alongside Quest 2 on October 13th – but does highlight some early differences between the two versions we think you’ll find interesting. Exactly how different the final version of the game will be remains to be seen.
Another Polished Port
Unlike most comparisons we do here at Upload, stacking up Saints & Sinners’ Quest version next to the existing console and PC VR editions isn’t just about the graphics. They’re a big part of the proceedings, sure, but Saints & Sinners’ fantastic, physics-driven combat, with which zombies can be stabbed, shot and decapitated, seemed like it could be too much for the standalone VR platform.
Based on the demo, which takes you through the first full mission in the game, that’s not the case. In that first level, you help a grieving mother put her pain to rest by killing her husband, who has turned.
You’ll definitely notice the differences between this version and the PSVR and PC VR editions in particular right from the off – and we’ll likely have another video going deeper into those differences when the final version arrives – but on first glance, Skydance has done a pretty remarkable job staying as close to the original as possible. Zombies are still gruesomely detailed, though they’ll no longer sport lasting cuts and lacerations when you hack away at their heads, and environments are littered with crafting resources to pick up. It’sa all helpfully
As for enemy counts, you can see about six enemies in one encounter towards the end of the demo, but we wouldn’t be able to speak to this element compared to the other versions until we’ve played something like the Meatgrinder mode, which throws zombies at you by the wave.
Quest 1 Vs Quest 2
But let’s get to the bit you’re really here for: how Quest 2 stacks up next to Quest 1. Again, bearing in mind this is an early build, we have noticed a few key differences. At two points in the mission, we discovered buildings that were covered in vines in the Quest 2 build, but had no such foilage in the Quest 1 version. Plus, there’s also an area on the streets with a stack of wooden palettes in the Quest 2 version that can be seen in the Quest 1 edition.
That last point is the more significant of the two, because it represents a change in the geometry players can actually navigate on Quest 2. This might well be different by the time the final edition rolls around of course, but it will be an interesting situation if the process of actually playing the game is any different, however slight.
Overall though, these two versions are pretty close together, which is incredibly impressive from the Quest 1’s perspective. The demo seems to match Quest 2 in terms of enemy count and the visual effects that are there are pretty much on par with the Quest 2 version. Just as before, though, we’ll be keen to see any differences in the final version.
As we said, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners will be a Quest 2 launch title, arriving next month. We’ll have more impressions of the game around launch. Are you going to be picking the game up? Let us know in the comments below!
At Facebook’s Connect keynote last month, Skydance Interactive announced that The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (2020) is making its way to Oculus Quest in October. Surprise, surprise. That’s today.
Update (October 13th, 2020): The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is now available on Quest and Quest 2, priced at $40 on the Oculus Store. We haven’t popped in yet, although if it’s anything like the PC version (save the obvious graphical downgrade), it’s going to be a fun, zombie-slaying good time. The original article follows below.
The game is said to arrive on the Quest platform October 13th, or right on time for the launch of Oculus Quest 2.
First released on SteamVR headsets in January, and then on PSVR earlier this summer, the zombie horror-survival game has celebrated its fair share of success over the past year, garnering a ‘Very Positive’ user rating on Steam, a near five star rating on PSVR, and [4.3/5] on the Oculus Store for Rift.
If you haven’t read our spoiler-free review, find out why we gave this horror-survival game a [9/10].
If you’re not looking for a deeper dive though, here’s the short of it: Saints & Sinners delivers a truly unsetting feeling with its engrossing story, physics-based zombie killing, and gritty, immersive atmosphere. There isn’t much in the way of grand narrative choices like in larger open-world RPGs, as the game keeps users hopping around discrete levels scrounging for crafting supplies and completing missions, but you’d be easily fooled into thinking otherwise with this super engaging title that hasn’t bitten off more than it can chew.
Just like with the PC VR and PSVR versions, the Quest port is being developed by Skydance Interactive in partnership with Skybound.
Want new The Walking Dead: Onslaught gameplay and screenshots? We’ve got you covered.
Developer Survios just published a new deep dive into its upcoming VR zombie killer, revealing new details about its story and features. You can see it below. As you may already know, Onslaught is set in the world of the TV show – not the comics like The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – and takes place between Season 8 and 9. At this time, Rick Grimes and his band of survivors are establishing a new home named Alexandria.
New The Walking Dead: Onslaught Gameplay
As part of the game, then, you’ll be tasked with building this new safe zone. Rick and Darryl Dixon (played by Norman Reedus himself) will be at odds with how to establish Alexandria, which forms much of the game’s story. Often playing as Darryl, you’ll be sent on scavenging missions to help you build the town, watching it grow into a place you and your friends can call home.
You’ll be able to choose how Alexandria grows, too. Will you focus on upgrading your Armory, or other areas? If you do go with your arsenal, you’ll be able to craft better upgrades for guns and produce new melee power-ups like a slo-mo option.
Today’s news also comes with some new screenshots you can see above, including another look at fan-favorite character, Michonne. Onslaught is due out on PSVR and PC VR headsets on September 29.
What did you think of the new The Walking Dead: Onslaught gameplay? Will you be picking the game up later this month? Let us know in the comments below!
