The Walking Dead is a franchise that has had a particularly spotty history in the medium of video games, but that hasn’t stopped AMC from partnering with developer Survios on a new project for PlayStation VR.
The Walking Dead: Onslaught is described as a first-person action game heading to the PS VR in Autumn 2019, promising “the most immersive The Walking Dead experience yet.”
Unlike the majority of Walking Dead video game adaptations, this one will actually feature characters from the show, too. Check out the teaser below.
The Walking Dead: Onslaught Walking will feature a number of familiar characters over the course of the adventure including Rick Grimes, Daryl, Michonne, and Carol, though there’s no word yet on whether the original actors will be reprising their roles for the project.
Survios has said the game will feature an “exclusive original story, visceral real-motion melee and ranged combat, player progression and a full campaign mode”, which sounds nice. Still, there’s no getting around the fact that games based on The Walking Dead tend to be a bit rubbish.
While Telltale’s The Walking Dead adventures started out as stellar interactive stories full of harsh choices and unexpected consequences, the series eventually went off the boil somewhat. The final season saw a return to form, but Telltale unfortunately closed its doors last year, leaving Skybound Games to finish the series on a dour note.
Then there’s last year’s The Walking Dead Overkill, which after much hype ended up being so rubbish on PC that it never made it to the previously promised console release. Finally, there was The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct, which launched in 2013 and was absolute toss.
While I’m certainly not suggesting Onslaught will definitely follow the same path as its brethren, I am saying we should probably start to approach games based on this zombie franchise with caution. At least Survio has experience in developing VR titles and adaptations, thanks to its work VR music rhythm game Electronauts and Creed: Rise to Glory.
If you were wondering, Elecronauts reviewed really well, while Creed: Rise to Glory did… not. Still, that means The Walking Dead: Onslaught could go either way, which is something.
We can probably expect a precise release date for The Walking Dead: Onslaught in the next few months, presumably around E3, which kicks off in June.
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Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.