If there was an outbreak of the zombie apocalypse, how well would you do? Would you become one of the survivors or be destined to become one of the infected? For any of the survivors, who could you trust and who do you think you would have to fear? These questions and more have been thought about many times more than you might expect from people worldwide. Hopefully, we will never have to experience such an outbreak. But does the developer, Skydance Interactive, show us how to possibly survive the world of the dead? Let’s find out with The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners for the PlayStation VR2.
In The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, every challenge you face and the decision you make is driven by you. Fight the undead, scavenge through the flooded ruins of New Orleans, and face gut-wrenching choices for you and the other survivors. Live The Walking Dead’s dark drama in your own skin.
So before going out into the streets of New Orleans, there are a few things that you should be aware of. First, the dead are out there looking for their next meal. So make sure you have some space as you will be moving your arms and you don’t want to damage anyone or anything while protecting yourself. Second, you can play either standing or sitting. If you decide to sit, make sure you have your favorite chair or place to sit. Be as comfortable as can be. Third, make sure those Sense controllers are fully charged. You don’t want to become the latest to be dead all become you forgot to charge them. Fourth, I am not going to spoil anything for anyone and only will show earlier parts of the game. And finally, just have some fun. With all that said, let’s continue…
Now, if you have played this game before on either PCVR, Quest 2/Pro, and/or PlayStation VR, then you very well may know how the story goes, but I will say that the PlayStation VR2 version is worth revisiting. If this is your first time entering this Universe on PlayStation VR2, you are in for a well-deserved treat. Playing as the Tourist, you will need to gather supplies, craft weapons, fight off the undead, and go on missions as you try to survive the new world. From the start of the game, hearing the music and narration and seeing how lights are reflecting off the water at night showing the once-alive New Orleans what has happened, really sets the tone and makes its presence well known with the now more mysterious and eerie world.
When it’s time for you to finally have the freedom of moving around in the Cemetery and the way the moon is shining and the wind is blowing, shows how much of a difference just the beginning moments are on the PlayStation VR2. Once you make it to the bus, you do have some access to things to help make things a little easier. You have your backpack that you simply reach over your shoulder to grab it. Here you can store any items you may find which you can then break down the items for parts that you will need to craft weapons and other items. You also have the trusty flask that allows you to sleep away your problems from night to day. Remember, that at night, the dead are more alive.
As you make your way to the different areas, make sure you pull out your journal that is housed on the right side of your chest. Within this journal, you have your tasks, objectives, map, and any notes & drawings that you find. What I really like about the map aspect is if you have that tab open in the journal, you can see where you need to go as you move. Within the streets are other people you will meet. When talking with some, they may ask for your help. This is where you get to decide how you will be in the game and decide if you will be a saint or will you be a sinner. So the choices are yours to make, just be careful as you don’t want to cross the wrong person or groups as it may not be what you have hoped.
As you play, there are things that you need to listen to. Listen to what is being said by the people. Now, who you trust will be a different story and that’s all going to be up to you. Also, listen to the bell toll. As it starts getting darker, that bell toll will sound and alert more of the walker friends. This is when you will need to get back to the bus and sleep your time away. But keep in mind, since there are no manual save options, you can only save by sleeping or traveling.
You will find weapons and even craft weapons from the items that you collect. Weapons can be anything from knives to guns. I will say that using the bow and arrows felt very good on PlayStation VR2 compared to PlayStation VR as it just felt better thanks to the Sense controllers. And using weapons such as an axe or knives felt like freedom, all thanks to the tracking that was spot on. Just make sure through all the fighting that you come across, that you don’t drop an important weapon such as I don’t know, the bow. I dropped it somewhere later on and have no idea where it is. I really enjoyed that bow and being able to recollect the arrows and use them again is a very nice touch. R.I.P. Bow, you will be missed. Oh, you will be very missed.
Let’s talk about the graphics and sound. Playing the game on PlayStation VR2 is a graphical upgrade from PlayStation VR2 and seeing everything felt refreshed. Everything from the buildings to the walkers and people I communicated with to even the wording in my journal to the lighting that helped set this tone looked fantastic. And when I added the HonsVR lenses, it really was just crystal clear. With the sound, you get everything that you love about this universe. The walker noises, hearing the gunshots, hearing the different fractions having their disagreements to even the sounds of the weapons being used, just complimented the whole presentation of the game and sounded pretty good with the Pulse 3D Audio headset.
Usually, this is where I would state some things that I would love to see but with The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners on PlayStation VR2, it has everything that I would love to see already here. If you have the Tourist Edition from PlayStation VR, you can upgrade to the Tourist Edition for PlayStation VR2 for free. In this edition, we have The Trial and Aftershocks that are included. With the trial, you have hordes of walkers to try and deal with. With Aftershocks DLC, which gives you new missions, collectibles, and tools to use. Originally, you had to complete the main campaign to access this DLC, however, the main campaign can be bypassed allowing you to access the post-game content, but be warned, there will be spoilers ahead in doing so. And when you add all of that with the haptics for the added immersion, you have a strong winner here.
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners gives us the tools to try and survive in its world and become the best version of itself. It allows us to play how we want but shows that even in an apocalyptical world, there are consequences for our actions. In life, every day we have choices to make. Some are based on greed while others may be based from the heart, but no matter the choices we make, there is always the potential to impact not only our lives, but those lives around us in a significant way.
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners is out now for PlayStation VR2 in either the Standard or Toursit Edition on the PlayStation Store and is also available for the Oculus Rift/S and Quest 2/Pro on the Oculus Store, Steam VR, and Viveport.
To learn more about Skydance Interactive, please visit their site, like them on Facebook, follow them on Twitter, follow them on Instagram, and subscribe to their YouTube channel.
In case you missed the trailer, please enjoy. Until next time, I have to go back and make some new choices.
