The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners 2 is bloody good
I played The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners 2 - Chapter 2: Retribution at Gamescom 2022. It's bloody good.
I'm not really a horror fan. However, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners doesn't have too bad of a scare factor - if I disregard the explicit brutality against zombie gore. It's actually less of a zombie game and more of a game about humans in a zombie apocalypse.
At least this is true for the first part, which has already convinced us, as the review shows: Graphics and game mechanics are high-quality, the user interface is intuitive and well-thought-out, and the plot and action are exciting.
At Gamescom 2022, we now tried out the upcoming second part of the post-apocalyptic VR hit, "Retribution". Can the second part kick it up a notch? You bet.
Content
With full force
I start the demo fully equipped with a backpack, weapons, bandages, and food. The first zombies stagger towards me and I try to print the return ticket to hell on their moldy skin with a nail club. But I forget a basic rule in TWD: Saints & Sinners: intensity and emphasis are an essential part of the zombie apocalypse.
So I take another swing, this time like a professional baseball player: With a shallow cut and enough pressure, the club fizzes from the semi-right side towards the rotting moaning head. The watching developers applaud my elegant swing and the subsequent violent impact on the zombie's skull.
The socially acceptable late demise of the unholy biomass is not only conveyed in its usual forceful manner (the nail club gets stuck and I have to painstakingly pull it out again) - it's also strangely satisfying again.
There are some proven tools to choose from
If you really want to let off steam, Retribution is for you: the zombies are more and stronger, even real bullet sponges. As soon as I find the SMG, it rains lead: The bullets bite into the tattered undead - and they swallow and swallow and swallow. "Aim for the head," a developer calls out to me - he sounds a little desperate. And I wonder how I could forget the basics of zombie shooters.
Perhaps it's the excellent sense of presence and the strong feeling of being in a post-apocalyptic reality where I can grab zombies that get too close by the head and push them back.
This buys me time to make a decision: do I ram the screwdriver into the fiend's dysfunctional gray matter? Do I reach for his skull once more with my left hand to lift the opening of my .44 in front of his soulless visage and shoot the last two-centimeter hole in it? Or may it perhaps be a death blow with the katana, so that the steel death separates the head and torso forever?
Oddly satisfying for the second
The demo at Gamescom 2022 is all about intensity and action, and this calculus works, at least for me. The explicit brutality against rotten meat is a core component of the program.
The amazing thing is the vicious joy that comes with it: the truly elegant execution, the tangible effect - even if I'm only holding a couple of lightweight VR controllers - and the quantifiable result create a playful undertow that sends adrenaline coursing through my veins, enriched with primal endorphins.
The tower faction is also back and chasing you. | Image: Skydance Interactive
The detailed chainsaw massacre among the unfriendly flesh-eaters justifies itself in context: catching them and taking them to the horror zoo is no solution. For delicate natures, this VR game is not necessarily the best choice, but if you believe my wife, I am the emotional part of our relationship - and I already licked virtual blood after five minutes of The Walking Dead. Sounds martial, is a bit gross at times, but feels surprisingly right.
Give it a try, it's worth it, also because of the once again first-class implemented controls. Only the ducking at the touch of a button detracts a bit from the almost perfect impression.
New story, new people, new enemies
The story picks up where the first part left off. It makes sense to catch up with it beforehand, if necessary. In the second chapter, new characters await you, such as a priest dedicated to brandy.
He leads you to the first "boss" of the series, an axe-wielding madman bent on retribution. Of course, the Tower, a rather autocratic human faction, is also back and will give you a hard time sightseeing in the zombie apocalypse, in addition to the living dead.
In TWD: Saints & Sinners - Ch. 2: Retribution you'll meet new characters and be able to buy survival items from merchants. | Image: Skydance Interactive
In The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners - Chapter 2: Retribution, there are other weapons besides the chainsaw, such as the sawed-off shotgun. Firearms can also be equipped with a laser pointer. There are also new crafting recipes and you can play in night mode for the first time: Torches and a flashlight round out the creepy atmosphere.
Zombie-infested tourist attraction in New Orleans to open late 2022
The sequel to the popular VR survival game will be released in late 2022, a date has not been set yet. There will also be a version for Meta Quest 2. We played the PC VR version on a Quest 2 via Air Link at Gamescom: The demo ran buttery smooth, fluid, and with sharp graphics.
Let's go, tourist. New Orleans is waiting for you for the second time.
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