The Walking Dead Onslaught arrives this Fall on major VR headsets.
Earlier this morning, Survios (Raw Data, Creed: Rise to Glory) and AMC announced The Walking Onslaught, an upcoming VR game set within the fictional zombie-ridden universe. According to an official release, players will step into the roles of the shows most recognizable survivors as they take part in an original story that will have them using a selection of both melee and ranged weaponry to take down hordes of the undead.
While AMC has tried and failed on numerous occasions to release a AAA VR experience set within The Walking Dead universe, Onslaught sets itself apart from past failed attempts with a heavy focus on detailed, close-quarter combat.
Using what Survios refers to as a “Progressive Dismemberment System,” players are offered a wide variety of options in which to delimb their flesh-hungry adversaries. Zombies limbs are vulnerable at every joint, allowing players to separate arms, legs, and heads with katanas, knives, and a variety of other handmade weaponry.
How effective are these brutal tools against your Walker foes exactly? Well, thanks to the titles proprietary “gore mesh” technology, each blow will leave a painful-looking wound at its exact point-of-impact. Thanks to the use of context-based physics, however, players will need to be careful not to get their weapons stuck inside enemies. Much like using a real ax, a wrong angle or lack of momentum could result in your virtual tool becoming lodged in a Walker.
The good news is you can buy yourself some time by using the games “Melee Restraint System” to physically grab and throw Walkers around the environment and into each other.
Based on the footage provided in the announcement trailer above, it appears as though we’ll be hacking down Walkers throughout a variety of apocalyptic locations. According to the Steam page listing, we can expect a player progression system as well as a full campaign with support for both single-player and multiplayer coop.
Seeing as Onslaught will be available via SteamVR, room-scale compatibility is given. However, AMC’s confirmation of a VR arcade release could point towards the possibility of cooperative free-roam, similar to that of Arizona Sunshine LBE Edition.
Regardless of playspace size, it’s exciting to finally be receiving an official VR experience set within The Walking Dead universe. The franchises track record with gaming has so far been mixed; Overkill’s The Walking Dead received a universal panning by critics, while Telltale’s The Walking Dead became a genre-defining hit. Next Games’ Pokemon Go-style AR scavenger release The Walking Dead: Our World has received mixed responses since its launch summer of last year.
With The Walking Dead Onslaught, it appears as though Survios and AMC are attempting to harness the magic that was the first season of the show; when our main characters were too busy struggling with their new-found zombie threat to spend multiple episodes pondering the duality of human nature.
You’re not negotiating with rival humans, there’s no decision-making system resulting in a branching narrative; you’re just a survivor with a bow staff struggling to keep your head above an increasingly-rising sea of the undead.
The Walking Dead Onslaught will be available this Fall at VR arcades and still-to-be-announced-VR-headsets.
