The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners in the test

With "Arizona Sunshine" and "Resident Evil 7" there have already been two thoroughly successful zombie adrenaline kicks for VR enthusiasts. The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners" has now appeared almost out of nowhere to claim a piece of the pie for itself. And rightly so, as the test shows, because what developer Skydance Interactive delivers here is already one of this year's VR secret tips.

Before you plunge into the musty New Orleans overrun by the undead, the first thing on the agenda is to get to know the controls in the tutorial. The makers stick to the now tried and tested standards of the genre, which means that not only VR experts will find their way around within a few minutes.

For example, if you bring your right hand to your left shoulder, your alter ego will pull out a spacious backpack. The area on the right shoulder, on the other hand, is assigned to heavy weapons such as the axe and the shotgun. Light combat equipment such as pistols or small stabbing weapons are stowed in two holsters on the left and right of your hip. Another convenient feature is a virtual cartridge pouch diagonally to the left at belt level. Simply reach into it and you have new ammunition in your hand.

However, most argumentation boosters can only be reloaded if you remove the empty magazine beforehand. The reloading process that follows varies depending on the weapon and - like so much in The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners - feels very realistic. With the revolver, for example, you put all six bullets into the barrel one by one, closely followed by a casual 90-degree turn of the wrist. With the semi-automatic shotgun, you first push the cartridges into the barrel and then make the weapon ready for action with a typical pumping motion. The bow, on the other hand, must - as you would expect - first be cocked.

But it is not only the realistic weapon handling that supports the omnipresent immersion. The use of numerous items is also very convincingly solved. Muesli bars and other stamina-increasing foodstuffs are first brought to your mouth for a few seconds so that your hero can then greedily consume them in several bites. Also cool: To regenerate life energy, grab a bandage from your backpack and wrap it around your left arm several times. A positive side effect of this and other VR interactions: You feel like you're in the middle of things instead of just being there, which even reduces your susceptibility to motion sickness. In any case, apart from the intro sequence in a rowing boat, we never felt queasy in our stomachs.

To prevent the dreaded discomfort in VR, various comfort functions are also activated. These include snap-turning - i.e. the angular rotation of the game figure - and the tried and tested vignetting. The latter causes the field of vision to become blurred at the edges when moving.

Zombies, Gangs and Secret Bunkers

Once you have completed the tutorial, "The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners" doesn't take long to throw you into a very atmospheric post-apocalyptic world. One that is based on the events of "The Walking Dead" comics, but at the same time tells its own story, created just for the game.

The focus is on the fate of a hero who is only nicknamed "The Tourist". Three years after the beginning of the zombie catastrophe, he arrives in the southern metropolis of New Orleans. But the once shining jewel on the banks of the Mississippi is now only a shadow of its former self. Flooded by gigantic masses of water and surrounded by bloodthirsty walkers, the few survivors are about to lose all hope.

In addition, between death, chaos and slowly running out of supplies, two factions are fighting bitterly for power over the city. On the one side is the currently still dominant group "The Tower", on the other the extremely brutal supporters of the "Reclaimed".

The tense initial situation is given additional spice by a rumour that has been doing the rounds among the population for some time. According to the rumour, there is a hidden bunker from the Cold War era somewhere in the city. Sealed behind thick steel doors, it is said that not only weapons and medicine are stored here in abundance, but also tons of durable food. Your mission: to find this bunker and uncover its secrets, if the legends are really true.

Many roads lead to Rome

In terms of game mechanics, this basic framework results in an entertaining mixture of exploring, puzzling, sneaking and fighting. Most levels are designed in such a way that several routes and approaches always lead to the goal.

In the very first story mission, for example, the task is to find the mutated husband of a desperate woman. She knows that her husband has already mutated into an undead and now wants nothing more than peace for her husband's soul. In order to grant her request, however, you must first locate a blue villa and somehow enter the building. How exactly you proceed is not prescribed. Those who have played Crytek's "The Climb" could, for example, freehand climb up one of the various rain gutters of the house and from there shoot their way to the attic where the zombified husband is staying.

You don't have a head for heights and want to take things a little easier? No problem: Through a small opening in the side wing of the building you first get under the musty wooden planks of the ground floor. From there, take the staircase to the very top - preferably by stealth, so that the zombies shuffling around everywhere don't even notice you. Also possible: Drag some propane tanks in front of the entrance, run into the building and lure the brain-eaters outside. Now wait for the right moment, fire at one of the containers and the reception committee says good night.

Crafting is the key to success

But no matter which path you follow and for which non-player character you complete missions in the course of the game: in order to effectively advance the campaign, it is indispensable to constantly search the area for useful loot. Clock radios, cigarette packets, ashtrays, logs, glue, forks, shoes etc.: Virtual New Orleans is teeming with collectable objects that first go into your backpack and are later broken down into their individual parts in the warehouse by dropping them into a recycling paper basket. This is a funny idea that some will already know in a similar form from the "Prey" reboot. The raw materials obtained in this way, in turn, form - provided the necessary recipes are available - the basis for self-forged weapons, practical healing objects and much more.

In order to keep the administrative effort for crafting as low as possible, Skydance came up with a rather clever idea. At a workbench, you simply select the desired item, whereupon the game immediately displays the resources required for it. If you now click on "Track", the game informs you when you look at each item whether it has the necessary components for the recipe. The only drawback is that the actual crafting process is already completed with the press of a button. Additional VR interactions or mini-games, such as wrapping barbed wire around a baseball bat, are not available.

It all depends on the technology

Exploration and crafting cannot be missing in a proper survival game. However, there are other reasons why "The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners" has become such a well-rounded VR experience, first and foremost the multi-layered, very physically oriented combat system. For example, it is easily possible to hold a running zombie by the head with one hand while ramming a screwdriver through the top of its skull with the other. Ouch.

Or let's take the axe. You can swing it with one hand, but then the precision suffers enormously. It's only when you stabilise the tool with both hands that it becomes a real challenge. A little tip on the side: Always aim for the head, especially with human opponents. If you ignore this tactic, there is a danger that the enemy, who is already considered to be finished, will return to the battlefield as a zombie and make life difficult for you once again.

Cue making things difficult: Every day in "The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners" comes to an end at some point. When that time comes, a loud bell sounds somewhere in the city, attracting the dreaded walkers en masse. The digital clock on your wrist tells you exactly when the time has come and when you should flee to your caravan shelter. Of course, you can still stay in a mission area. However, the danger of biting the dust increases enormously. What remains is another successful gameplay twist that is somewhat reminiscent of the night mechanics from "Dying Light" and further increases the already strong sense of threat.

Nevertheless, a warning to VR beginners and action novices: "Saints & Sinners" is definitely not a Sunday stroll and only ever creates a new save point when you have slept in the trailer or reached a new mission area while exploring the world. If you die somewhere along the way, you have to start the section all over again. Your loot is not lost for good, however, but lies dormant in a backpack at the exact spot where you died. If you succeed in recapturing the loot at the next attempt, it is yours again. If this attempt also fails, it is lost for good.