The Walking Dead has been with us for years in many formats: graphic novels, video games, toys, television shows, and very soon, films. With that said, not all of them are great. Besides Telltale Games’ series of the same name, everything that has come to gaming has been a terrible cash grab. However, Overkill Software decided to put their hat into the ring and bring out a far more interesting concept to a Walking Dead video game. So the real question here is “Is Overkill’s The Walking Dead just another cash grab? Or does it have an early potential to be something more?”

Plot:

Overkill’s The Walking Dead is based in a post-zombie outbreak Washington D.C., where you and your group are trying to survive; not only from the walkers but also other survivors.

Gameplay

Overkill’s The Walking Dead features four main characters: Aidan, Heather, Grant, and Maya. The Walking Dead has a strong focus on co-operative gameplay. Even though it can still be played solo, the difficulty won’t budge so it will be a challenge. Players will have to work together and complement each other’s abilities and skills to survive. Other than main story-related missions, these will include rescue, scavenging materials, equipment retrieval missions, and more. Players will also have to regularly defend their camp against raiders and bandits, as well as against walkers. You can also send other survivors out to scavenge for resources or items. When and if they find something in the map, players will have to go and retrieve these items themselves.

RPG (Role Playing Game) elements are also featured in the game, including skill trees and upgrade mechanics. Each of the four main characters is playable, and each of them has their own unique abilities and skill trees. Such as Maya, being a skilled medic, and Aidan being more adept at up close melee combat. As such, there will also be several melee weapons in the game. Melee combat will also be more emphasized, especially in situations where players need to conserve ammunition.

Pros:

The Walkers are the best I’ve seen in any zombie game. The fear of trying to plan your next move wisely and not attracting the horde really drives you to focus. There is also no microtransactions and no pay to win, which is very refreshing to games in these times. Co-op is very fun and great to work with other survivors (when it’s working, but I’ll get to that).

Cons

No in-game voice chat is very problematic since this is a co-cop game and you need to communicate with your fellow survivors. Lag and being kicked out of the game at random has been the most frustrating part. Especially when you’re so close to the end to be randomly told: “You have lost connection!” Besides the walkers, you have  dumb human A.I. to fight against who just loves to shoot at you and cause a huge horde to make things worse.

Verdict

Overkill’s The Walking Dead has tremendous promise to be a great game. I myself have had a lot of fun with my time playing. Even though the game offers such potential, the lack of in-game voice chat, lag, loss of connection, and dumb human A.I. holds it back greatly. With that said even with its biggest flaws, I enjoyed Overkill’s The Walking Dead.

3 out of 5

Update: Overkill is bringing updates fixing key issues with the game as soon as I started writing this review, also noting that there’s a season 2 coming to TWD.