The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners - Aftershocks - PC / VR Preview

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners - Aftershocks by developer and publisher Skydance Interactive—PC preview written by Pierre-Yves with a copy provided by the publisher.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

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With an incredible virtual reality journey behind me with Skydance Interactive's The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, yesterday marked the launch of the latest addition to this experience, Aftershocks. While once trying to survive a fairly "calm" environment with walkers roaming around after your journey has ended, new supplies from The Reserve have washed up and everyone who couldn't get their hands on them before are now out in droves to rectify previous shortcomings.

Now, originally after having fought through in order to get to the reserve, taking what you possibly could and then heading back “home” to your bus, after a few days of quiet the radio if set to channel 47 in going to start to play different messages than the ones you would have previously been hearing.

Now, instead of just being told where the hordes could or could not be at certain times of the day or where small caches of meds and food could be found, you’re now going to get messages telling you where new caches have popped up and what kind of a time you’re in for if you want them for yourself. In the hands of either the Reclaimed or the Tower, one thing is for sure, they are both out for your blood so shooting first and looting later will generally be your best option unless you’re REALLY good at sneaking around.

In my excitement last month, I thought that I was getting to see new stuff early and could bring you a preview of the content before Nick’s full PlayStation VR review, but instead, I got to see what was already there which was fun in its own right. Didn’t get to fully update your crafting tables? Didn’t unlock everything you could between your melee, ranged and medical items? You were given a chance to top off these items on your list at your pace with ideas of where small caches could be found alongside some death squads of Reclaimed or of the Tower could be found.

I’m actually happy that it wasn’t the Aftershocks if only because I had been worried before of not having a comparison and now I do. So for the Aftershocks, this obviously happens once you have completed the main campaign and honestly the additions are pretty impressive especially for free DLC that has been made available for both the PC and the PlayStation simultaneously. Now, while still getting new updates through channel 47, your quest log will update with a path to follow in order to get your hands on “the goods”.

After having gone through a few of these quests, I was happy to see that they didn’t all follow the same format but instead kept enhancing the experience with some new challenges. Set in the same locations as before, the dead have continued to increase in number, the available resources have continued to dwindle and the humans left are really unhappy to see your face. If they can see your face. So for these scenarios, you are given an idea of where to look and once you’re there you’ll have to adjust accordingly.

Video source: PlayStation Blog

For these new caches that contain a stupid amount of supplies, how you open them will all depend on the scenario that you find yourself in. Some may be locked by a key in the hands of someone else that you need to hunt down. Others can have already been opened and the supplies “are in another castle” making you relate very much to the famous plumber searching for his princess. Others, others have been brought into a location that is just creepy to search for it making you wonder what’s worse, the zombies / walkers prowling around in the dark or the trip wires that aren’t attached to cans but to propane tanks that will kill you faster than you know what happened as the game over screen comes up.

Now for the caches themselves, just wow. I didn't think I could think of anything really in the vein as a kid on Christmas morning but holy crap was there a lot of stuff packed into those containers. Ammo. Food. Medication. Ammo. Resource boxes. Weapons. Ammo. Did I say ammo? Seriously, getting your hands on over two-hundred shotgun shells makes you slightly reconsider for a while just how stealthy you really want to be. I quite literally brought on the pain after that one.

Summary

Now, not to not spoil everything that could be found in this brand new update, as I’ll leave some secrets to be discovered for yourselves, I will say that Aftershocks is a good reason to head back into The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners especially since the update is free. For a game already this well crafted? It doesn’t get better than that!

Score: N/A

 

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The Walking Dead - The Complete Collection - XB1 Review

The Walking Dead Collection is a complete gathering of the entire Walking Dead games; included in the package are Seasons 1 through 3, The Walking Dead - Michonne, and The Waking Dead: 400 Days. Rather than being just a collection though, The Collection includes updated visuals so it looks far cleaner and more vivid on modern televisions and consoles (PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X). Unfortunately though, the biggest issue with the series has not been addressed, and that is the poor performance of the engine… For those, like me, that did not have a complete collection of the five seasons (three primary, two mini/secondary seasons), this is a fantastic collection but it does not offer enough to justify the purchase if you already own the individual seasons.

In all honesty I myself have been so "zombied out" that I have stayed away from nearly every title I can think of that has been focused on the notorious shambling dead. While zombies themselves have been a large part of pop culture for the past 50 years, entering into the forefront of moviegoer's minds in 1968 with the late George Romero's "Night of the Living Dead," they have, in recent years have been forcefully thrust into the faces of gamers everywhere. From Halo to Call Of Duty, there were few, AAA shooters that were seemingly devoid of the damned things.

Telltale decided to take a different approach in 2012 by creating something of a choose your own adventure-drama, and releasing it as "Telltale's The Walking Dead." Even then, I managed to stay completely away from the franchise with my own exposure to it being only that of a spectator as I watched my brother play the first few episodes of Season 1 back around the time Episode 4 released. Since then I have not played, or shown any real interest in the series, so when this collection came along, the good folks at Telltale graciously provided Chalgyr's Game Room with a key for The Collection on Xbox One, I decided to try to set aside my general weariness surrounding zombies, and give it a try.

In one aspect I am thrilled that I did; Telltale's The Walking Dead is an excellent franchise and the first two seasons can be incredibly gut-wrenching though the third is good too, but the first two really stuck with me. On the other hand, it is still zombies; I am so freaking tired of zombies. Seriously, we need to get back to vampires, mutants, aliens, and corrupt corporations/governments…

The updated visuals are very nice and are an added bonus for the collector or new player, however the longstanding issue of performance still exists; at times my framerates would drop near 10-12 frames, others it stayed fairly constant in the low 20's. The biggest issue I ran into though, was dying due. During the loading screen that appears when you reload due to death, the game would start in the background while the loading screen still appears, and since the game loads to the same scene you were on (e.g. a scene where you are trying to stop a zombie from biting your face), you would have even less time to prevent the zombie from making a meal out of your sensitive parts. I found that reloading the episode and starting it from scratch to be a less frustrating move than constantly reloading the death scene. Beyond that though, the audio is great, visuals vibrant, and story are all incredibly captivating, which makes the performance all the more shameful as it is immersion-breaking.

For new users and old veterans of the franchise alike The Walking Dead Collection: The Telltale Series is an excellent, if steeply priced for owners of the individual seasons, investment. If only the performance had been a key factor in the collection, then this would be a must-by; unfortunately that is not the case and therefore the only real reason that I would see someone pick this up, would be for those rare few like me that have not played the series at all. Performance notwithstanding though, the Collection is an excellent choose-your-own-adventure-drama that everyone should experience at least once.

Game Information

Platform:
Microsoft Xbox One
Developer(s):
Telltale Games
Publisher(s):
Telltale Games
Genre(s):
Visual Novel
Mode(s):
Single Player
Other Platform(s):
Sony PlayStation 4
PC

Source:Provided by Publisher

Article by Robert

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Week in Review - June 12th to the 16th

Things were a bit quiet this week with E3 but that can also depend on what you were doing. With the Skaven running right at you? Things are never quiet! Monday saw our thoughts on the newest addition to Warhammer: End Time with Vermintide's Stormdorf.

"...I seriously hope to see more of it over the next additions. They added a Boss Fight."

- Pierre-Yves

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Tuesday we had a look at the currently in development Early Access title Kenshi. Squad Based Free Roaming RPG. It's intense but worth looking into. Lots of content and time that can be spent with this one!

"Having played From Software's wonderful happy go lucky Souls series has prepared me for the happiness that can be found outside of these walled cities."

- Pierre-Yves

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Wednesday Nick took back to the Zombies with The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series - A New Frontier Episode 5: From The Gallows. As another one comes to an end, Nick is probably musing on the direction of the next.

"...A New Frontier delivered a quality narrative adventure game that sets up some interesting possibilities for its next inevitable chapter."

- Nick

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As one series ends so does another continue! Thursday saw Nick's Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy - Episode 2: Under Pressure review

"Once again I think Telltale Games benefits from the opportunity to tell an original story using established characters in a universe we are already at least somewhat familiar with."

- Nick

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And then we had a bit of heavy entry to end the week with The Town of Light. Mental Illness? Horror? I think I'll avoid that town...

"So is The Town of Light worth playing? For me it was, despite the somewhat disappointing act of actually playing the game, because the tale is engrossing and the ending is incredibly memorable."

- Nick

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Article by Pierre-Yves

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Week in Review - May 15th to 19th

Welcome back to the weekend and this Week's in Review!

The week started off with a double header of TellTale and Zombies. Morning morning saw Nick's review of The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series - A New Frontier Episode 3: Above the Law while the afternoon saw the next chapter Episode 4: Thicker Than Water.

"Episode 3: Out of the initial three episodes in this new series, Above the Law was easily my favorite. It is a much meatier installment, both in terms of episode length and the types of challenges Javi will face. The first couple of chapters left me somewhat uncertain, but now? After Above the Law I am ready for more.


Episode 4: The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series - A New Frontier Episode 4: Thicker Than Water is however, my least-favorite of the chapters so far, and that is largely due to how certain characters and their motivations play out. "

- Nick

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Tuesday started off with a roar of the engines as Nick took back to the tracks of Mario Kart 8 with its Switch Deluxe version. Looks like I'm going to have to pick this one up.

"Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is a great example of how a company can bring back a well-respected game and give it enough love and polish that instead of feeling like a cheap money grab, it instead becomes essential for your collection."

- Nick

Speaking of picking things up, the below quote both says it all and REALLY makes me want to get a VR Headset! Check out Nick's preview of Sairento.

"... this is an easy Early Access title for us to recommend. The game in its current state is still fantastic if limited in content and the development team appears to be very active as well, which bodes well for the title's long-term health. Absolutely worth the look, as this is exactly the kind of title that VR was made for."

- Nick

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Our second of three Switch reviews this week, it may not be as high as the other two but there is still some fun to be had here with NBA Playgrounds.

" There is a fun game here in NBA Playgrounds, but this is by no means the best version of the game. The other issue is that the game is a little on the shallow side. It is a shame really, because there is a fun title to be had here, but issues hold it back and the end result is a merely average sports outing."

- Nick

Fans of tabletop games will be happy to know that the latest Pathfinder Bestiary (6) holds up to the rest.

"Piazo's Bestiary 6 for the Pathfinder Roleplaying game is a solid entry into the massive world of Pathfinder. While it can be a bit difficult to write in many of the monsters (given their CR levels are quite high) it is a nice addition to existing lore."

- Robert

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This is personally one of my biggest highlights for the week if not month as Breanna and I spent hours upon hours having fun exploring random floating islands. Portal Knights is worth checking out especially if you've got people who love to play these style of games as a group!

"It has crafting, it has exploration, it has building, it has combat, it has leveling up, it has perks! It has everything and allows you to experience it with someone else making it even better. Portal Knights I'm willing to say may be setting the bar for Action Adventure RPG Sandboxes and while it's fun to play alone, it's even better with a partner!"

- Pierre-Yves

This one was bugging me for a while. I swear I had heard it before and it finally clicked while putting this article together. It's been in development for a long time with me that previewed it back in 2014 at DigitallyDownloaded and Breanna that previewed it here later in 2015 under a newer build. RIVE is out and it's awesome!

"Rive is an insanely challenging yet satisfying game that is mostly shoot-'em-up, but tosses in a few genre wrinkles as well. It is an unapologeticlly brutal game however, and it could use a handful tweaks here and there, but the overall experience is still a fantastic one."

- Nick

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I'm still sore from the butt kicking I received from Marc as he went about previewing Brawlout. It's his bread and butter but I still expected to win a few more matches than I did...

"Overall Brawlout is a great game so far, short of the ledge grabbing, with a fantastic cartoonish type of graphics. The game currently suffers from a lack of overall content and online instability for the price asked for, but it has a lot of promise for an Early Access title."

- Marc L

The week ends on multiple high notes with NIS' Disgaea 5 Complete for the Switch. If Zelda and Mario Kart weren't enough, then this should settle it dood!

"Disgaea 5 Complete runs brilliantly both in fullscreen console mode as it does portably as it was just as fun to play one way as it was the other. Having all of the DLC content from the get go was simply more sardine flavored icing on the cake dood!"

- Pierre-Yves

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Article by Pierre-Yves

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The Walking Dead: Michonne - Episode 2: Give No Shelter - PS4 Review

In the my review of the first episode in this series, I had concerns that the writers were too constricted by an established character to really let loose and do what they wanted to. Some of those same fears surface yet again in The Walking Dead: Michonne - Episode 2: Give No Shelter. I did enjoy this episode slightly more, and can appreciate the direction it is going, but I find myself questioning whether or not it will reach a satisfying conclusion.

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The Walking Dead and Zen Pinball coming together

I have personally been a huge fan of almost every set of tables Zen Studios has released for their Zen Pinball series, and while I have basked in plenty of Marvel and Star Wars characters over the last two years, their newest collaboration also sounds like it could be a good deal of fun.

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The Walking Dead: Season One - PS3 Review

The Walking Dead is a game, based on the hit show, based on a comic book. So basically you have a bunch of influences here, but while a lot of the material is based loosely on an existing set of stories, the approach Telltale Games took with Season One was somewhat risky in retrospect.

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