The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners

 PC
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 136 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 113 out of 136
  2. Mixed: 10 out of 136
  3. Negative: 13 out of 136

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  1. Dougomite
    Mar 8, 2020
    7
    As for the VR tech side of it, it's a great game, but it's got some majorly annoying design decisions. Looks like a large part of the effort was spent on making fighting zombies feel good while dealing with other human characters was put on the back burner and it shows. The 'stealth' mechanics' are horrible, combat with humans feels equally painful to deal with. Crafting is neat butAs for the VR tech side of it, it's a great game, but it's got some majorly annoying design decisions. Looks like a large part of the effort was spent on making fighting zombies feel good while dealing with other human characters was put on the back burner and it shows. The 'stealth' mechanics' are horrible, combat with humans feels equally painful to deal with. Crafting is neat but collecting the materials begins to feel tedious as it's all just a ton of random junk to fill your inventory with. The levels all mostly look the same with a few large structures to make an area feel unique.… Expand
  2. EdwardG
    Feb 28, 2021
    7
    The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners attempts to bring a more traditionally AAA experience to the Quest 2 - it's a 'proper' game with a respectably long story and strong game mechanics.

    On the gameplay side, it mostly delivers. The melee combat is visceral and satisfying, and although the gunplay took me some practice to get used to, it too is great fun. Looting dark buildings with the    The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners attempts to bring a more traditionally AAA experience to the Quest 2 - it's a 'proper' game with a respectably long story and strong game mechanics.

    On the gameplay side, it mostly delivers. The melee combat is visceral and satisfying, and although the gunplay took me some practice to get used to, it too is great fun. Looting dark buildings with the threat of walkers around every corner is tense, and fighting larger groups of them out in the open can give you quite a rush. Escaping from an unbeatable horde by the skin of your teeth can be a truly intense experience. Fighting human enemies isn't always as satisfying, as their AI is pretty laughable at times. I've been crouched right below someone, pointing a gun to their face and they were completely unaware of my presence. At other times though, they can shoot you with pinpoint accuracy.

    Frustratingly, the game can be quite buggy and otherwise just janky in places. I've had to follow a character into battle only for him to get stuck on an obstacle and leave me to fight alone. Later in that same mission, I suddenly left my body and floated in the air, unable to move, see my arms or do anything but reload a save. My tracking was working fine so I can only assume this was the game at fault rather than the hardware. Annoyances like these crop up quite frequently, and there were plenty of minor graphical glitches too.

    Speaking of, the graphics are okay for a game of this size running on the Quest 2. It looks about as good as you could expect from a portable headset, but the art style is so grey and plain that the environments can get a little tiring.

    The story is decent; being able to make my own decisions kept me invested in it, and I appreciate the freedom you have in deciding the fates of everyone. You can kill every NPC you come across, including those with more prominent roles in the story. You're given a few choices at the end of the game but it wraps up so quickly that you don't get to feel the ramifications of anything - a more fleshed out conclusion would've been great. Even so, the final mission is full of action and it's really fun. It ups the stakes and moves at an exciting pace.

    Overall, I liked Saints & Sinners. It has its issues - bugs and boring, samey environments chief among them - but it's mechanics are really strong. The catharsis of braining a walker or blasting someone away with a pump shotgun is amplified by physics which inject physicality and a bit of realism into the game's combat. It's a pretty fun title.

    Played on Oculus Quest 2.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

55
#55 Best PC Game of 2020
56
#56 Most Discussed PC Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
81

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 28
  3. Negative: 0 out of 28
  1. GameCritics
    May 4, 2020
    85
    If Half-Life: Alyx sold as many VR headsets as it should have, every new adopter needs to make Saints & Sinners a priority. Although it obviously lacks the polish that Valve was able to bring to their juggernaut, it’s another hearty single-player offering that was not only built from the ground up for VR, but showcases the exciting advancements unique to the platform. It’s an easy recommendation, even to people like me who thought they were sick of zombies.
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  2. Worth Playing
    Mar 18, 2020
    88
    I had a lot of fun with The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. The combat is fun and downright brutal at times. The story falters at the end, but it's an enjoyable ride that carries you through the 10-20 hour journey. VR desperately needed a longer experience like this, and Skybound and Skydance have delivered with great success. This isn't a four-hour, story-driven, escape room-style game. It's not a shooter on rails or an arena shooter. This is a full-fledged game, and it's great. This is not quite the "killer app" that VR needed, but it's one massive step in the right direction for VR. Any owner of a dedicated PC VR headset owes it to themselves to buy and play this game. Saints & Sinners sparks hope in me that VR still has a bright future ahead — even if that future is a dark, damp New Orleans.
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  3. Gaming Nexus
    Feb 26, 2020
    80
    The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners is a great game. It's just that maybe it's not a great game for you. Maybe, like me, you don't have your VR legs enough to enjoy it. Maybe you want a little bit more from the PC hardware you have to run it on and won't accept the compromises this game makes. Maybe you just have TWD fatigue. If those things don't stand in your way, then what is on offer is an incredible and immersive experience. A well-developed virtual playground to craft and battle your way through a rich world and story that is only let down by an implementation that just screams compromise to make way for a PSVR release.
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