Developer: Odaclick Game Studio
Platforms: PC (Reviewed) PS5, Switch, Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S
Genre: Action
Publisher: Trailmark Games
The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival is another Walking Dead game, and as a big fan of The Walking Dead, whenever a new game gets released with the name attached to it, I’m always going to give it a go. The game is developed by Odaclick Game Studio and published by Trailmark Games.
Story-wise, the game doesn’t have a particularly deep narrative. Instead, it essentially remixes moments from the TV series while letting you slice and shoot your way through familiar locations such as Alexandria, Hilltop and the Sanctuary. You cycle through some of the series’ biggest characters, including Rick, Michonne, Daryl and Negan, while revisiting iconic moments through short, comic-style cutscenes.
The game doesn’t really bother explaining much of the lore, which makes sense considering it is clearly aimed at people who already know the series. It assumes you already know who Negan is, why everyone is angry and what is going on in the world around you. Unlike the Telltale games, this isn’t trying to tell some emotional story that is going to leave you sitting there questioning your life choices. The story is mostly there to give you a quick break before sending you back out to fight another huge group of walkers or Saviors.
The gameplay is pretty simple. It doesn’t focus too much on the survival side of The Walking Dead and instead puts you straight into a classic arcade-style beat ‘em up. You move left and right, slicing and shooting your way through different areas while combining light attacks, heavy attacks and special abilities.
Once you get into the rhythm of the combat, it actually feels surprisingly snappy. Each character also feels noticeably different to play. Michonne is fast and relies heavily on her katana, Rick is more of a heavy-handed brawler who uses brute force, while Daryl gives you some much-needed breathing room with his crossbow and ranged attacks. He is still pretty quick to use, especially when switching between his crossbow and knives.
That being said, some of the mechanics definitely show their limitations. Aiming ranged weapons on a 2D plane can be frustrating, especially when you end up shooting just above a walker because your positioning is slightly off. It’s not a massive issue, but it can become annoying when you’re trying to deal with a group of enemies.
The biggest problem for me, though, is the lack of multiplayer. Having a classic arcade beat ‘em up based around a series with characters like Rick and Daryl feels like the perfect opportunity for some couch co-op. Being forced to play the entire game solo feels like a massive missed opportunity.
Visually, this is probably the strongest part of the game. The 16-bit pixel art fits the retro arcade style really well, and the characters look great. The darker colour palette also works nicely with the whole apocalypse setting, giving the game that gritty Walking Dead feeling while still keeping the colourful arcade aesthetic.
The audio is a bit more mixed. The sound effects have that crunchy arcade-style impact, especially when you land a heavy hit, and the soundtrack does a good job of keeping the action moving. The synth-heavy music fits the fast-paced gameplay nicely and gives it that old-school arcade feeling.
The lack of voice acting is a little disappointing, though. The cutscenes rely entirely on text boxes, which can make some of the scenes feel a little flat, especially when you’re used to hearing these characters in the TV series.
I went into The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival expecting something that would be pretty forgettable, but I actually ended up playing through the entire campaign in one sitting of around three hours.
Honestly, I think the short runtime works in the game’s favour. If this were stretched into a 15-hour experience, I could definitely see the combat and repetitive enemy encounters getting old pretty quickly. Instead, it feels like a short arcade game that you can sit down and finish over an evening.
There is something pretty satisfying about playing as Michonne and just slicing through a screen full of walkers. It scratches that same itch as some of the old arcade beat ‘em ups, where you can just switch your brain off and enjoy the combat without having to worry about a complicated story or progression system.
It definitely isn’t perfect, though. The lack of co-op is still a big disappointment, and locking additional challenge modes behind day-one DLC also feels like a bit of a questionable decision, especially for a budget title.
The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival isn’t trying to revolutionise gaming or become the next big Walking Dead experience, but it does a decent job at being a simple, fast-paced arcade beat ‘em up. The pixel art looks great, the combat is fun for what it is, and the short runtime means it doesn’t have much time to overstay its welcome.
If you’re a Walking Dead fan and fancy spending a few hours slicing through hordes of walkers to some heavy synth music, I’d say it’s worth checking out, especially if you can pick it up on a decent Steam sale.
Overall: 6.5/10
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