Overkill’s The Walking Dead is not Left 4 Dead, but the developers said that they’re flattered by the comparison.
I played through the Central Georgetown mission at E3 2018 alongside two of the developers and another E3 attendee, which allowed me to see how Overkill’s The Walking Dead manages to put a new spin on cooperative zombie shooter gameplay.
The first point of difference is that you are actively fighting against other human beings, not just the walkers infesting the city. This mission had us reclaiming a water purification system from a rival family. By playing through missions with specific loot and supplies in mind, you will slowly build up your own camp. Though we only had a chance to play the “offense” mission, the developers told me that there were “defense” missions as well, where your camp is attacked — either because you are making too much noise (which you can see draw a horde of walkers in this video) or by having good enough supplies to entice covetous enemy factions.
There is also a greater emphasis on stealth. For most of the early mission, I only used melee attacks even though I was playing Aidan, the tank of the group. By keeping our noise to a minimum, we were able to use walkers to distract enemy forces while not drawing any new walkers to our location. By the end, our suppressors had broken (gun maintenance plays a big role in preparation for missions), and we were attracting zombies by the dozen.
Though I didn’t have a chance to play any of the camp aspects of the game, each mission is designed to add to your arsenal, which makes you care more about looting supplies instead of just clearing the area as quickly as possible. This makes the gameplay a bit more methodical, though by the end we were raising hell to get out alive.
Overkill’s The Walking Dead is scheduled to launch Nov. 6 on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One.
If you’re looking for more impressions, hot takes, or just a touch of fun, check out our E3 2018 playlist on YouTube. It’s a one-stop shop for all the biggest news from the show floor and beyond.
