The Walking Dead has had an interesting history in pop culture. Beginning as a hit comic, before becoming a phenomenon on AMC, it’s also managed to rack up some accolades in the video game realm, mostly thanks to Telltale’s adventure games putting poor Clem through the wringer.
Outside of that, though, the franchise has struggled to combine the storytelling of the franchise with action game mechanics, leading to some good ideas rushed into a game too quickly. Overkill’s The Walking Dead is hoping to finally change that with a co-op four-player first-person shooter that doesn’t skimp on plot or design.
Starbreeze, the studio most recently behind the co-op adventure Brothers: A Tale Of Two Sons, is taking what we saw in that game much further. Taking place in a post-apocalyptic Washington DC, the four-person team features four different classes, manifest in Aiden, Grant, Maya, and Heather.
Each team member has different skill sets and how you have to use them depends on whether you’re out clearing away zombies (or raiders) or trying to protect your home from being overrun, using “tactical dismemberment” among other strategies. And if you thought the game might hold back on the gore or cruel choices, well, here’s the most recent trailer, showing what happens when you cross Heather:
The game’s been making a splash at E3, in part because there’s a full booth that lets you play out a little bit of the game in reality before you try it out on a console. And while the idea of a four-player co-op zombie game isn’t exactly a new one, the idea of making the darker, more violent parts of the show playable is an engaging one. The main question is what happens when you get some friends into the mix and start turning zombies into mulch. We’ll find out when the game arrives this fall.