The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners Chapter 2 – Retribution reviewed by Gabriel Moss on Meta Quest 2. Coming to PC VR and PlayStation VR 2 in 2023.
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The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution largely offers more of the same to fans of the original. It ties just a few new gameplay additions to a series of rather mediocre missions that conclude (but struggle to give retributive justice to) the impactful story told in the first chapter. That said, if you liked the original, or even if you skipped it altogether, this is still one of the better zombie games you can play on the Meta Quest 2. Both the combat and the survival horror elements are just as good as they were in 2020, made better by powerful new weapons, a night mode, and an increased focus on action rather than stealth. But when the bugs, frame drops, and crashes begin to show up, it’s tough to shake off the feeling that this sequel was created on autopilot, kinda like a walker in need of a midday snack.
When it comes to VR survival horror Games you can't get much better than a Nice handful of Walker guts to make your Mornings pass a bit more smoothly at Least that's how things work in this Post-apocalyptic version of New Orleans Which serves as the setting for 2020's Exceptional The Walking Dead Saints and Sinners and its brand new sequel The Walking Dead Saints and Sinners chapter 2 retribution that's a mouthful of a Name pun intended and yet it's less of a Sequel in practice and more a perfectly Serviceable Standalone expansion to the Original rather it would be if not for a Series of sizable and often Game-breaking bugs that when combined With these struggling computational Power of the metaquest 2 frequently make For a jarring experience that would feel Right at home in a real zombie Apocalypse As in The Walking Dead Saints and Sinners chapter 2 has you romping around The Louisiana bayou as the tourist a Survivor who's made a name for Themselves amongst the locals following The events of the original campaign yeah But the tourist goals Death ain't far behind in its favor a First person VR game doesn't really need A fancy Character Creator and it's great That it throws you right into the action After a short but skippable tutorial
Segment and an introductory cut scene Speaking of the action there's a lot More of it here than in the original Especially given the addition of new Weapons like the chainsaw and the Sawed-off shotgun both of which are Plenty of fun to wreak havoc with it's Very satisfying to watch Walkers split In half in a shower of blood when the Frame rate doesn't completely Screech to A halt on the Quest 2 at least Whereas the first game focused on Stealth by forcing you to slowly Navigate a World's sparse of resources Necessary to fight the gradually Overwhelming horde of Walkers and Hostile humans chapter 2 goes all out With its combat practically throwing Weapons and other important resources at You from the first few steps out of the Opening area the downside is that Weapons feel slightly less valuable Early on lessening a bit of the tension That made chapter one so interesting but With loot more readily available you Don't need to scavenge with a fine-tooth Comb anymore which makes for a relaxed Change of pace that still feels scary Since the quantity and aggression of Walkers has been turned up a notch to Accommodate The increased action also makes it Fortunate that Saints and sinner still Offers the most entertaining melee
Combat of any VR game short of Blade and Sorcery featuring a wide variety of Fully physics simulated weapons that Generally feel good to use as you Creatively carve your way out of danger Many of these like the often convenient One-handed Cleaver and the show and Stylish two-handed Katana are both Fantastic for beheading walkers on short Notice Alongside the enhanced Arsenal chapter 2 Also sends a far higher number of Enemies at you at any given moment Clearly straining the quest 2's harder In some extreme cases it experiences Frequent crashes and other glitches that Just make the whole thing less palatable Across the board As should be expected there are a few New zones and a handful of new weapons To play with but chapter 2 is still Filled with way too much content from The original game most of the time You'll be running back and forth through Old zones like the shallows by water the Ward Rampart and so on a few of these Don't even serve any story purpose this Time around and it feels odd that you Can still visit them at all like some Vestigial organ hanging off of an aging Corpse please don't imagine what that Would actually look like but be warned However that chapter 2 does very little To explain the premise of ongoing events
Aside from some expositional dialogue Early on and you might be a little lost If you've skipped chapter one at least Chapter 2 hints at its heavily armored Ax wielding secondary antagonist pretty Early on and like Mama the primary Villain who operates from the tower he Casts a shadow over your movements Around New Orleans I have been looking Forward to this however the story does a Lousy job of keeping the tension going Between you two and after he makes his Initial introduction he just sort of Disappears at least until you go and Fight him in a middling and ultimately Forgettable boss fight toward the end of The 15-hour story Each of your quests also feel railroaded To a specific conclusion no matter what You do on several occasions killing an NPC to Fast Track a specific Mission Broke the quest's progress until the Zone was reset and even then that Created duplicates of unique items it's All so much less polished than the Original was at launch and that's a Major disappointment things do pick up Around the very end though when you Finally get to go on a full-fledged Assault against the authoritarian enemy Fortress that's quite literally loomed Over the events of the series since the Original story it's set up well enough And it makes for a satisfying final
Standoff when it's not pushing the Quest 2 past its limits when it does it Crashes and makes you restart several Times while playing the final level Resulting in even more needless Frustration that really takes the Thunder out of chapter 2's climax If you liked the immersive survival Mechanics from the original there's no Particular reason you wouldn't like this One too for all intents and purposes It's the same exact game warts and all It's disappointing that there's only one New variation of Walker to face off Against a heavily armored brute and even That doesn't really behave differently From the others you've already fought Countless times it doesn't even have all That much extra help but even for the Lack of enemy variation two new Upgradeable crafting stations are a Welcome inclusion that Grant you a few More options for progression and Loadout Customization as you loot items and Break them down into raw resources at Your base camp the interplay between Those systems is a staple of the Original and chapter 2 benefits from the Addition of new tools to that mix such As the flare which ignites when thrown And is highly useful for quickly Distracting or momentarily guiding a Herd of Walkers to a specific location While you make a Nimble get away it's
Also great that you can now visit zones At night a new feature that allows you To approach missions from a completely Different angle the same zones are Meaningfully different after dark Affecting both visibility and NPC Behavior you can also do special night Exclusive missions for a group of Survivors called the Exile Trade Network In exchange for loot though after around 15 plus hours of play they seemed like No more than fetch quests that give Pretty basic rewards and could be Comfortably ignored if you didn't feel Like doing them Ah Just like before you only get a limited Amount of time each day to do things Before needing to head home and sleep Likewise resources become scarcer and Walkers become more numerous each In-game day the good news here is that You can finish certain Missions at night Allowing you to progress several main Story quests in the same in-game day if You're looking to Fast Track your way to The end The other good news is that valuable Loot is far more common at night where You can often find entire backpacks full Of goodies next to the Unfortunate Souls Who once needed them for their own Survival Thank you
The Walking Dead Saints and Sinners Chapter 2 retribution largely offers More of the same to fans of the original But with some crippling performance Problems on the metaquest too it ties Just a few new gameplay additions to a Series of rather mediocre missions that Conclude but struggle to give Retributive Justice to the impactful Story told in the first chapter that Said if you like the original or even if You skipped it all together this is Still one of the better zombie games you Can play on the quest too both the Combat and the survival horror elements Are just as good as they were in 2020 Made better by powerful new weapons a Night mode and an increased focus on Action rather than stealth but there are A bit too many reused locations involved And when the bugs frame drops and Crashes begin to show up it's tough to Shake off the feeling that this sequel Was created without a spark of life to It kinda like a walker in need of a Midday snack for more action-packed Horror check out our reviews of the Callisto protocol and evil West for Everything else stick with IGN Foreign
