At the beginning of the year, Skydance Interactive debuted the critically acclaimed virtual reality game The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. In the VR game, the player is dropped into the middle of The Walking Dead universe and forced to fend for his or herself in the desolate world. Although there is a story to follow, the decisions you make impact the game and free exploration within the world is heavily encouraged.

Today, Skydance Interactive launched the first major update for the studio’s survival horror VR game: ‘The Meatgrinder Update.’ Thanks to the team over at Skydance we got our hands on an early copy of the update to test it out for ourselves.

In the Meatgrinder Update, players get to experience an all-new game mode, titled, ‘The Trial,’ where they’ll face off against relentless waves of Walkers. If you’re familiar with the Call of Duty franchise, I would liken it to the Zombies mode, just in virtual reality, which is not a bad thing at all. As you survive each round you get rewarded with points based on the performance, which you can then use to purchase different weapons and crafting items to plan for the next wave of infected, increasingly difficult waves of enemies.

Check out the Devs trailer below, followed by our impressions:

Gameplay 

Jumping into the new mode, I was pretty excited because I had high praise for the campaign mode I played earlier this year. I was a little nervous though because this new update is its own beast and I was still trying to familiarize myself with the controls. Thanks to a little bit of time and practice with the tutorial mode, I was able to get everything down pretty easy.

Although I felt comfortable with the controls, I will say it took me a few tries to beat the first few waves. I’ll admit that I'm not the best Zombie killer. I can also confirm that my neighbors hate me now because of the amount of times I screamed in horror because of all the random zombies that would sneak up on me. The campaign itself is a pretty intense and scary game that truly makes you feel like you’re in a zombie-infested world. Taking what made the game special in the first place and merging it with the ‘horde’ type  game mode created something that is just as fun as it is scary.

Weapons

walking-dead-saints-and-sinners-meatgrinder-update-review
Image via Skydance Interactive

With the new update comes the new ‘Absolution’ skin for the katana weapon that you can use to slice up your enemies in both The Trial and campaign modes. Being able to switch up the way you killed the zombies -- whether that be a shotgun, pistol, a bow and arrow or even a screwdriver -- was extremely fun. The Trial made me feel like a zombie-killing John Wick in all the best ways. The way 2020 is going it seems like we’re getting closer and closer to an actual Zombie apocalypse and ‘The Trial’ is a perfect practice simulator to sharpen your skills shall they day ever come.

Rating: A-

If you were interested in The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners before this update and never got around to playing it, now is the time. This new update adds even more hours of fun to an already enjoyable game. The Meatgrinder Update is available for free for players who own The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. Newcomers can purchase the Standard Edition for $39.99 via the Oculus Store, Steam, PlayStation Store and The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners’ official website.