The Walking Dead Streets of Survival PS5 Review. For the best of a decade or so, AMC’s The Walking Dead firmly cemented itself on the public consciousness with its gripping tale of post-apocalyptic struggles, rightly taking its place on the pantheon of TV greats alongside the likes of Breaking Bad, Lost, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Okay, I’ll freely admit that the show dragged on a bit and lost its soul when Rick Grimes (Andrew Lincoln) departed, but the first eight seasons or so are nothing short of compelling drama. We’ve seen a number of attempts to bring The Walking Dead into the gaming space, with Telltale Games’ episodic series unequivocally the best of the bunch; less successful have been efforts to adapt the TV series itself, the most egregious example being The Walking Dead: Destinies. As Negan would say, ‘God Damn!’
Turning AMC’s series into a retro-stye brawler seems like an obvious choice to make, seeing as how the series’ brutal and gory battles lends itself well to the fast-paced slugging of classic fighting games. Think Streets of Rage, albeit with more open levels and freedom to explore. Fortunately, Streets of Survival emerges more like a war-torn warrior and less like shambling, emaciated corpse when all’s said and done, but isn’t without some noticeable missteps.
The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival PS5 Review – Zombie Stomp
I Hope You Got Your Sh*tting Pants On!
The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival plucks its narrative thread from one of the most iconic stories from the show, namely the All Out War arc, where Rick and his chums attempt to put an end to Negan’s reign of terror. For those who aren’t too familiar with the show, this is after Glenn and Abraham’s deaths and comes off the back of a season of Rick and his survivors being ruled over by the Saviors’ iron fist. It’s a great backdrop for the action, particularly as Season 8 is among the most bloody in the show’s run and is packed with brutal fights.
The core story focuses on Rick, Daryl, and Michonne’s efforts to organise a counter offensive agains the Saviors by sabotaging their supplies and whittling their numbers down. As such, you’ll be visiting enemy strongholds, navigating war-torn streets, the junkyard, warehouses, Hilltop, and other key zones as all three characters as you slash and shoot your way through legions of Saviors and Walkers.
Right off the bat, I’ll start by saying the retro aesthetic fits The Walking Dead perfectly. Each character is still recognisable in all their pixellated, blocky glory, from Rick’s trademark shaggy beard to Daryl doing his best impression of someone who hasn’t brushed his hair in a year. Oh, and Michonne is unmistakable in her katana-wielding glory and purple tank top. Hell, even the Walkers and Saviors are distinct enough and come in all shapes and sizes.
Crucially however, all three of our heroes play and feel different when you take them into combat. Rick is a brawler who whacks enemies with his fists and the butt of his revolver, with the Magnum itself a permanent side weapon. Daryl on the other hand wields his trademark bowgun and is handy with dual knives, while Michonne of course cuts undead and living alike to ribbons with her trusty katana. She also won’t pick up any other melee weapon, and doesn’t start with a firearm as a backup.
They’re Screwing With The Wrong People
Basic combat involves mashing combinations of square and triangle, and while it’s pretty simple stuff, the variations of combos on offer keep it fresh and interesting enough that it doesn’t become too stale. There’s also a degree of nuance to fights as you have a dodge button that has to recharge each use, so you have to time your evasions appropriately as you can’t nonchalantly spam evasion. As such, brawls can get quite frantic as melee foes swamp you up close and gun-toting goons attack from afar, which means you always have to be aware of attacks from all distances – you can’t just survive by mashing away without a thought for your health.
Using long-range weapons and medikits have a wrinkle of strategy to them, too. You’ll do more damage to foes with guns and bows the longer your hold R2 to lock-on, but this leaves you vulnerable; likewise, healing requires you to hold one of directional buttons while you patch up your wounds. As such, you have to think about when it’s safe to restore health and when you can risk holding your aim just that little bit longer for to score a critical hit – it’s a welcome addition to a mechanic that could otherwise be pretty perfunctory in its execution.
The same can be said about your adrenaline attack, which is basically a ‘super’ attack using L1 that clobbers multiple enemies dealing major damage. It only recharges as you duff up enemies, and I found myself always being cautious about when to apply it during battles.
Generally combat is pretty enjoyable as a result, but isn’t without its flaws. Firearm-wielding foes can prove incredibly frustrating to deal with on numerous occasions. In small numbers it’s not a problem, but when you’re faced with three or more on top of guys battering you with wrenches up close, it becomes teeth-grindingly annoying as you try to close the gap only to be mowed down with bullets. Yes, the dodge helps, but just not effective enough when you are swamped. You can use your own firearms to help deal with these guys, but again, sometimes the sheer number of foes is a bit overwhelming, especially when they can score cheap shots out of your field of view.
Walkers are generally easier to deal with providing you keep them at arms length, but make up for it in sheer numbers. Still, it’s quite a thrill faced with a dozen of the shambling flesh-munchers, as you begin to methodically thin the flock by making well-timed dodges and picking your targets.
Another issue I ran into was the controls feel sluggish at times. I lost count of the number of times I turned to face an enemy only for my character to start hacking away at nothing as they were facing the wrong way. It’s an annoyance, particular when you have a horde of Walkers looking to sink their teeth into you, but nothing too serious.
Stupid Gets You Killed
Bosses are a mixed bag. The Walkers are pretty challenging and offer unique patterns to tackle, such as an electrified undead that can not only shock you if you’re close enough, but also electrifies the floor at times making for a tense ruck that requires patience and timing. It definitely keeps combat feeling fresh and mixes things up nicely. Savior bosses like Negan on the other hand prove more troublesome as they don’t really differ from regular foes but have an absurd amount of health, so they tend to wear out their welcome as you are locked in a prolonged scrap of dodging and mashing your most effective combos until they either retreat or go down for good. When you throw in blokes with machine guns such as Simon, it’s even more egregious; I lost track of the amount of times that I dodged but still got mowed down by gunfire. It’s a shame, as the combat overall is enjoyable.
An upgrade system is also available that ensures your characters are able to evolve as you progress. From boosting attack damage, reducing healing time, the amount of ammo you can carry, and the speed of your melee strikes, these upgrades are fuelled by Knowledge Points and Character Progression scattered in each stage. As such, it pays to venture off the beaten track and loot any corpse or cabinet and other objects when prompted, as reward are plentiful, even if it’s just ammo and health packs. Importantly, these buffs don’t feel inconsequential; I noticed a difference as I progressed through the game, and you’d be surprised how reducing cooldown time on your dodge or boosting the amount of ammo Rick can carry makes a difference.
There’s also lore-related collectibles to hoover up in each stage that helps immerse you further in the Walking Dead’s decaying, undead-populated landscapes. They’re not essential to gather, but fans of the TV show will appreciate the little nods to things like Carl’s letters and MP3 players.
Missions also have optional objectives to tackle from time to time, such as looting weapons from Savior strongholds to aid your cause or nabbing medical supplies for Daryl to use on wounded survivors. These typically yield bonus items like Knowledge Points and give you reason to explore your surroundings when the coast is clear of enemies. It’s nothing earth-shattering, but a welcome addition that I enjoyed plugging away at. The lack of multiplayer however definitely feels like a missed opportunity!
When you’re done with the missions and completed the game, Negan is unlocked as a playable character and you can then go through the whole thing again battering enemies with Lucille. This isn’t a unique campaign; you’ll still fight against Saviors and go through the same objectives, but Negan has his own upgrades like everyone else and is just a fun character to play as. There’s also multiple difficulties and a chance to take part in wave-based battles to hone your skills.
The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival is a solid adaptation of one of the TV series’ most memorable story arcs, built around a classic retro brawler that’s ultimately fun to play and manages to capture the main recipes of its source material. Yes, some enemies are pretty cheap and the controls can feel a bit sticky at times, but overall Streets of Survival is a solid romp that fans should definitely check out.
The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival is out now for PS5, PC, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S.
Review code kindly provided by publisher.