One of the major virtual reality (VR) releases in September was Survios’ The Walking Dead Onslaught, taking fans inside AMC’s TV show. However, the launch didn’t quite live up to expectations, with gamers unhappy with the combat – especially where the knife was concerned. Addressing those concerns, Survios has now released the Combat Rebalance Patch.
Details released show that Survios has tackled all aspects of the combat in The Walking Dead Onslaught, both ranged and melee, as well as adjusting the walkers’ aggression and difficulty. One of the biggest gripes was how easy the gameplay was, with hordes of walkers easily taken down, removing any sort of tense atmosphere.
For a basic overview, when it comes to ranged combat all the weapons can now perform one-hit kills to the brain at close range, larger guns have better simulated weight; ammo is scarcer, there’s fall-off damage over distance (improved via upgrades); pistol whipping damage has been increased, and the “Copper Tips” upgrade has better penetration values.
On the melee side, damage values have been slightly adjusted so less is caused from the jaw downwards. Sharp melee weapons can now become lodged inside a walkers skull, becoming harder to remove – high quality weapons like the Katana and Battle Axe will have the least resistance. Player movement is restricted whilst impaling a zombie, blunt melee damage has been reduced; Knuckle Knife re-tuned for blunt damage “two-hit punch to the head, one-hit when upgraded,” and tweaks to the simulated weight again.
As for other improvements, these include:
- “Walker perception and aggression has been increased.”
- “Walkers now deal significantly more damage when biting.”
- “Armored Walkers and Spiked Walkers are now more difficult to kill.”
- “There is more Food in the early game to allow for smoother level progression.”
- “Added an option for Left-hand Dominant players who use Smooth Locomotion to swap the Movement and Turning inputs with each other.”
- “Choked or impaled Walker corpses have increased simulated weight, but no longer automatically fall to the floor.”
- Oculus Quest – “Virtual Desktop has released Update 1.16.2, which includes compatibility for The Walking Dead Onslaught.”
- Valve Index – “published an alternative controller scheme which allows players to interact with the environment, grab pickups, and choke walkers using the Index’s grip sensor”
That does sound like it should address plenty of gameplay concerns to make the title a far more rounded (and terrifying) experience. For further updates on The Walking Dead Onslaught, keep reading VRFocus.
