The Tragedy of Overkill’s The Walking Dead

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From Dead Rising’s zany antics to the bleakness of Telltale’s The Walking Dead, gaming had become oversaturated with all manner of zombie titles by the mid-2010s. As with anything, however, the market willingly made extra room for the right project at the right time. Such was the case in 2014 when Skybound Entertainment and Payday publisher Starbreeze partnered to create Overkill’s The Walking Dead—a first-person cooperative shooter with Payday-esque qualities set in the same universe as the acclaimed comic book series.

Well versed in the issues that plagued countless licensed titles of the past, Skybound and Starbreeze deliberately tried sidestepping the most common trappings. For one, despite its connection to the IP’s wider lore, the teams treated Overkill’s The Walking Dead like an original game, complete with new characters, a previously unexplored setting, and fresh stories. Bucking the trend of utilizing licensed games as glorified marketing tools served as another example of each company’s commitment to a high-quality end result. But it wasn’t enough.

The project’s status as a licensed game, and the usual baggage that came with it, had no bearing on the disastrous 2018 release. Overkill’s The Walking Dead instead endured a four-year production cycle beset by delays, a mid-development engine switch, and a protracted period of crunch—all courtesy of inept leadership. Thus, this is a tale of wasted potential, one of over-ambition and little preparation culminating in broken promises and one company’s sudden financial ruin.

This is the tragedy of Overkill’s The Walking Dead.

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