If you were an avid reader of the comics The Walking Dead and now religiously follow the AMC television series then this news will make you gloat with happiness. The Walking Dead franchise is all set to take your experience up a notch by releasing its virtual reality games.
The news came after the production company, Skybound Entertainment announced its partnership with Skydance Interactive – a platform that creates and publishes virtual reality games –to launch an entire series of The Walking Dead VR games.
The zombie apocalypse that drives the main theme of the story, saw police officer Rick Grimes lead his family and other survivors to safe and secure places after he wakes up from a coma to find himself surrounded in the post-apocalyptic zombie invasion.
The horror-drama written by Robert Kirkman in a series of comics saw it come to life after AMC announced the television series, which were developed by Frank Darabont. Drawing viewers into a nerve-wracking situation with protagonist Rick searching for safe places as zombies, referred to as walkers, hunt, shred and tear human flesh to quench their thirst for human blood, the series has become a huge hit ever since it premiered in 2010.
However, the new series of virtual reality games will have players rooting for a whole range of new characters. The first game will not be following the comic books or the TV series and will see entirely different characters in the forefront of the story instead of the good old Rick and his family along with a group of other survivors.
Although no announcements have yet been made whether the VR games will introduce the old character in its later versions, the inspiration of the entire series of the games primarily are the ongoing comics.
The Walking Dead comics, published by Image Comics, first debuted in 2003 and since then have had a cult following, leading it to win the 2007 and 2010 Eisner Award for Best Continuing Series at San Diego Comic-Con International.
It isn’t the first time the Walking Dead franchise have tried to venture into different media platforms to enhance the experience of its readers. After the television series adaption of the comics premiered, the franchise also launched a series of telltale video games titled The Walking Dead video game.
It went on to release another television series Fear the Walking Dead and, during the era marking the popularity of web series, also aired webisodes titled The Walking Dead: Torn Apart, The Walking Dead: Cold Storage and The Walking Dead: The Oath. To try new waters, it also released novels The Walking Dead: Rise of the Governor.
So far, the releasing date of the VR games haven’t been announced but according to the press release that was issued by both Skybound Entertainment and Skydance Interactive, it will allow players to experience the gritty drama “through an innovative contextual interaction system.”With the success of the previous ventures, it is safe to safe the VR games will be one hell of a ride.