With season 8 of "The Walking Dead" rolling out in about a month, AMC and Next Games have decided to drop some brand new "Walking Dead" news. However, what fans didn't expect is a brand new trailer for a "Walking Dead" mobile game. This mobile game is very similar to the biggest hit of last summer, "Pokemon Go," but AMC and Next Games are calling it "The Walking Dead: Our World."
Very promising title in the works
As a massive fan of both "The Walking Dead" and "Pokemon Go," having the two come together is a match made in heaven. In addition, this game will be made by Next Games, who also did work on "The Walking Dead: No Man's Land." While "No Man's Land" didn't receive the best reviews, it was still a competently made game and shows that Next Games cares about the franchise.
Next Games did release a trailer for the game which showed a little bit on how the game will work. Just like in "Pokemon Go," "Our World," relies on augmented reality (AR) to connect the real world and the digital world together. Unlike "Pokemon Go," "Our World" won't be about catching cute and powerful creatures to take down gyms. Instead, this game will replace those creatures with hordes of the undead that you must take down.
Of course, you won't be alone in the apocalypse. The trailer showcases not only two players fighting alongside each other, but also with Rick, Michone, and Daryl. Of course, I presume that these won't be the only characters the player can fight with. Perhaps they may allow us to play with characters that have already been killed off, which I will not say due to spoilers.
The gameplay appears to be a first-person shooter of some kind, utilizing the camera of the phone as the players perspective. I'm cautious about this decision since AR hasn't been fully mastered yet, and phones generally don't produce great first person shooters. Of course, if Next Games can somehow make that work I will be very impressed.
What else can this game do
Fighting against hordes of the undead is to be expected, but what would be really cool is getting to choose your own faction/team. Next Games has already implemented this mechanic in their previous game "No Man's Land," so it shouldn't be very hard for them to do the same with "Our World." Choosing teams in "Pokemon Go" is an important part of the experience, which is why "Our World" should strive to do the same.
Teams could fight against each other for possession of the land, or they could fight with each other to take on hordes of the undead.
I also hope that the game implements different types of enemies to fight. I realize that this could be a challenge since the show doesn't really offer much variety, but I think that there are ways around this problem. We could have newly turned zombies as enemies, which are harder to kill than zombies that are older and decomposing. We could even have zombies covered in metal similar to the one Rick fought in the junkyard. If all else fails then the creators can take some creative liberty and create some new zombies. I would rather play a game that is enjoyable than play one that sticks to the canonical storyline of the show.
In conclusion, "Our World" looks very promising. If Next Games and AMC really try on this project, then we could get an AR game that could rival "Pokemon Go." I don't think it will reach the same level of success "Pokemon Go" did in the summer but it will certainly try.
