AMC’s The Walking Dead is more than a TV show. It’s more than a franchise and is now a global phenomenon that has captured the hearts and souls of every household. In its ninth season, fans have been through the ups and downs of life in the midst of a zombie invasion.
But have you ever wondered what it’s like to live through a zombie apocalypse? What would it feel like to have hoards of zombies laying in wait for your succulent flesh?
The Walking Dead: Our World for Android and iOS is here to answer that question with their immersive experience (similar to Pokemon Go) that takes its players inside the world of The Walking Dead by bringing zombies into the augmented real-world through use of the phone’s camera and the power of Google Maps. As you walk around your neighborhood, the local park (or any place else) zombies will appear around every corner. You’ll be tasked with trying to dodge attacks with the speed of a finger tap.
Walking around various locations, I felt myself completely immersed in the world of The Walking Dead (complete with impressive graphics). With members of the cast by my side, I was able to grab a chainsaw (one of many weapons) and slice and dice my way through the undead’s soulless bodies. I was moving my body and turning my phone in various locations to make sure that I wasn’t going down via a sneak attack. I was nervous and physically a mess at first but the longer I played, the more I felt myself learning the pattern of the zombies (even if I may have accidentally collided with a trashcan). The game and I became one as my coward self-sought shelter in various havens (mine was by a tree) for survivors around my location, which was nice until I discovered they too could be overrun by hordes of zombies (just like the show!). When I wasn’t running or hiding for my life, I was able to roam around freely looking for a plethora of supplies.
Even though I was playing in the vastness of New York City, anyone in the world can partake, join teams, and kick out members of those teams (especially if they’re not pulling their weight). Clayton Neuman of AMC Networks wants players to know, “It won’t matter where you’re at. It’ll randomly match you against another player relatively the same level as you. You don’t want to be a level one player and be matched with someone who is a level sixteen cause they’ll just slaughter you. The matchmaking is sort of an equation that’s done so it balances out. They want to make it slightly out-of-reach so that there’s some challenge to it but they don’t want to make it impossible. As you progress through the game, the matches will become more and more difficult and you’ll be matched with harder and harder opponents.”
Our World isn’t just a random one-off game. There will be new content every week that will coincide with the show. Characters, exclusive missions, and rewards will debut alongside the new episodes, with unlocks guaranteed when players complete a series of new quests in-game. There will be a selection of new single-encounter and group encounter missions known as Infestations as well, where players will be required to complete a series of three to five missions to rack up bigger and better prizes. New missions will be rotated in every following Monday on a weekly basis.
“Every week on Monday morning you’ll get a new mission that ties to the previous night’s episode and guaranteed rare epic heroes that are related to the previous night’s episode. It’ll be a fun way for fans to continue to experience the world of this show outside of the one hour on Sunday that they watch it. The missions will be available on Monday and Tuesday only, so players will have to be pretty vigilant to jump on.”
“It’s important to us that this game is part of The Walking Dead universe and not just this side thing that sort-of exists parallel to it. We want The Walking Dead to be something that our fans experience 365 days a year, not just the 16 weeks once a year when the show airs. We want this to be something that they live and breathe. To be able to tell their own story by bringing the apocalypse into their own world.
To learn more about Our World listen to our full interview with Neuman below.
