The Strolling Useless: Saints & Sinners was one of many higher and extra full VR video games with its traumatic and repeatable recreation loop and RPG parts. There have been tough spots, but it surely was a valiant first effort. Each this recreation and its sequel have lastly made the leap to PlayStation VR2, and whereas it provides gamers the entire saga, the proximity of those two ports factors out how inadequate The Strolling Useless: Saints & Sinners – Chapter 2: Retribution is.
That is sudden due to how comparable Chapter 2 is to Chapter 1 to the purpose the place it feels prefer it was presupposed to initially be DLC. Not solely does Chapter 2 have all eight of Chapter 1’s ranges and solely three new ones, but it surely additionally has the identical upgrades, weapons, zombie character fashions, consumer interface, house base, and normal loop of scavenging, crafting, and surviving. There are a handful of latest weapons, upgrades, and gadgets, however a lot of Chapter 1 has been immediately carried over that it fully overtakes and dilutes Chapter 2‘s scant additions.
Chapter 1 was a contemporary expertise, but it had issues, and Chapter 2’s failure to deal with these points is what makes all of the borrowed content material much more puzzling. Gunplay remains to be inaccurate, particularly the two-handed weapons that flop round wildly. That is much more pronounced in two-handed melee weapons the place swings not often register appropriately, turning mighty blows to the pinnacle into little greater than gentle faucets. The gore has at the least been dialed up and is sort of noticeable with the brand new chainsaw.
Mechanical inconsistencies sit on the coronary heart of Chapter 2’s fight troubles, however the surrounding organs have began to rot, too. Enemy A.I. for each people and zombies jumps between mind useless and omniscient, as they received’t react to seeing their allies get blasted however will in some way often have X-ray imaginative and prescient. The inconsistent grabbing controls makes climbing and dealing with weapons an absolute ache. It doesn’t at all times know what gamers wish to maintain, which is extraordinarily infuriating in additional finicky segments the place it’ll mechanically snatch the participant’s pocket book as a substitute of the shotgun behind it.
Whereas satisfactory the primary time round, having to take care of all of those similar points simply compounds and turns niggling issues into constant irritations. It’s additionally extremely unlucky that Skydance Interactive didn’t enhance the sport with this sequel, particularly in lieu of wonderful VR shooters like Resident Evil Village, a title that Chapter 2 might be taught quite a bit from.
Its design additionally highlights these deficiencies. Chapter 1 might often have swarms of the undead, however Chapter 2 doubles down on fight, which is why its shortcomings are simpler to note. Zombies can roam in larger numbers and a few maps are overrun with them. The sport arms out extra lethal weapons to deal with these hordes, however that solely means gamers need to take care of its fidgety controls whereas underneath extra strain.
Going out at evening is one new side in Chapter 2 and is the place the sport extra efficiently dials up the strain. Completely different provides and particular missions additionally present up when the moon is out, providing up extra of an incentive to journey whereas it’s darkish. Restricted visibility makes these runs extra traumatic and that may be exhilarating, however the particular missions that open up in the course of the evening are surprisingly hole.
These new exile missions are a drag since they process gamers with discovering sure gadgets, and it’s all a tedious train. Having to slowly skulk round to search out these semi-hidden figures solely to need to enterprise again out within the depths to scrounge up menial gadgets like headphones or frying pans is just not well worth the effort. It might be extra streamlined if these merchants met gamers close to the spawn level so it could be simpler to assemble this stuff on the best way to different aims. The present setup locations extra significance on them than they deserve since these hole errands must be little greater than one thing gamers do as they full different missions.
Lots of the different missions are fairly typical, as they largely nonetheless revolve round scavenging and upgrading. However Chapter 2 guts that core improve loop by permitting customers to import saves from the primary recreation. Carrying over progress is theoretically nice because it provides extra weight to what gamers did final time, but it surely trivializes the improve financial system, which is the central pillar of the sport.
Most gamers who completed the primary recreation will seemingly have a stockpile of unused weapons and maxed out improve bushes, placing them at a transparent benefit out of the gate. Working via the 2 new improve bushes solely takes a pair missions, too. Beginning a contemporary save additionally doesn’t resolve this oversight since having to unlock the identical actual upgrades from the primary recreation as soon as once more (though it mechanically unlocks a few of them) is just not new or thrilling. Downsizing the inducement to assemble extra assets and upgrades means Chapter 2 loses its construction and is monotonous due to it.
Chapter 2 is a disappointing follow-up due to how intently it mirrors the primary recreation and completely fails to construct on prime of it, but it surely’s much more of a letdown due to how buggy it’s. Skydance has been coping with a unstable recreation for the reason that title first debuted on the Meta Quest 2 in December 2022, and its PS VR2 launch hasn’t been significantly better. One collectible breaks if gamers import a save. A ton of the trophies don’t work. Some exile missions inexplicably disappear. Invisible zombies can swarm gamers. Visible glitches from NPCs clipping via the setting, lighting outright breaking, or ranges failing to load in occur continuously.
Whereas Skydance has been issuing updates which have fastened just a few of its issues, Chapter 2 remains to be unforgivably messy. Based on a number of experiences on its Discord server, it could actually nonetheless crash or impede progress — or wipe it altogether — at a second’s discover, which isn’t the form of stress this zombie recreation wanted. My playthrough got here to a screeching halt in the course of the last mission because it crashes each single time I attempt to load any of my saves; a deadly chew proper on the end line.
Chapter 1 is just not solely extra technically sound (and has higher draw distance and lighting on PS VR2 when in comparison with the unique port), but in addition is a way more tightly paced and full recreation. Since importing progress isn’t an choice, the improve curve is smoother and results in a extra constant expertise. And whereas Chapter 2’s irritating management issues had been additionally current on this first title, they’re a bit of simpler to miss since Chapter 1 isn’t as heavy on the fight. It’s a less complicated and extra easy recreation, however one which makes fewer errors.
Chapter 1 has aged comparatively properly and makes Chapter 2 appear even worse by comparability. It fails to meaningfully construct upon its predecessor because it not solely unabashedly repeats the identical gameplay loop and provides little to it, but in addition takes out among the incentives that had been key to its success. Reusing a lot and never transferring ahead has turned one thing that was novel right into a extra laborious recreation that doesn’t have its personal id. The shoddy technical efficiency solely exacerbates all of those issues and acts because the nail-ridden bat to the pinnacle. This sequel will in all probability get higher over time as Skydance patches it up, however lots of its issues are structural ones that updates virtually assuredly can’t resolve, that means Chapter 2 will seemingly at all times shamble in Chapter 1’s shadow.
Disclosure: The writer offered PlayStation 5 copies for our The Strolling Useless: Saints & Sinners and The Strolling Useless: Saints & Sinners Chapter 2: Retribution function. Performed on model 1.001.000 and 1.004.000, respectively.