Retribution

The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners - Chapter 2: Retribution, is, as of this writing (Nov 2023), Skydance Interactive’s most recent flagship title. It is the sequel to the VR hit, The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners, and it finishes the story of the Tourist (you, the Player). It features new maps, a new “night mode”, and a ton of new weapons and upgrades.

Since it is a current title, I won’t reflect here on it’s production, what worked and what didn’t. Much can be said on both, but those are tales for another day, perhaps. But I will say this: I’m quite happy just to see Retribution out there, since for many reasons, right or wrong, I think its existence was rather improbable. Many external forces, some well out of the studio’s control, were working against it (e.g. the hiring landscape at that time). It is only by the crazy hard work and professionalism of the team that we were able to win against the odds, and get the game out there.

My Role

For this game, I was again the Project Director, making it my forth title as either Project Lead or Project Director (same role). As an aside, this also means I’ve lead the teams on every title the studio has released to date, and given the relative age of VR, may make me one of the most experienced directors in the space. Rather unhumble of me to say out loud, I know, but where else to be a bit showey than one’s own portfolio, right?

Anyway, back down to earth here: it’s worth reflecting perhaps on the fact that while my ultimate responsibility was identical each time, “lead the team”, the shape of that work was different from project to project. For Retribution, in particular, the work put more emphasis on Creative Direction than past projects. For comparison, Hellfire was probably a 50/50 split between Creative Direction and Production. I’d say Retribution’s split was 60/40, or maybe even 70/30.

Results

Because the game is still rather new, I think it’s too soon to speak to its results in the marketplace. However, I would venture to say that it has already clearly met many of its business goals - expand Skydance’s library, maintain brand mind-share among VR enthusiasts, add value to the Saints & Sinners product line. That last point in particular is worth highlighting too. Taken together, Saints & Sinners Chapters 1 and 2, and the free add-ons, represent a huge amount of content, making it one of the most complete gaming experiences and one of the best value propositions currently available in VR.