I’ve always thought that The Walking Dead series could have some amazing videogames. Alas, bar the excellent Telltale Series, I don’t think they’ve ever reached the heights I think possible. Enter, The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival, ready to have another go at doing justice to The Walking Dead in videogame format. Does it succeed? Not entirely.
The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival is an arcade brawler in the style of classics such as Streets of Rage. You get to take on the roles of badasses Rick Grimes, Daryl Dixon, Michonne in the main campaign, with Negan as an unlockable extra playable character.
“Hot Diggity Dog! This Place is Magnificent”
I’ve been a long (sometimes suffering) fan of The Walking Dead TV show. I don’t think it ever got bad, like some do, but there were certainly some lower points in the series. Conversely, some equally amazing stuff (who can forget “Just look at the flowers). That being said, the show divided fans with the introduction of Negan (amazingly portrayed by Jeffery Dean Morgan), more so because of who’s head he chose to take Lucille’s spikiness to. I’ve never read the graphic novels so admittedly I’m not as invested as some.
The story of Streets of Survival takes place during the “All Out War” storyline, and presents a reimagined narrative. The Survivors must escape Negan and the Saviors, regroup, and take the fight to them in Sanctuary. You will fight through Alexandria, Hilltop and the Sanctuary through the game’s relatively short 12-mission campaign.
Through the story, you will encounter plenty of the series’ characters, and it’s great to see familiar faces such as Jadis, Simon, Carl and many familiar faces from the troops. I was impressed to see the enemy Savior characters look incredibly like those from the TV show. There’s only a set number, but it’s a nice touch. The character models are great, and the characters have been designed to represent their on-screen actors.
“Of Course, It’s a Videogame”
The idea of The Walking Dead as an arcade brawler is certainly appealing, but it brings with it the positives and drawbacks of that type of game. If you’ve played games like Streets of Rage, you’ll know what to expect. You’ll move through the games levels, from room-to-room taking on different types of enemies.
Each playable character has their own equipment and play style. Rick has his trusty magnum and a wrench, Daryl two knives and his crossbow. Michonne has her iconic katana, and won’t pick up any of the usable alternative weapons (such as sledgehammers and crowbars) which I thought was a lovely nod to the character.
Don’t Dead, Open Inside
The Walker enemies and a lot of the Saviors (human enemies) are melee types. As the game progresses, an increasing number of Saviors also have ranged weapons and these are endlessly frustrating. If you get close, they also have melee too. You’ll also get the occasional ‘brute’ / ‘heavy’ type enemy too, often with a heavy machine gun or shield. The variety in enemies is pretty decent, and given the shortness of the game, it was great in keeping it fresh.
The ranged enemies are annoying as they can often be off screen shooting at you, the only thing to indicate their attack is a red-indicator that appears without enough time for you to respond. If they’re in sight, they only need be enough steps away to get their guns out again. You’ll spend a lot of time dodging, moving out of line of sight (more on that in a moment), or just getting shot. Your dodge has a cooldown, so you can’t perpetually be rolling out of the way. I found myself just getting hammered from both sides of the screen on occasion and it was frustrating as your character often gets knocked to the floor on being shot.
“Tainted Meat”
Characters move on a four-point axis (up, down, left and right), with some attempt at a bit of diagonal movement too. Characters feel quite slow and I found myself swinging attacks, just out of reach, as I hadn’t moved far enough over, too far across, or the enemies had just moved. Equally frustrating is that combat feels slow paced, especially if you are mid-attack / combo, and you find you’re facing the wrong way (often happened), you’ll likely take a hit for that error. Add to that, that enemy targeting with their guns often meant they can hit you from anywhere, compared to your seemingly limited range when using a weapon will lead you with many a wound.
That being said, when you remember the game’s combat and movement foibles, and it flows a bit, it’s pretty satisfying smacking up Saviors and Walkers alike.
Boss fights also feature in The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival, with Negan, Simon and the indestructible Winslow the Walker all making an appearance. These often have some unique flairs, rather than just being smack up the bad guy. Some fights were frustrating as all hell, particularly one where you fight Ajax, as an example.
You’ve got to keep moving so you don’t get hit by falling roof, or his heavy machine gun. You can crouch behind cover, and run to the other side of the space but while you’re running you will also mantle and slide across any cover your character comes into contact with. This led to being face-to-face with a shower of bullets as I slide directly into Ajax’s line of fire! None of this makes the game unplayable, but it can be frustrating.
“I am At Your Service, Frowny-McTwo-Knives”
All the playable characters are upgradeable via ‘Knowledge’ and finding ‘progression items’ in the game’s missions. Finding these lets you pick upgrades to boost different attributes, such as attack speed, how many medkits you start with, or increased gun damage. The more Walkers you kill, the more upgrade skills you’ll earn access to.
You will likely not upgrade to the max in your first playthrough, but once you’ve completed the game, you’ll be able to go again with New Game+, now with added Negan, as a playable character. You can use this opportunity to continue to upgrade, find the hidden lore collectibles and try finish the game on the game’s higher difficulties. I’m sure “Hell on Earth” difficulty is going to provide somewhat of a challenge.
There’s also the Horde mode style, “The Walker Pit” an endless wave of enemies will continue appear, and you need to see how long you can survive.
“Just Look at the Flowers”
Visually, the game looks great, embracing its pixel style to create recognisable characters and locations from The Walking Dead. There’s even some of the iconic voice lines by the main characters as you enter levels, or select the characters.
I fully expected to hear The Walking Dead theme music at some point, but it’s nowhere to be seen. The soundtrack works fine for the game, and the sound effects are accurate and effective. The difference in sound when you’re hitting flesh versus a shield was something I thought showed a lovely attention to detail that I was, perhaps unfairly, not expecting.
We Are the Walking Dead
The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival is an interesting take on the ‘All Out War’ storyline, and it’s nice to see main characters from the TV show represented well in pixel form. There’s some clunkiness and frustration with the combat, and the campaign is fairly short, but there’s still some fun to be had.
The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival was reviewed on Xbox Series X. We would like to thank Odaclick Game Studio and Trailmark Games for the review code.
The Walking Dead: Streets of Survival releases on 18 September 2026 for PC, PS5, Switch 2, Xbox Series.
