Gaming: Overkill’s The Walking Dead delayed; Giga Wrecker crashes onto consoles; the wasted world of Days Gone

The slow zombie shamble toward a console release for Overkill’s The Walking Dead just got a little slower, after the developer revealed this week that its February arrival has been delayed.

With less than a month left before the release of the first-person shooter, publisher Starbreeze shared in a brief announcement that it’s “decided to postpone the release date from its original February 2019 date,” offering no other scheduling plans and saying that “further information regarding the future release will be announced at a later date.”

Released to the Steam store last November, the game originally was slated to arrive on consoles on Feb. 6. Initial sales of the Steam version were slow enough to prompt a quick post-release discount, according to gamesindustry.biz — the latest in a series of reported setbacks surrounding Starbreeze’s heavy investment in The Walking Dead franchise.

Developed in conjunction with Robert Kirkman’s Skybound brand, the game itself mixes survival horror with first-person action, emphasizing co-op gameplay elements and scavenging to bolster your camp defenses, in the same spirit as the comic books on which the game is based.

While PlayStation 4 and Xbox One owners await word on when they’ll be able to pick up their copy, Overkill’s The Walking Dead remains available for PC gamers via Steam.

While we’re on the theme of Steam releases crossing over to consoles, here’s another: Giga Wrecker, the 2016 PC side-scroller from Pokémon developer Game Freak, will be heading to current-gen consoles under the title Giga Wrecker Alt.

The Metroidvania-style platformer unfolds in a post-apocalyptic world where protagonist Reika uses her special rubble-manipulating powers to solve puzzles, make weapons and useful items, and reshape terrain in order to progress further through the ravaged landscape.

Via Polygon, Giga Wrecker Alt will introduce new features that expand on the original, including 20 new puzzles, an “Ironman” difficulty mode, and a new character who’ll participate with Reika through her quest.

Game Freak hasn’t yet revealed a firm release date, but says that Giga Wrecker Alt should arrive for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch sometime before the end of the year.

With the release of Sony’s Days Gone survival horror game only three months away, developer SIE Bend is beginning to show off more details of the action-adventure title’s expansive post-apocalyptic open world.

The studio released a new trailer showcasing the beauties (and dangers) that await players in the game’s rural Northwest setting, where “Freakers” — humans and animals transformed into zombie-like creatures by a worldwide pandemic — can’t wait to end the journey of protagonist Deacon St. John.

St. John’s journey will carry you through “landscapes that change quickly and dramatically, a living, breathing world — filled with things trying to kill you,” according to Sony. “… During the pandemic that killed the world, tens of thousands of survivors fled into the wilderness not realizing that it was no safer than the homes, cabins, truck stops, saw mills and small towns they left behind.”

Pre-order bonuses for Days Gone include a special Drifter Crossbow weapon, early-game upgrades for your motorcycle (St. John’s preferred mode of transportation), and a special game-skinned theme for those who pre-order via the PlayStation Store. Days Gone is set to release exclusively for PlayStation 4 on April 26.