Overkill’s The Walking Dead is a new Walking Dead game by Overkill, which I am sure comes as a surprise to you. The game is a co-op action game, made in the vein of Payday 2, set in the Walking Dead universe.

That said, there are nuances to the game that should potentially add layers to it that other similar games of its ilk don’t have. These include RPG mechanics such as leveling, and survival mechanics such as crafting. We look at both of those in this guide.

LEVELING YOUR CHARACTER

Leveling your character is actually a fairly easy process. You do need to remember that each character levels separately—which means that EXP is not shared, and you need to actually play with a character for them to grow and develop. You get EXP for completing a mission (more for completing it successfully, but still some for failing it). EXP lets you level up.

Leveling up also gets you Skill Points, which are used to upgrade your character. To do that, go to “Character” from the main menu, where you will see the character’s skill tree. There are two skill trees available to every character:

• Class, which gives them specific perks and abilities that can be used during encounters and missions (these may be passive or active), and
• Core, which is used to upgrade their core characteristics such as stamina and health

Spend the skill points towards whatever skill you want from here, and that’s it. More skills and higher levels are going to make you stronger, which lets you take on later missions with ease.

CRAFTING

While crafting is a survival mechanic, Overkill’s The Walking Dead makes a lot of concessions to playability. You don’t have to worry about any inventory space, which means each map you start on, you can go around scavenging resources from any cabinet or other point of interest you see wantonly.

Crafting is done for items that are tied to your skills—bandages for healing, smoke grenades for distractions, lockpicks for lockpicking, and so on. Open up the crafting menu, and simply craft the item you want by selecting then ability it is associated with on the screen. As long as you have enough resources, you will craft it without issue. And that’s it. Once it’s crafted, you can use it in game. Go you n

Overkill’s The Walking Dead is a co-op action shooter by the folks who brought us Payday, except set in the Walking Dead universe. There’s a fair few interesting mechanics at play here, but on the whole, this is a very simple game that you can stay ahead of as long as you know what you are doing. Which is where we come in.

Be quiet. If you make noise, you attract attention from the Walkers, and Walkers are always trouble, even when you’re kitted out and have a lot of health. Which also means

Don’t use your guns unless absolutely necessary. Guns make noise—a lot of it. In the world of The Walking Dead, that means that they can be very dangerous to use. It’s generally advisable not to use them, unless you have to—and to try to use them with suppressants or silencers to muffle as much of their sound as possible

Keep moving at all times. The Walkers always spawn close by you, and if you stay in one place for too long, they’re eventually going to find you. As mentioned previously, this is a bad thing, so just… keep moving. Moving at all times also means you can…

Kite the Walkers. No, that isn’t euphemism. Kiting is a basic but effective strategy which involves you leading the Walkers around in circles, and is especially great for not only getting rid of smaller hordes, but also for getting around any larger ones.

It’s a trap. There’s loads of traps in the world of Overkill’s The Walking Dead. Keep your eye out for them at all times, disarming them if possible, and sidestepping them if not. Under no circumstances should you be stupid enough to get caught by one.

Have the Chem Kit equipped. This can positively impact the resource yields you get from completing missions.

Overkill’s The Walking Dead is a co-op action game, but it has some survival elements to it as well. These aren’t as involved, thankfully, as they can be in hardcore survival games, but they’re still things to look out for, especially since they can catch you unprepared and come bite you in the ass. This guide deals with getting a handle on them.

MODIFYING YOUR WEAPONS

Weapons you find in the game can be upgraded using mods. You get mods by completing missions. Once you have a mod, you simply open the map menu, and go to the Vault. Here, you will see a list of all your weapons. Select one, and you see a list of all applicable mods. Apply the one(s) you want, and you’re good to go. Keep your weapons upgraded, so you always have the most firepower on hand possible.

BLUEPRINTS

Blueprints are, well, blueprints. These are useful in game items that can make your character more powerful while also giving you options to upgrade your camp.

To start getting Blueprints, first level your Hub to 2. This unlocks the ability for you to take on bounties. Next, speak to Anderson in Georgetown, which unlocks the bounties option in your menu. Complete five bounties, and you will receive blueprints as a reward.

THE WORKSTATION

Once your hub is upgraded enough, you unlock the ability to have workstations (up to four), each of which houses survivors as workers. These workstations can provide vital buffs and perks to your characters. The workstations are:

Radio: Assign scouts here, for crafting efficiency. You get higher resources yield with this workstation.

Range: Assign Tacticians here, to get buffs that increase and optimize your stealth.

Depot: Upgrades your health and vitality. Assign tank survivors to this workstation for maximum effectiveness. Assign Supports here.

Clinic: Allows for more downtime before death, with the final upgrade letting you get incapacitated once before getting perma’d.

To assign more characters to a workstation, you must level up your hub, which increases the capacity of each of them.