If you click on a link and make a purchase we may receive a small commission. Read our editorial policy.

The Walking Dead's zombies can hear and smell you

Terminal Reality plans to have the enemies in its shooter take on The Walking Dead behave like those in the HBO show - which means they will track you down however they can.

Writing on the EU PS Blog, creative lead Angel Gonzalez said players won't be able to go in gung ho and expect to survive.

"When referencing the show, one of the things that stood out to us was how the Walkers reacted to sound; they were suspicious of gunfire. Seeming to know that only humans were able to wield weapons, the Walkers instinctively moved toward the sounds people made," he said.

"They are also attracted to other sounds, so someone moving through that world needs to be aware of the amount and type of noise they make at all times. We’re crafting our Walkers to react the same way. In the game, you’ll need to carefully sneak into and out of some dangerous situations and you may meet a few Walkers along the way. If you show up with guns blazing, you’ll quickly find yourself dealing with a much larger crowd and you could easily become overwhelmed."

If that weren't awesome enough on its own, Terminal Reality is also exploring a realm games rarely wander into: scent.

"Walkers also have the ability to tell the living from the dead by their sense of smell. Humans give off a scent that the Walkers can detect, and the longer we stand still (like when we are looking at a shelf for supplies) the larger the radius of that scent becomes," Gonzalez said.

"Stand still for too long and a Walker shambling down the street looking for a meal might just discover you standing inside a store. Our goal in creating our Walkers is to make them as living (or, actually, as undead) as they are portrayed in the series. They see you, smell you, and hear you, and they won’t stop until they find you."

Woah, okay, you're selling me now. The Activision-published shooter is expected on PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2013.

Sign in and unlock a world of features

Get access to commenting, homepage personalisation, newsletters, and more!

In this article

The Walking Dead

Android, iOS, PS3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita, PC

Related topics
About the Author
Brenna Hillier avatar

Brenna Hillier

Contributor

Based in Australia and having come from a lengthy career in the Aussie games media, Brenna worked as VG247's remote Deputy Editor for several years, covering news and events from the other side of the planet to the rest of the team. After leaving VG247, Brenna retired from games media and crossed over to development, working as a writer on several video games.

Comments