Overkill's The Walking Dead was a bit of a mess—and that has translated into "lower than expected sales", publisher Starbreeze said last week. Following a review of the game's pricing, Starbreeze and developer Overkill has decided to release a Starter Edition of the game that's 50% cheaper than normal and gives you access to everything in season 1, which is essentially all the content it had at launch.
If you buy the $30/£24.78 Starter Edition then you have to purchase story episodes from season 2 and beyond, including the newly-released No Sanctuary, for extra. No Sanctuary adds a new mission, a camp NPC and new items. It costs $8, but prices of future episodes will vary, Overkill said in a Steam post. It will carry on releasing season 2 content until June.
Starter Edition owners will be able to play new episodes if they get invited to a game by a friend that owns them, but they won't be able to use characters or weapons specific to that episode, or play the episode through regular matchmaking. So if you were planning to buy it to play with a friend that already owns the full version, the Starter Edition looks like the way to go.
"By introducing the Starter Edition, we can now offer a more accessible price point with the flexibility to choose what content to go for as we continue to expand Overkill's The Walking Dead," it said. "This is great for players who want to test the waters, or for any of your friends who want to give it a shot."
It doesn't sound like the game is good enough to spend $30 on, judging by Ian's review—although he did praise the design of the zombies, and the Starter Edition at least provides a cheaper route in for anybody that was already considering buying it.
You can pick it up on Steam.
