#skydance interactive

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners Chapter 2: Retribution State of Play 2022 Trailer **Graphic**

Skydance Interactive’s The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners Chapter 2: Retribution will release to PS VR and PS VR2. The game is a direct followup to  The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners and adds a new story campaign, new maps, new weapons and tools, and new challenges.

Treyarch co-founder Peter Akemann - who more recently served as president of Skydance Interactive - has pleaded guilty to flying the drone that crashed into, and grounded, a firefighting plane assisting in the efforts to control the recent LA wildfires.

Akemann's drone crashed into the Super Scooper firefighting plane - capable of carrying over 1000 gallons of water to dump on fires - on 9th January (thanks The Hollywood Reporter). The impact resulted in damage to the aircraft's left wing, grounded it for several days and preventing it from participating in the LA firefighting operation.

At the time of the crash, the US Federal Aviation Administration had implemented temporary flight restrictions barring drones from flying near the Southern California wildfires. Despite this, Akemann is said to have launched a drone from the top floor of a Santa Monica parking garage in an attempt to survey the Palisades Fire, but eventually lost track of it a mile and a half from its starting point - at which point it collided with the firefighting plane.

Just over a year and a half ago, I remember tuning into the Game Awards 2022, a cavalcade of gamer consumerism and circle-jerking. You love to see it. Yet there was one trailer the piqued my kaiju-enjoyer curiosity. It was for a game called “Behemoth”, and despite the generic title the monster featured in the cinematic cg-rendered trailer struck me as a bit familiar.

At first I thought this game was some sort of stealth-MonsterVerse title since it appeared to feature Behemoth, the tusked-sloth like titan debuting in 2019’s Godzilla: King of the Monsters. Yet the game isn’t under Legendary’s purview. It’s being developed by Skydance Interactive, a division of Skydance Media. So did they plagiarize creature design from KOTM? I’ll let you be the judge.

First off, here’s a pic of Behemoth as they appear in KOTM. Not the woolly mammoth-like fur and distinctive curved tusks, and the lack of a trunk. One of the more iconic original titans featured in KOTM in my opinion.

And here's a shot of the creature from the cinematic trailer's developer, Capsule Studio. Even in the shaky first-person view, Behemoth’s iconic design stands out, the tusks, the fur, the lack of trunk. Even its bony scalp and (featured in the trailer) long sloth-like arms that reach to the ground. Some visible chains can even be seen on it's right tusk, which mimic the vines on Behemoth with KOTM as well. It does sport a few fangs out of it's mouth, which is an interesting departure. However, this could hardly be any closer to the Behemoth debuting in 2019. I thought about it a bit, but put it out of mind for quite some time.

Fast forward to May 30th of 2024, the day of Sony’s latest State of Play stream, a venue for Sony to show off latest games, hardware and whatnot. Featured among their titles on Playstation VR2, and to my surprise Behemoth was featured prominently, and with gameplay as well! And you know what, it looks kind of fun, but that's neither here nor there.

No we have a clearer image of this yet-unnamed monster. There's at least one more giant monster featured in the trailer, so it may be safe to assume this isn't the Behemoth. It's appearance is noticeably different, this time it features a trunk! Specifically that of the male elephant seal, along with short tusks curved inwards towards it's body. Even it's massive hands seem shorter than the original trailer, as it can no longer walk with them like a simian.

So.... what does this all mean? I can't help but speculate, but my theory is that when developing the game, Skydance was perhaps using an image of KOTM's behemoth as quick reference for what they wanted their VR game. It could even be possible that the creature was in an image search for the word "Behemoth" and was just used for early development. They may have passed a reference image off to Capsule Studio to use for the first tease of their game at the prestigious awards show, and a new model for the monster was created based around KOTM's Behemoth.

Alternatively, I did look to tie anything from KOTM's VFX companies to Capsule Studios, but not much came up. KOTM visual effects supervisor Guillaume Rocheron spoke about working with companies MPC, DNEG and Method Studios on the film, and while some of these VFX companies have locations in Paris and elsewhere in France, I can't say definitively that there's overlap between KOTM's vfx companies and Capsule Studios. It's possible someone working at Capsule had the model for KOTM Behemoth and made adjustments to make their beast more distinctive, but that is pure speculation.

What do you think? Just a coincidence, or do you think Skydance has taken inspiration from Behemoth's bit-part in Godzilla: King of the Monsters? Regardless, I'm sure the reality is much more interesting than what I could wonder about.

🎮 Let's Play: The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (PC-VR) Available on PC:   https://vrwalkingdead.com

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🎮 Let's Play: The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (PC-VR) Available on PC:   https://vrwalkingdead.com

It seems like something big is about to go down in our current campaign of The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. I feel like I have a good idea of what's coming, and what I plan to do, but the best laid plans of mice and men, especially among walkers, often often go awry. Who do we sacrifice? Who do we save?

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🎮 Let's Play: The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (PC-VR) Available on PC:   https://vrwalkingdead.com

Follow MrGlasco!

More commentary & creative content on my blog: https://MrGlasco.tv

💸 My Tip Jar - https://MrGlasco.tv/Tip 🎮 My Office & Equipment Specs - https://MrGlasco.tv/Specs 👕 My Merch Store (Beta) - https://Streamlabs.com/MrGlasco/#/Merch

🎮 Let's Play: The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners (PC-VR) Available on PC:   https://vrwalkingdead.com

It's time to get back to walker killing and surviving the faction politics of The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners. With the exception of medicine we are well equipped, well upgraded and well stocked for the time being, but every day that passes brings us fewer supplies and more zombies. Hopefully, we're still ahead of the curve before supplies are gone and all that is left is a walker horde.

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💸 My Tip Jar - https://MrGlasco.tv/Tip 🎮 My Office & Equipment Specs - https://MrGlasco.tv/Specs 👕 My Merch Store (Beta) - https://Streamlabs.com/MrGlasco/#/Merch