The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners is a virtual reality rendition of the famed zombie franchise, that seeks to deliver a horror-survival carnival of extreme violence.

I played a demo recently, on Oculus Rift (final platforms are yet to be announced) and found it to be true to the comic-book origins. It’s being developed and released by Skybound, the company co-founded by The Walking Dead’s co-creator Robert Kirkman.

Set in New Orleans, three years after the zombie outbreak, I’m tasked with exploring the city, and facing down a powerful organization called The Tower. During my travels, I encounter variously menacing groups of zombies. Sometimes an individual zombie will pop out at me, from behind cover. Other times, I’ll see a huge group of them up ahead.

Using the Rift’s controllers, I wield a variety of weapons, including blades, axes, blunts, guns and throwables. I heal myself using rolls of bandages, medicine and foodstuffs that I pick up as I poke around in abandoned houses and yards. I keep a pistol by my hip, a larger weapon over my right shoulder, and a pack over my left, which carries an extra weapon, ammo and supplies.

I spend a good deal of time moving very quietly through rooms, picking up stuff that I’ll need. Weapons are all degradable, but my pack carries a lot of stuff, including weapon parts that I can craft. I move using the thumb stick, and can travel about the semi-flooded city by jumping into a skiff. I’m free to travel around the city, ignoring the campaign if I wish.

The story, which comprises a 15-hour campaign, carries some elements of Telltale’s choice-and-character based narrative games. I come across rival groups of survivors, and go through dialog choices. I must decide who is most worthy of my help. I take on quests that involve sneaking, maiming and killing enemy humans.

But it’s the zombie attacks that are the most graphic, making use of VR’s unique eye-to-eye sense of proximity to simulate fear and disgust.

I use both my hands to swing an ax into the head of a zombie, cleaving it open in a gush of gore and blood. But then I have to push my hand against its horrid skull in order to prize the ax free to defend myself against another attack. Guns are always useful, but they make a lot of noise, attracting more zombies. It’s easy to become overwhelmed. Frankly, I found myself enjoying these brutal fights, while feeling a nice rush of fight-or-flight alarm.

The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners is due out on virtual reality platforms on Jan. 23, 2020.