Among the genres that have a tendency to be the most locked in and predictable with how they’ve traditionally worked and played, beat-em-ups would be near the top of the list. A very specific sort of action game, for the most part the ones you can play now haven’t typically evolved all that much over their predecessors. There are certainly examples of both great and lackluster ones in the eShop, and you’ve got some like Absolum that have opted to take on roguelike characteristics in order to spice things up, but for the most part you’ll either be a fan or find them to be a slog.

Right on the heels of saying that, and for the most part the genre tends to follow very predictable patterns, I’ll say that Streets of Survival at least manages to feel a bit different. Given its ties to the Walking Dead franchise, you could have expected to see it simply being a matter of theming, having you cut through hordes of zombies as one of the franchise’s iconic characters. Instead, it has opted for something a little more nuanced, adding in the abilities to search for items, crouch to engage in a little stealth, and dodge with a cooldown. These certainly change the flow of normal genre play, and are generally appreciated.

That said, not everything works as well as I would have liked. My first note is that it feels a little too determined to use plotlines and elements from the shows, sometimes exposing major spoilers, but at the same time not paying something as emotional as the loss of Carl with more than a shrug somehow. That manages to both guarantee people who haven’t watched the show in its entirety will be lost, but also possibly rub fans the wrong way with some details. The next is that while I appreciate the different sort of flow of gameplay it offers, there are key choices that can be irksome, like your inability to change direction while you’re attacking, something that can really screw you as you get swarmed and are trying to simply stay alive. Add in the fact that while the different play styles of each of the characters is great that their repertoire of overall moves still feels pretty limited when compared to contemporaries, and while there’s absolutely the bones of a good game here, it isn’t without its issues.