Arizona Sunshine Goes Flatscreen as a Third-Person Shooter

Vertigo Games has rebuilt Arizona Sunshine from the ground up as a third-person shooter for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2 and PC - no VR headset required.

Game CDKeyPrices Newsroom · 16 June 2026 · 4 min read

A sun-scorched Arizona desert highway stretching toward distant mesas under a dramatic golden-hour sky

Vertigo Games has announced Arizona Sunshine, a fully flat-screen third-person shooter remake of the VR game of the same name - now officially rebranded Arizona Sunshine VR to avoid storefront confusion. The title was revealed with a trailer during the Future Games Show: Summer Showcase 2026, and hands-on previews have since offered a closer look at how the series plays without a headset strapped to your face.

The Arizona Sunshine series has grown primarily on VR platforms since the release of the first VR game in 2016, followed by a sequel in 2023 and a remake of the original in 2024. For the first time in the series, this new entry adopts a third-person perspective and is being developed to be playable on standard PCs without the need for a VR headset.

Built From Scratch, Not Ported

The flatscreen Arizona Sunshine isn't a VR-to-flatscreen port of either the original 2016 version or the Arizona Sunshine Remake (2024), but rather a fully reimagined third-person action game that takes the series' zombie combat and combines it with the story introduced in Arizona Sunshine 2 (2023).

Compared to the original's first-person perspective, the remake is a third-person shooter that throws players into a variety of levels against hordes of zombies, with weapons including pistols, assault rifles, grenade launchers, and flamethrowers. Previews note that the gunplay feels weighty and that up-close melee finishers land with satisfying impact - nothing feels like a holdover from its VR origins.

The developers confirmed they tested both first- and third-person viewpoints during development. The over-the-shoulder perspective won out because it gave them more room to express the game's protagonist, now given the name Sunny - no longer just a pair of floating hands and a loud mouth. Sunny now has a visible face, a full body, and a wardrobe of unlockable costumes ranging from a chef's hat to a full T-rex outfit.

A derelict Arizona suburban backyard bathed in amber dusk light, broken fences and an empty swimming pool surrounded by dead vegetation — The new flatscreen version rebuilds Arizona Sunshine's sun-baked world for third-person play across PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2 and PC.

Buddy Steals the Show in Co-Op

The remake introduces local split-screen, online co-op, and a new gameplay feature allowing players to control a companion dog named Buddy. Buddy actively takes part in combat, and the game promises both solo and co-op gameplay, with the latter letting a second player take control of the dog.

In co-op, Buddy is invulnerable to zombie damage, can squeeze into tight spaces to solve puzzles, and can take down basic enemies in a single button press. For solo play, Buddy can still be issued commands - a carry-over mechanic from Arizona Sunshine 2 VR. The Sunny-and-Buddy pairing is also positioned as an accessible entry point for players who aren't comfortable with traditional shooters.

From the trailer, the game appears to be designed around larger zombie hordes and more spectacle-driven combat rather than the slower, more methodical pacing of VR. An early alpha build reportedly ran well on a Steam Deck, which bodes well for the planned Nintendo Switch 2 version.

A Trend Taking Shape

Vertigo Games appears to be following precedent set by Moss studio Polyarc Games, which announced in May it was working on a flatscreen adaptation of the VR puzzle-platformer series - Moss: The Forgotten Relic. Both studios are navigating what is widely seen as a contraction in the VR market.

Vertigo Games has experienced some recent turmoil of its own - the studio announced it was closing its Amsterdam-based satellite studio, known for VR action-adventure Metro Awakening VR (2024). Vertigo Games is a PLAION Group company.

The core question previews keep returning to is whether the loss of VR's physical interactivity - manually reloading, physically placing objects, opening doors by hand - leaves the new game with enough identity to stand out in a busy third-person action market. Puzzle moments that felt genuinely novel in VR have been condensed into button presses or cutscenes. That's a fair concern, but Buddy's co-op role and the broader platform reach - especially Switch 2 - give the game a real shot at finding a new audience.

No release date has been announced beyond 2026.