The Walking Dead (Spoilers after first post)

[Base_Delta_Zero]

So, I couldn't find a current thread on this game, which surprises me, because it is one of the best games I've played in years.

It's a five episode "season" of choose your own adventure games from Telltale based on the The Walking Dead comics. While you encounter a handful of established characters from the TV series and at least one seen only in the comics so far, the majority of the cast are completely new characters. All five episodes have been released on XBOX Live for download for 400 points per ep.

Other than a few plot railroad events you simply can't avoid, the majority of the choices in game of how you interact with the other characters, how you go about solving problems, and ultimately, who gets to live and who dies, are all up to you. Decisions in crisis situations and in conversation are on a timer, so you have to decide things quick and are more likely to choose with instinct rather than gaming the system for a "perfect run", which isn't possible to achieve, anyway.

Each episode can take anywhere from 2-3 hours to complete, so it's a minimum of 10 hrs for the whole season. The writing is great, the atmosphere is spot on and the characters are all relatable, even if some you love and others you pray get eaten. The art style is like a comic book with depth of field. Playthrough felt like participating in an epic miniseries and the game is addictive like the television series or a really good book. I had to wait months between episodes, but you all who haven't played yet can get them all at once.

At the end of each episode, you get a next on preview based on choices you made throughout the current ep and then you get to see how your choices stacked up with the rest of the people who played (were you in the majority or minority on choosing this or that).

I can't recommend this game enough. If you like zombies, are into the comics or TV series or just like a good story, you have to check this thing out. Be warned that it is an adult-themed game with full gore, violence and language, and so not for children.

I'd be interested in hearing what others thought of the game and what choices you all made, who you allied with, and what were your favorite and least favorite characters/events /choices.

 

[Evil Twin]

I nabbed this from the Steam 50% off sale last week and I really loved it as well. Some of my decisions:

Spoiler: Choices

-Chose to save Shawn Greene (which I won't bother to do again, since he's doomed no matter what.)

-Gave the gun to the bitten girl at the motel.

-Saved Carley (cuz, y'know, woman and all, will probably do Doug next time.)

-Tried to save Larry. (it showed me still briefly pumping on his chest after his head was a pulp )

-Chose not to kill the cannibals.

-Resisted stealing from the station wagon.

-Didn't shoot the woman at the beginning of episode 3. (Probably my most controversial choice, but she was doomed anyway, and it gave us more time to nab the supplies.)

-Let Lilly stay in the RV after killing Carley.

-Killed Duck myself (come on, who wouldn't.)

-Killed the boy in the attic myself (see above.)

-Molly lived (glad I brought Clem!)

-Didn't drop Ben.

-Allowed my arm to get chopped off (on the slim chance it'd actually save me, of course it didn't, won't bother doing so in future playthroughs.)

-Didn't finish off the kidnapper.

-Told Clem to shoot me (one less walker to deal with.)

And overall my relationship with Kenny was sort of 50/50, didn't always agree with him, but now that I know that you're pretty much stuck with him for the duration, I'll probably be completely supportive of him next time. (And I tried not to be too hard on Ben either, even though he deserves it. )

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

Spoiler: Choices of mine and favorite/most hated things about the game.

-I chose to save Duck, since he's a kid and all.

-Shot the girl at the motel.

-Saved Carley because I wanted a romantic interest.

-Fought with Larry constantly, but did try to save him.

-Told Lily about my past.

-Executed the cannibals.

-Didn't steal from the station wagon.

-Shot crazy lady in the woods when she drew down on us.

-Gave Lily the boot after she shot Carley. Really wanted to shoot her, but not given the option.

-Finished off Duck.

-And the boy in the attic.

-Kept Molly alive, cause she's cool.

-Let Ben fall to his horrible death because it appeared to be the only way I could kill him after he revealed what he had done (which I knew the moment he was accused).

-Sawed off my arm. Ouch that hurt.

-Talked out the kidnapper, didn't get shot and choked him out, leading to Clem taking him out for me.

-Went ahead, keeping Omid and Christa safe at the hotel.

-Had Clem finish me off, but would have shot myself if that was an option.

-Had a yo-yo relationship with Kenny as I tried to side with him unless he was being a larger than usual jerk, but it was tough.

-Kenny, Omid and Christa all survived and were friendly enough with me to go on the final mission.

-----------------------------------

Playing off of Twin's list, those were the decisions that jumped to mind. The one event in the entire story I absolutely hated was the unavoidable death of Carley at the hands of Lily. She was my favorite character besides myself and it was heartbreaking to have her killed over absolutely nothing.

I thought Clementine was the single best child character I've ever encountered in a game or television show. Her relationship with me as Lee was the core of the story through the whole season and made everything so much more worthwhile than simply shooting zombies in the head during the apocalypse would have.

 

[The Engineer]

Spectacular game. Easily wins game of the year in my book.

 

[The Engineer]

Spoiler: One choice I made

How did you kill the kid in the attic, btw? I couldn't bring myself to stomp him to death so I used the railroad spike thing.

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

Spoiler: One choice I made

How did you kill the kid in the attic, btw? I couldn't bring myself to stomp him to death so I used the railroad spike thing.

Spoiler: Attic choice

I stomped his head. I wanted to end it as quickly as possible, because it was so horrible. Then of course I had to carry his body out back and bury it. Pretty stark game design.

I loved the overall experience. Definitely best game this year by far.

 

[Cutter John]

Spectacular game. Easily wins game of the year in my book.

This. I can't remember the last time I cared this much for a group of game characters. And the person who wrote Clem, and whoever did her voice acting deserve some kind of award. I think shes one of the only kid I've ever seen in a game who wasn't annoying.

 

[superdeluxe]

I really loved the game, I just didn't like how no matter what my choices were, several of the things were already pre-determined, there were several gut punching points in the series, and generally felt pretty upset by the end. (But for a game to make you feel that way, it is really a good thing I guess?)

 

[Evil Twin]

Just thought I'd mention, the site Twenty Sided has started doing The Walking Dead this week for its latest Spoiler Warning video series. (Also check out the "DM of the Rings" webcomic series on the site if you've never had the pleasure before, it's hilarious.)

http://www.shamusyoung.com/twentysidedtale/

 

[SonOfMogh]

This is easily my favourite game of all time.

Anyone who hasn't played it already is in for a treat.

 

[Evil Twin]

Just finished my "Lee is a total dick" playthrough where I picked all the worst dialogue choices, made all the worst decisions, and tried to kill as many people as possible. I think it'd be interesting to also try a "mute Lee" playthrough sometime, where whenever a timed dialogue choice comes up, just let it run out and say nothing and see how things play out.

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

I was tempted to do a jerk playthrough when I first met Kenny and then immediately got yelled at for not moving fast enough to save his son. I could tell he was going to be a real pain in my ass the rest of the game, but I held strong and tried to react how I thought I would in such a situation, and Kenny turned out OK.

There were too many characters I liked, anyway, so I didn't want to be a jerk most of the time. Lily and Ben made me wish for more violent options in response to their actions, though.

I almost don't want to play through it again, because I've seen "my" story already, and I'm afraid it'll get too gamey if I'm choosing different answers just to see things turn out differently. It might be fun to watch someone else go through it for the first time.

 

[PsychoPere]

I'm a big fan of the comics, but I haven't really started playing this game yet. I did purchase the season pass during a Steam sale back when only two episodes had been released, but my computer doesn't seem to tolerate the game much (despite meeting the recommended requirements). I'm waiting on the retail disc release to dive into it on my Xbox.

 

[Evil Twin]

Ok, I've just been sitting here laughing and in tears for 5 minutes straight:

 

[The Engineer]

I'm a big fan of the comics, but I haven't really started playing this game yet. I did purchase the season pass during a Steam sale back when only two episodes had been released, but my computer doesn't seem to tolerate the game much (despite meeting the recommended requirements). I'm waiting on the retail disc release to dive into it on my Xbox.

What kind of problems have you been having? Because the game doesn't really run well on any platform. It tends to pause and shit to load different branching events.

 

[Base_Delta_Zero]

I didn't have any issues with the XBOX Live version. No bugs, crashes or slowdowns. That sucks you're having issues on the PC.

 

[PsychoPere]

I remember having a lot of problems with the game stuttering right after shooting the officer in the woods, and at the time it distracted me and slowed down so much that I gave up on trying to play it on my PC. I just spent enough time in the game right before this post to get through that part again, and it had the same problem but to a much lesser extent this time.

The only change on my PC in the intervening time that I can think of is having gone from Win7 to Win8. In any event, I'll probably try to find the time tonight after work to give the PC edition some more time. The Xbox version is on a Christmas wishlist, and I'm perfectly content with owning two different versions of this game even if the PC one seems to be working better now.

 

[Evil Twin]

Man, Kenny is one touchy S.O.B.

Spoiler: Decisions

My first "good" playthrough, I saved Shawn first, supported sided with Kenny in the drugstore, fed Duck in E2, tried to save Larry in the meat locker, didn't shoot the girl at the start of E3, shot Duck, shot attic boy, saved Ben, and ultimately Kenny decided to come with me to the morgue to look for Clem.

Just finished E4 in my second "good" playthrough, where I'm trying to do a few things a little better. This time I saved *Duck* first, supported Kenny in the drugstore, fed Duck in E2, tried to save Larry in the meat locker, *shot* the girl at the start of E3, shot Duck, shot attic boy, saved Ben, and even tried to be a little more supportive of the boat plan, and Kenny absolutely refused to come with me to the morgue this time. Really, dude? REALLY?! As far as I can tell, shooting the girl in E3 was the one thing that apparently damned my relationship with him this time around, as everything else after that was the same. So, saving your son's life doesn't trump mercy killing a stranger? Whatever, man....

 

[The Engineer]

Man, Kenny is one touchy S.O.B.

Spoiler: Decisions

My first "good" playthrough, I saved Shawn first, supported sided with Kenny in the drugstore, fed Duck in E2, tried to save Larry in the meat locker, didn't shoot the girl at the start of E3, shot Duck, shot attic boy, saved Ben, and ultimately Kenny decided to come with me to the morgue to look for Clem.

Just finished E4 in my second "good" playthrough, where I'm trying to do a few things a little better. This time I saved *Duck* first, supported Kenny in the drugstore, fed Duck in E2, tried to save Larry in the meat locker, *shot* the girl at the start of E3, shot Duck, shot attic boy, saved Ben, and even tried to be a little more supportive of the boat plan, and Kenny absolutely refused to come with me to the morgue this time. Really, dude? REALLY?! As far as I can tell, shooting the girl in E3 was the one thing that apparently damned my relationship with him this time around, as everything else after that was the same. So, saving your son's life doesn't trump mercy killing a stranger? Whatever, man....

Spoiler: ep 4 spoilers

Did you choose Ben to come with you to save Clem the second time? Because if you do, Kenny stays with the boat no matter what.

 

[Evil Twin]

Ok, just finished Ep 5 again...

Spoiler: Ending

This time I kept the arm. You pass out a few times, and Christa chastises you a few times for not cutting it off, but hey, I got to dual-wield the gauntlet! Unfortunately you still only see Lee use the cleaver and not the shard of glass in his bitten hand. Boo.

I also didn't have Clem shoot Lee this time around, and y'know, I think I actually liked that ending slightly better. Lee tells Clem how shooting a person changes you, and refers back to trying to save Larry in the meat locker. And all throughout the game Lee tried to avoid killing people whenever possible, so it fits better with that. Sucks that there's no non-lethal way to deal with the stranger though. It's always either you choke him to death or Clem shoots him. So while it sucks that Lee will turn (although he reassures her that what comes back is no longer him), it's ultimately better for Clem's mental health. Better that her last sight of Lee is him slumped peacefully by the radiator than his brains splattered on the wall, y'know?