Telltale Games’ point-and-click adaptation of The Walking Dead is a game which challenges traditional game styles. The Walking Dead is an interactive gaming experience which puts you more in control of the game’s story than the gameplay. Somehow, this way of playing gives you just as much, if not more control over the game as a whole.
You play as Lee Everett, a survivor in this zombie apocalypse, where zombies are referred to only as ‘Walkers’. While you can walk around and examine items at your leisure, the meat of the gameplay in The Walking Dead comes in the form of the conversation-trees presented in each dialogue sequence. These dialogue options are so abundant and well-integrated that no two players will play the game in exactly the same way, and the slightest deviation in choices could potentially have lasting implications on your long-term experience.
Lee will never say anything that you don’t instruct him to say; if you decide to stay silent instead of picking one of the other dialogue options, Lee stays silent. On top of this, each dialogue option is set against a timer that creates a sense of agency as you are forced to pick your words on the fly. This makes you play Lee from your gut, instead of weighing up your choices for the best results. This allows you to fully immerse yourself in something that, in its simplest form, is just a point-and-click game.
You have a chance to get adjusted to the game’s mechanics quite quickly through the first few minutes of gameplay as you move from a pleasant drive in the back of a police car to a fight for life for your life as attacking zombies shuffles towards you. A short run and a hop of a fence later you’ll meet Clementine, the second lead character through the game’s story. This young girl was left alone with a babysitter days before the outbreak while her parents were out on vacation in Savannah, Georgia. She’s been hiding in her tree house for a few days now while she waits for her parents whom you know will never come; Lee takes Clementine under her wing, and vows to protect her with his life.
From this moment forward, as the world collapses into a zombie apocalypse; the choices you are given as you interact with Clementine and the rest of the cast is largely left up to you. You’ll find that whether someone lives or dies in the game will rest solely on your shoulders quite early on - just as you’ll also realize that you can’t save everyone. Likewise, you’ll find that the decisions leading up to which one of your friends dies really sucks - especially considering the excellent voice acting will have already bonded you to more than one character. Try not to get used to too many characters at once, as you’ll eventually have to choose between them in one way or another. These are the kind of scenarios you’ll be faced with as you play through The Walking Dead, and it only gets more intense the further into the series you go.
Ironically, the gameplay in The Walking Dead is pretty straightforward. There is typically only one way to traverse an environment, with one right answer to finally trigger the next event. Although a diverse way of traversing the game’s world could have made for a more innovative experience, there is no telling how massive an undertaking it would be to tell the story Telltale wanted to tell. Although you have a lot of choices in the game’s dialogue and certain actions when selecting which character to side with, the overall plot has a general direction that it moves towards. The actions and choices you make as Lee will not deviate from the overall story that Telltale has designed.
Some characters will die no matter how much you want them to survive, and some may die regardless of how many times you sacrificed others to save them. That being said, you do have a choice in whom you prefer to take along on your journey and how to go about it - but either way, no one is safe. Each character has their own individual agenda, and no matter how hard you try, they will not change their ultimate decisions and actions.
While some may find this frustrating, it adds a grounded environment to The Walking Dead. With the writers forcing you scramble to say what you want to with very little time creates a sense of realism and tension which is rare within games these days. Just as in real life, you can’t change someone’s opinion simply through words, but you can with actions. You’ll find that if your actions don’t back up your words in this game, others will quickly recognize it and quickly call you out.
Clementine is a perfect example of how your actions have weight, and her presence may very well dictate your decisions through the entirety of the game. Whether or not you kill someone when Clementine is looking, bit your tongue or say a bad word when she’s around, or even restrain yourself from lashing out at an annoying screw-up is often because you don’t want to traumatize the young Clementine. This is all shown as you progress through the game; she will remember things you said, how you said it, and what she’s learned as a result. All of these decisions accumulate to create a new Clementine as she grows as a character. You become equally attached to this lost little girl as Lee does, which is a credit to the quality of writing.
The comic book origins of The Walking Dead is well-represented in the videogame’s artstyle; while the graphics are not exactly 3D or lifelike, it’s a gorgeous game nonetheless. Despite the cartoony animations, the graphic nature of the game, combined the excellent voice acting and writing truly make these characters come to life as actual people; you’ll soon grow attached to them as you forget they are cartoons. Every busted brain, chopped limb, and exposed bone is plain for you to see - there are no cut-aways when slicing through zombie or human flesh, and there is no skimping on gushing blood, guts, and gore. Some gamers may find scenes like this hard to stomach - and they should - this is the zombie apocalypse after all. Telltale Games made no bones about showing the harsh conditions of this new world to the player firsthand.
If you’re playing this game with a mouse, you may not run into a lot of control-related issues, but on a console you’ll quickly find that a joystick just doesn’t afford the same level of control. During certain action sequences you may find that positioning your cursor in the right place in a limited amount of time can become difficult. The Walking Dead was not designed to be an action game, so when action ensues the fumbling controls can be a nightmare. Gameplay can also feel pretty slow-paced at times - when you aren’t talking to people, you’re walking around clicking on objects to interact with them, or you’ll be discussing the current events with the rest of the crew.
You may also find that being a completionist and fully exploring the environments will seldom pays off in terms of changing the game’s outcome in any meaningful shape or form. It’s generally best to figure out where you need to go, instead of watching several scenes of Lee staring and frowning at obscure objects. Sadly, there is no run function in the game, so you should expect to literally walk through the entire game. Slowly. Even when your allies are screaming, telling you to “hurry and find a way out of here!” - here being your deteriorating shelter that is being attacked by dozens of Walkers - you will find yourself casually walking around as you find a way out.
The game’s soundtrack sets a very dark tone which is appropriate for the story. It sounds as though the world is mourning the loss of life, with slow-paced, sad violin and guitar pieces in many of its compositions. Combined with the emotional sequences in this game, it really makes you feel the losses suffered in this experience. Even as a standalone soundtrack, it will evoke the same feelings in you, months after completing it.
However, the soundtrack doesn’t keep the downtrodden mood the entire way through, and there are a few more upbeat pieces which give you the occasional sense of hope and redemption. All in all, it’s fitting that such a groundbreaking game has such an evocative soundtrack, composed by Jared Emerson-Johnson, who is also a game designer and voice actor for the franchise.
Overall, The Walking Dead is definitely a game that will create a lasting impact on those who manage to survive the zombie hoards. However, those looking for an action-packed survival horror game with decapitations, dismemberment and mowing down hordes of zombies will be disappointed. Instead, this is more for those who are looking for a gripping story that will have you laughing, applauding, yelling at your screen and crying over the death of a treasured companion. Combined its five episodes run for about 12 hours of gameplay, and the pacing is so well-handled that at no point will you be bored during your run.
Likewise, The Walking Dead won’t have you jamming buttons to save your life in its QTE sequences. The game is more of an interactive story if anything, and a good one at that. The gameplay is solid enough for what it’s meant to accomplish. Telltale Games does a fantastic job of bringing the original comic book atmosphere to life, immersing you into this survivalist setting and investing you into these very grounded and complex characters.
This is a rare game where you’ll care about the world and the people who are trying to survive within it. Once you’ve reached your journey’s end, you will be left with a gaming experience that you will never forget, and a real hope that the zombie apocalypse never comes. If you’ve not yet experienced Telltale’s wonderful writing and characters then we highly recommend you get lost in both.
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Anthony McDonald
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