The Walking Dead

Preface: I had a devil of a time running this game.  The first chapter went fine, but then the program kept crashing when trying to load the second chapter, then it deleted my saves, then I don’t even know what happened.  I downloaded a torrent of the game (I’d already bought it, so at that point who cares?) and the pirated version worked fine.  Telltale Games, seriously, get with the program.

That’s about all I have to complain about because this game is fantastic.  It’s an adventure game for the modern gamer, less concerned with stumping you and screwing you over than it is with providing an immersible experience.  The writing is far above par for what is normally seen in video games, which is quite a feat considering how much branching dialogue there is, and the game looks and sounds great, opting for a slightly lower quality style that just works.  Visually, my favorite aspect of the game is its attention to details: when something changes in an environment, like a zombie getting killed, it stays changed.  The same blood spatters you get on your shirt stick around.  So much care is put in to these things that it’s a little scary.

Zombie survival stories can really only go so many ways, so I’m surprised The Walking Dead genuinely took turns I didn’t expect.  Maybe I just haven’t seen enough of these stories, but there are enough twists here to keep a player on his toes.  While the game is strictly linear, your choices do something more important: they shape the protagonist’s, Lee’s, personality and affect how other characters interact with him.  Since the game messed up on me and I had to replay it from the beginning once, I saw some of the differences at work.  They’re subtle, but satisfying: it’s great to play a game where your actions are considered.  In particular, a conversation with one of the game’s main antagonists in the final chapter does a great job guilting Lee for some horrible things he had to do to survive earlier on.  If a game can make me feel emotions like hurt or regret, I think it’s accomplished something.

Of course, when I refer to Lee being guilted I refer to the player: what The Walking Dead does best is draw you in and make you feel connected.  This is something many games struggle to do, but it seems effortless here.  The action scenes aren’t very involved, but they’re visceral.  A little girl, Clementine, at practically all times throughout the game forces you to consider morality when it counts.  The end-chapter stats that show you how other players leaned on tough decisions make you question your own choices.  Most importantly, Lee is just a great character to control: he’s a fish out of water, his relationship with Clementine begins with the story being told, and his past gives him a unique outlook on one of the game’s most important questions: when is it acceptable to take a human life?  Oh, and the game doesn’t spell that out crystal clear either.  Your input on Lee’s conversations and actions shapes how he feels about the sins he’s committed.

The Walking Dead is a story that’s told in a way only a video game can be: through the player’s actions and choices.  We don’t need high-concept interactive storytelling devices like Chris Crawford’s Storytron to have an experience we can feel connected to.  There’s also no need for long-term split story sequences or myriads of NPCs to get engrossed.  Just a simple story that requires enough input to make a player think works wonders, and I can only hope more adventure games follow this example.  It’s a classic and important genre (with its direct ties to literature) that has survived on shaky legs and in many forms, but games like The Walking Dead, Ace Attorney and 999 are doing everything they can to keep adventuring alive.

8.5