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''The Walking Dead'' (also known as ''The Walking Dead: The Game'' and later ''The Walking Dead: Season One'') is an episodic
adventure An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky. Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme ...
video game developed and published by Telltale Games. It is the first game in the series, which consists of 4 seasons and a spin-off game based on
Michonne Michonne ( ), later revealed as Michonne Hawthorne, is a fictional character from '' The Walking Dead''. The character also appears in media adaptations of the series, most notably the television series of the same name, in which she is portra ...
. Based on ''The Walking Dead'' comic book series, the game consists of five episodes, released between April and November 2012. It is available for Android, iOS,
Kindle Fire HDX The Fire HDX, formerly named Kindle Fire HDX, was a high-end model in Amazon Fire line of tablet computers. It was announced on September 25, 2013 and was available in two models, 7 inch and 8.9 inch. The 7 inch WiFi model was rele ...
,
Microsoft Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...
,
Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lap ...
,
Ouya The Ouya ( ), stylized as OUYA, is an Android-based microconsole developed by Ouya Inc. Julie Uhrman founded the project in 2012, bringing in designer Yves Béhar to collaborate on its design and Muffi Ghadiali as VP of Product Management to ...
,
PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...
,
PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international terri ...
,
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...
,
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 i ...
,
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
, and
Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a tablet that can either be docked for use as a home console or used as a portable device, making it a ...
. The game is the first of ''The Walking Dead'' video game series published by Telltale. The game takes place in the same fictional world as the comic, with events occurring shortly after the onset of the
zombie apocalypse Zombie apocalypse is a genre of fiction in which society collapses due to overwhelming swarms of zombies. Typically only a few individuals or small bands of survivors are left living. In some versions, the reason the dead rise and attack huma ...
in
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
. However, most of the characters are original to this game, which centers on
university professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin as a "person who professes". Professor ...
and convicted criminal
Lee Everett Lee Everett is one of the protagonists of Telltale's '' The Walking Dead'' video game series, debuting as the playable main protagonist of the first season. Tasked with protecting a girl named Clementine in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, Le ...
, who rescues and subsequently takes care of a young girl named
Clementine A clementine (''Citrus × clementina'') is a tangor, a citrus fruit hybrid between a willowleaf mandarin orange ( ''C.'' × ''deliciosa'') and a sweet orange (''C. × sinensis''), named in honor of Clément Rodier, a French missionary who fir ...
. Lee becomes a protective figure to her to help reunite her with her parents. Kirkman provided oversight for the game's story to ensure it corresponded to the tone of the comic, but allowed Telltale to handle the bulk of the developmental work and story specifics. Some characters from the original comic book series also make in-game appearances. Unlike many graphic adventure games, ''The Walking Dead'' does not emphasize
puzzle solving A puzzle is a game, problem, or toy that tests a person's ingenuity or knowledge. In a puzzle, the solver is expected to put pieces together ( or take them apart) in a logical way, in order to arrive at the correct or fun solution of the puzzle ...
, but instead focuses on story and character development. The story is affected by both the dialogue choices of the player and their actions during
quick time event In video games, a quick time event (QTE) is a method of context-sensitive gameplay in which the player performs actions on the control device shortly after the appearance of an on-screen instruction/prompt. It allows for limited control of the ...
s, which can often lead to, for example, certain characters being killed, or an adverse change in the disposition of a certain character or characters towards protagonist Lee. The choices made by the player carry over from episode to episode. Choices were tracked by Telltale, and used to influence their writing in later episodes. ''The Walking Dead'' has been critically acclaimed, with reviewers praising the harsh emotional tone of the story and the empathetic connection established between Lee and Clementine. It won year-end accolades, including
Game of the Year Game of the Year (GotY) is an award given by various award events and media publications to a video game that they feel represented the pinnacle of gaming that year. Events and ceremonies British Academy Games Awards (BAFTA Games Awards) ...
awards from several
gaming publications Video game journalism is a branch of journalism concerned with the reporting and discussion of video games, typically based on a core "reveal–preview–review" cycle. With the prevalence and rise of independent media online, online publicati ...
and is considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time. More than one million unique players have purchased at least one episode from the series, with over 8.5 million individual units sold by the end of 2012, and its success has been seen as constituting a revitalization of the weakened adventure game genre. In July 2013, Telltale released an additional downloadable episode, ''400 Days'', to extend the first season and bridge the gap towards Telltale's second season, released later that year as well as in 2014.
Season 3 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In tempera ...
and Season 4 of ''The Walking Dead'' were released in 2016–2017 and 2018–2019, respectively.


Gameplay

''The Walking Dead'' is a
graphic adventure An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...
, played from a
third-person perspective Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...
with a variety of cinematic camera angles, in which the player, as
protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...
Lee Everett, works with a rag-tag group of survivors to stay alive in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. The player can examine and interact with characters and items, and must make use of inventory items and the environment. Throughout the game, the player is presented with the ability to interact with their surroundings, and options to determine the nature of that interaction. For example, the player may be able to look at a character, talk to that character, or if they are carrying an item, offer it to the character or ask them about it. According to
Robert Kirkman Robert Kirkman (; born November 30, 1978)Löchel, Ingo"The Walking Dead: Die Comic-Serie – Robert Kirkman" Zauberspiegel. Retrieved February 17, 2013. is an American comic book writer, screenwriter and television producer. He is best known ...
, ''The Walking Dead'' game is focused more on developing characters and story, and less on the action
trope Trope or tropes may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Trope (cinema), a cinematic convention for conveying a concept * Trope (literature), a figure of speech or common literary device * Trope (music), any of a variety of different things ...
s that tend to feature in other zombie-based games, such as ''
Left 4 Dead ''Left 4 Dead'' is a 2008 first-person shooter game developed by Valve South and published by Valve. It was originally released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in November 2008 and for Mac OS X in October 2010, and is the first title in the ...
''. Some parts of the game require timed responses from the player, often leading to significant decisions that will impact the game's story, in the manner of
role-playing games A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal ac ...
(RPGs). Some
conversation tree A dialogue tree, or conversation tree, is a gameplay mechanic that is used throughout many adventure games (including action-adventure games) and role-playing video games. When interacting with a non-player character, the player is given a choice ...
s require the player to make a selection within a limited time, otherwise Lee will remain quiet, which can affect how other characters respond to him. Unlike in other RPGs such as the ''
Mass Effect ''Mass Effect'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Casey Hudson, Drew Karpyshyn and Preston Watamaniuk. The franchise depicts a distant future where humanity and several alien civilizations have colonized the known unive ...
'' or ''Fallout'' series, where choices fall on either side of a "good or evil" scale, the choices within ''The Walking Dead'' have ambiguous results, having an effect on the attitude of the non-player characters towards Lee. The player can opt to enable a "choice notification" feature, in which the game's interface indicates that a character has changed their disposition towards Lee as a result of these choices. In more action-based sequences, the player must follow on-screen prompts for
quick time event In video games, a quick time event (QTE) is a method of context-sensitive gameplay in which the player performs actions on the control device shortly after the appearance of an on-screen instruction/prompt. It allows for limited control of the ...
s (QTEs) so as to keep themselves or other characters alive. If the player dies, the game restarts from just prior to the QTE. Other timed situations involve major decisions, such as choosing which of two characters to keep alive. Each episode contains five points where the player must make a significant decision, choosing from one of two available options. Through Telltale's servers, the game tracks how many players selected which option and lets the player compare their choices to the rest of the player base. The game can be completed regardless of what choices are made in these situations; the main events of the story, as described below, will continue regardless of what choices are made, but the presence and behavior of the non-player characters in later scenes will be affected by these choices. The game does allow the player to make multiple saves, and includes a "rewind" feature where the player can back up and alter a previous decision, thus facilitating the exploration of alternative choices.


Synopsis


Setting and characters

''The Walking Dead'' occurs simultaneously with the events from the original comic series, where a zombie apocalypse overwhelms much of society. Characters in the game come to call the zombies "walkers", due to the slowness of their movement. Although the survivors initially think that being bitten by a zombie is the only way to become infected, it is later discovered that one becomes a zombie upon death irrespective of the manner in which one dies; only by damaging the brain can the reanimation be stopped. As with the comic and
television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...
, the game's events occur in the state of Georgia. Numerous characters appear throughout the game.
Lee Everett Lee Everett is one of the protagonists of Telltale's '' The Walking Dead'' video game series, debuting as the playable main protagonist of the first season. Tasked with protecting a girl named Clementine in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, Le ...
(voiced by Dave Fennoy), the primary protagonist, is a native of Macon and a former university professor convicted for killing a
state senator A state senator is a member of a state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. Description A state senator is a member of an upper house in the bicameral legislatures of ...
who was sleeping with his wife. Lee eventually finds and becomes a
father figure A father figure is usually an older man, normally one with power, authority, or strength, with whom one can identify on a deeply psychology, psychological level and who generates emotions generally felt towards one's father. Despite the literal te ...
to
Clementine A clementine (''Citrus × clementina'') is a tangor, a citrus fruit hybrid between a willowleaf mandarin orange ( ''C.'' × ''deliciosa'') and a sweet orange (''C. × sinensis''), named in honor of Clément Rodier, a French missionary who fir ...
(voiced by
Melissa Hutchison Melissa Hutchison is an American voice actress, who is well known for her voice role as Clementine in '' The Walking Dead'' and its sequels, for which she won ''Best Performance by a Female'' at the 2013 Spike Video Game Awards and was nominated ...
), an eight-year-old whose parents had left for
Savannah A savanna or savannah is a mixed woodland-grassland (i.e. grassy woodland) ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently widely spaced so that the canopy does not close. The open canopy allows sufficient light to reach the ground to ...
, leaving her with a
babysitter Babysitting is temporarily caring for a child. Babysitting can be a paid job for all ages; however, it is best known as a temporary activity for early teenagers who are not yet eligible for employment in the general economy. It provides auton ...
. Lee and Clementine soon encounter a family from
Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 Unit ...
; Kenny (voiced by Gavin Hammon), a
fisherman A fisher or fisherman is someone who captures fish and other animals from a body of water, or gathers shellfish. Worldwide, there are about 38 million commercial and subsistence fishers and fish farmers. Fishers may be professional or rec ...
who prioritizes his family above all else; Katjaa, Kenny's wife, who works as a
veterinarian A veterinarian (vet), also known as a veterinary surgeon or veterinary physician, is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, vet ...
(voiced by
Cissy Jones Cissy Jones is an American voice actress. Jones's voice has appeared in games such as '' Firewatch'', '' The Walking Dead'', '' Life Is Strange'', '' Grand Theft Auto V'' and '' Darksiders III''. She voiced the part of Lois Lane in the 2018 ga ...
); and Kenny and Katjaa's son, Kenny Jr. (voiced by Max Kaufman), nicknamed "Duck". The five join a survivor group led by Lilly (voiced by
Nicki Rapp Nicki Rapp (born September 4, 1972), often credited as Nikki Rapp, is an American voice actress known for providing the voices for Lili Zanotto in ''Psychonauts'', Morgan LeFlay in ''Tales of Monkey Island'', Lilly in '' The Walking Dead'' video ...
), who was formerly stationed on the
Robins Air Force Base Robins Air Force Base is a major United States Air Force installation located in Houston County, Georgia, United States. The base is located just east of the city of Warner Robins, south-southeast of Macon and approximately south-southeast o ...
. Lilly's group consists of multiple survivors, including Larry (voiced by
Terry McGovern Terry McGovern may refer to: *Terry McGovern (boxer) (1880–1918), boxer who held the world bantamweight and featherweight titles *Terry McGovern (actor) Terence McGovern (born May 11, 1942) is an American actor, television broadcaster, radio pe ...
), her aggressive and judgmental father, a retired
U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...
commander who knows Lee's past; Carley (voiced by Nicole Vigil) a quick-thinking regional news reporter who is also aware of Lee's crimes; Doug (voiced by Sam Joan), a resourceful and logical
information systems technician An information systems technician is a technician of an industrial occupation whose responsibility is maintaining communications and computer systems. Description Information systems technicians operate and maintain information systems, facilitatin ...
; and
Glenn Rhee Glenn, later revealed as Glenn Rhee in the television series, is a fictional character from the comic book series '' The Walking Dead'', in which he is known simply as Glenn. He was portrayed by Steven Yeun in the television series of the same ...
(voiced by Nick Herman), a former
pizza delivery Pizza delivery is a service in which a pizzeria or pizza chain Delivery (commerce), delivers a pizza to a customer. An order is typically made either by telephone, or over the internet, in which the customer can request pizza type and size, a ...
boy. In the second episode, two more survivors join the group: Mark (voiced by Mark Middleton), a survivor who used to work for the
U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Sign ...
; and Ben Paul (voiced by Trevor Hoffman), a high school student rescued by Lee, Mark and Kenny. Also introduced in the second episode are the farmers-turned-cannibals the St. Johns, consisting of Andy (voiced by Adam Harrington), his brother Danny (voiced by
Brian Sommer Brian Sommer is an American voice actor who began his career in 2001. Brian has provided the voice of characters in 200 video game titles including, Telltale Games' '' The Walking Dead'' and '' Wolf Among Us'', Blizzard Entertainment's ''Diablo ...
), and their mother Brenda (voiced by Jeanie Kelsey). In the third episode, more characters are introduced; Chuck (voiced by Roger Jackson), a level-headed homeless man who lives in a
boxcar A boxcar is the North American (AAR) term for a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most ...
; and Omid and Christa (voiced by Owen Thomas and Mara Junot respectively), a young couple who tend to stay away from large groups. The fourth episode introduces two more characters; Molly (voiced by Erin Ashe), an acrobatic and resourceful young woman who carries an
ice axe An ice axe is a multi-purpose hiking and climbing tool used by mountaineers in both the ascent and descent of routes that involve snow, ice, or frozen conditions. Its use depends on the terrain: in its simplest role it is used like a walking ...
; and Vernon (voiced by Butch Engle), a
doctor Doctor or The Doctor may refer to: Personal titles * Doctor (title), the holder of an accredited academic degree * A medical practitioner, including: ** Physician ** Surgeon ** Dentist ** Veterinary physician ** Optometrist *Other roles ** ...
and leader of a group of cancer survivors hiding in the
morgue A morgue or mortuary (in a hospital or elsewhere) is a place used for the storage of human corpses awaiting identification (ID), removal for autopsy, respectful burial, cremation or other methods of disposal. In modern times, corpses have cu ...
of a hospital. The Stranger (voiced by Anthony Lam, and by Roger Jackson through the walkie-talkie) is a mysterious man that communicates to Clementine via her walkie-talkie as the group nears Savannah.


Plot

The following summary is a broad overview of the work, describing the major events that occur regardless of player choice. Some specific elements not listed here will change based on the impact of player choices. Lee is being taken to prison when the police cruiser he is in crashes off-road after hitting a walker. He escapes, and while taking shelter in a suburban home, meets Clementine, whose parents had traveled to Savannah. The two arrive at the farm of
Hershel Greene Hershel Greene is a fictional character in '' The Walking Dead'' whose role is depicted in the comic book, television series as portrayed by Scott Wilson and the game series. He is the widowed owner of a farm in Georgia and has previous experie ...
, meeting Kenny, Katjaa, and their son Duck. After Hershel's son is killed by walkers, he evicts the others. The group travels to Macon, Lee's hometown, where they join another group barricaded in Lee's family's pharmacy, where Lee discovers his parents and brother are dead. The group is forced to flee but finds a nearby defensible motel to stay. Months pass and the group runs low on supplies. They take the offer of providing gasoline to the St. Johns, who run a nearby dairy, in exchange for food, but discover that the family has engaged in
cannibalism Cannibalism is the act of consuming another individual of the same species as food. Cannibalism is a common ecological interaction in the animal kingdom and has been recorded in more than 1,500 species. Human cannibalism is well documented, b ...
. The group overcomes the St. Johns and leaves the farm to be overridden by walkers. On their way back to the motel, they come across a car packed with provisions, which they ransack. Some weeks later, the motel is attacked by bandits, which draws a walker horde. The group escapes, though Duck is bitten by a walker. Lee and Kenny are forced to evict Lilly from the group, who has become hostile after losing her father Larry during the events with the St. Johns. They travel to Savannah via train, with plans to find a boat to escape the mainland. En route, Duck succumbs to the bite, and Katjaa commits suicide over her loss. Near Savannah, Lee's group meets Omid and Christa who join them. Clementine's walkie-talkie goes off, and a man tells her he has her parents in Savannah. The group sets up shelter in an abandoned mansion before investigating the city. Lee and Kenny go to River Street and discover that all the boats have been taken or destroyed, and useful supplies have been scavenged by the walled community, Crawford. Separated from the others, Lee meets another group of survivors led by Vernon, who helps him return to the mansion, where they discover a parked motorboat in a backyard shed. Lee and the others lead a raid on Crawford for supplies but discover the whole community has been overrun by walkers. Once they return to the mansion, Vernon leaves to return to his group but tells Lee he does not think he is fit to be a guardian for Clementine. The next morning, Lee finds Clementine and the boat missing. In his haste to find her, he is bitten by a walker. He leads the group to a morgue where Vernon's group was but finds they have vacated. Over Clementine's walkie-talkie, the stranger tells Lee to meet them at a downtown hotel, the same that Clementine's parents were staying at. After finding Vernon's group has stolen the boat, Lee's group takes to the rooftops to avoid the walkers in the city streets, but they lose several members, including apparently Kenny. Eventually, Lee becomes separated from Omid and Christa. Lee continues alone to find Clementine held captive by the stranger, who reveals himself to be the owner of the car the group had previously ransacked and blames Lee for the death of his family due to it. Lee and Clementine kill the stranger, and the two cover themselves in walker's guts to mask their scent from the horde roaming outside. While in the streets, Clementine finds her zombified parents, and Lee collapses. When Lee wakes up, he finds Clementine has dragged him into an abandoned store. Lee tells Clementine to escape the city and find Omid and Christa. The player then has the option as Lee to ask Clementine to kill him before he turns or to leave him behind to turn. If he does not decide, Clementine will choose herself based on Lee's previous actions. In a post-credits scene, Clementine, who has escaped the city, sees two figures in the distance who notice her.


''400 Days''

The
downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enabli ...
''400 Days'' relates stories of other survivors in the zombie apocalypse, starting at its onset and occurring concurrently with the first season. There are five main stories: * Vince (Anthony Lam) has been sentenced to prison for murder, which he had done to help his brother sometime prior to the outbreak. On Day 2 of the outbreak, Vince is on a prison-bound bus with Danny (Erik Braa) and Justin (Trevor Hoffmann) when it is ambushed by walkers. Vince chooses one of the two to escape with, leaving the other to die. * Wyatt (Jace Smykel) and his friend Eddie (Brandon Bales) have accidentally killed a friend of Nate (Jefferson Arca) and are fleeing from him in a car on Day 41 of the outbreak when they run over one of the prison guards from Vince's bus in a dense fog. One of them gets out to survey the damage but is abandoned when the other one is attacked by Nate and flees in the car. * Russell (Vegas Trip) is a teenager travelling by foot to visit his grandmother. On Day 184 of the outbreak he is picked up by Nate, who takes Russell to a nearby gas station and truck stop, where they are attacked by an elderly man named Walt. Nate suggests killing and robbing Walt and his wife Jean, with Russell deliberating on staying with Nate or leaving him. * Bonnie (
Erin Yvette Erin Yvette is an American voice actress best known for her roles in character driven, narrative-heavy video games like Snow White in ''The Wolf Among Us'' by Telltale Games, Alex in Night School Studio’s debut ''Oxenfree'' and Chelsea Stevens ...
) is a former drug-addict traveling with Leland (Adam Harrington) and his wife Dee (Cissy Jones). Dee distrusts Bonnie due to suspecting that Leland is attracted to her. On Day 220 of the outbreak they are pursued by survivors that Dee stole supplies from, forcing them to split up into a corn field. After accidentally killing Dee with a rebar, Bonnie must decide whether to tell Leland the truth or lie. * Shel (Cissy Jones) and her younger sister Becca (Brett Pels) are members of the group seen in Bonnie's story and are residing in the truck stop seen in Russell's story. Several members are also Vernon's former companions who Lee encountered in Savannah. Roman (Kid Beyond) holds firm control of the group. When a Portuguese scavenger named Roberto attempts to steal from the group on Day 236 of the outbreak, Shel is given the deciding vote on him being killed or allowed to leave. Later on Day 259, fellow group member Stephanie (Dana Bauer) is caught stealing supplies, causing Roman to ask Shel to kill her. Shel then either goes through with it or escapes the camp with Becca on their caravan. The five stories culminate in a final scene on Day 400 where Tavia (Rashida Clendening) discovers photos of the survivors on a billboard near the now-overrun truck stop, along with a map to a nearby location. She finds the group and offers them sanctuary nearby. Bonnie accepts, with the others either accepting or refusing depending on either their past choices or whether Tavia successfully convinces them.


Episodes

The game was separated into five episodes, released in two-month intervals.


Supplemental episodes

An additional episode, titled ''400 Days'', was released in July 2013 as
downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enabli ...
, bridging the gap between the first and second season. It focuses on five new characters, and is presented in a
nonlinear narrative Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative, or disrupted narrative is a narrative technique, sometimes used in literature, film, video games, and other narratives, where events are portrayed, for example, out of chronological order or in other way ...
style; players can approach the five stories in any order they choose.


Development


Early development and rights acquisition

Prior to ''The Walking Dead'', Telltale Games had made several successful episodic adventure games based on established properties, including three seasons of ''
Sam & Max ''Sam & Max'' is an American media franchise about Sam and Max, a pair of anthropomorphic vigilante private investigators. The characters, who occupy a universe that parodies American popular culture, were created by Steve Purcell in his youth, ...
'' based on the comics and prior video games, and the five-episode '' Tales of Monkey Island'', based upon the ''Monkey Island'' video game series. In 2010, the company secured the rights to two licensed movie properties from
Universal Studios Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Americ ...
, resulting in '' Back to the Future: The Game'' and '' Jurassic Park: The Game''. The latter included elements atypical of adventure games, including more action-oriented sequences incorporating quick time events, and was inspired by Quantic Dream's ''
Heavy Rain ''Heavy Rain'' is a 2010 adventure game developed by Quantic Dream and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The game features four protagonists involved with the mystery of the Origami Killer, a serial murderer who uses extended periods ...
''. Sean Vanaman said prior to getting the rights to ''The Walking Dead'', Telltale's Carl Muckenhoupt had been working on a text-based prototype adventure game with a key gameplay focus of having an "active world", in which objects and characters in the environment would continue to go about their actions even if the player did not respond to them. Dave Grossman called this one of the long-standing problems that adventure games had had, as games in the past would have otherwise had to wait for player input. Telltale had approached
Valve A valve is a device or natural object that regulates, directs or controls the flow of a fluid (gases, liquids, fluidized solids, or slurries) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing various passageways. Valves are technically fitting ...
about using this concept for a ''
Left 4 Dead ''Left 4 Dead'' is a 2008 first-person shooter game developed by Valve South and published by Valve. It was originally released for Microsoft Windows and Xbox 360 in November 2008 and for Mac OS X in October 2010, and is the first title in the ...
'' spinoff game, another series that involved zombies, but these discussions failed to result in anything. In February 2011, Telltale announced simultaneous deals with
Robert Kirkman Robert Kirkman (; born November 30, 1978)Löchel, Ingo"The Walking Dead: Die Comic-Serie – Robert Kirkman" Zauberspiegel. Retrieved February 17, 2013. is an American comic book writer, screenwriter and television producer. He is best known ...
and Warner Bros. to develop episodic series based on both ''The Walking Dead'' and '' Fables'', respectively. For ''The Walking Dead'', the agreement included provisions for "multi-year, multi-platform, multi-title" arrangements, with an initial episodic series release to commence in the fourth quarter of 2011.


Writing

During development of the game, Robert Kirkman and the comic publisher
Skybound Entertainment Skybound Entertainment is an American multiplatform entertainment company founded by Robert Kirkman and David Alpert. History Skybound Entertainment is the company behind the long-running comic, '' The Walking Dead'', created by Robert Kirkman. ...
worked with Telltale. According to Kirkman, he had previously played Telltale's ''
Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People ''Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People'' is an episodic graphic adventure developed by Telltale Games and based on the ''Homestar Runner'' web cartoon, with Strong Bad as the lead character. A total of five episodes were released for ...
'', and felt that they "were more focused on telling a good story, and I thought they were good at engaging the player in the narrative." Telltale approached him with a proposal which, according to Kirkman, "involved decision-making and consequences rather than ammunition gathering or jumping over things." The proposal's emphasis on the survival aspect of the comics, and the need for the player to make choices between two bad options sold him on the project. Since then, Kirkman became involved with Telltale, mostly providing oversight on what aspects of the story were appropriate components of ''The Walking Dead'' universe, in much the same manner as he does for the television show, staying out of the direct development process. Dan Connors, CEO of Telltale, stated that working with Kirkman made it easier for Telltale to craft its story and introduce new characters, instead of having to work with those already established in the comic. One of the few demands Kirkman asked of Telltale was to avoid telling anything involved with the comic's main character,
Rick Grimes Rick Grimes is a fictional character and the main protagonist in the post-apocalyptic comic book series '' The Walking Dead'' and the first nine seasons of the television series of the same name, in which he is portrayed by Andrew Lincoln. Creat ...
, as Kirkman has stated long-term plans with the character in other media. Kirkman had not been impressed with an early build of the first episode, but by the time they had presented him with a near-final build, Kirkman told the Telltale team, "Holy shit guys, you did it", according to the game's co-lead developer Jake Rodkin. Connors stated that from a gameplay perspective, they had looked to games such as ''Heavy Rain'' and the ''
Uncharted ''Uncharted'' is an action-adventure video game franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the ''Uncharted'' franchise follows a group of treasure hunters who travel across th ...
'' series as a basis for in-game cinematics, while the idea of giving the player choice was influenced by the ''
Mass Effect ''Mass Effect'' is a military science fiction media franchise created by Casey Hudson, Drew Karpyshyn and Preston Watamaniuk. The franchise depicts a distant future where humanity and several alien civilizations have colonized the known unive ...
'' series. In addition to the television version of ''The Walking Dead'', Telltale took cues from ''
Game of Thrones ''Game of Thrones'' is an American fantasy drama television series created by David Benioff and D. B. Weiss for HBO. It is an adaptation of '' A Song of Ice and Fire'', a series of fantasy novels by George R. R. Martin, the fir ...
'' and ''
Mad Men ''Mad Men'' is an American period drama television series created by Matthew Weiner and produced by Lionsgate Television. It ran on the cable network AMC from July 19, 2007, to May 17, 2015, lasting for seven seasons and 92 episodes. Its f ...
'' in terms of how to develop characters within a brief time. Connors also noted that he found that traditional conversation trees did not possess "a believable rhythm" to dialog, and developed a conversion system, using timed input, to create more natural-sounding dialog. The game's story was written with the final scene in the fifth episode, where Clementine either shoots Lee or walks away to let him become a walker, as the established ending that the game would build towards. As such, the character of Clementine was considered critical to the game's writing, and the team spent much time making her the "moral compass" for the game, while assuring that as a child character, she would not come off to the player as whining or annoying. Similarly, the scene with the Stranger in the hotel room was planned very early in development, and also used to review the player's decisions on a moral basis, allowing the player to respond, if they desired, to the allegations. Each episode was developed by pairing a writer and a game designer so that the plot and gameplay style for that episode would work in cooperation and avoid having one feel detached from the other, according to Vanaman. As such, certain gameplay ideas were left out of the game; one example given by Vanaman was a scene where everyone in the survivor group was firing on a wall of zombies, but as this would lead to a discrete success or failure, it did not fit in with the sense of panic they wanted to convey in the scene.


Choice

A major aspect in the writing ''The Walking Dead'' was the concept of death, whether for the player or non-player characters. Telltale itself was formed from many former
LucasArts Lucasfilm Games (known as LucasArts between 1990 and 2021) is an American video game licensor that is part of Lucasfilm. It was founded in May 1982 by George Lucas as a video game development group alongside his film company; as part of a large ...
employees, who had previously written games where the player could not die. As such, they introduced situations where Lee would die if the player did not react fast enough, although the game would restart just before these events, and situations where non-player characters would die based on the player's on-the-spot decisions. The concept of requiring the players to respond in a limited amount of time came out of the prototype zombie game that Muckenhoupt had made. This timing aspect was designed to maintain the game's pace, and led to the idea of tracking the player's decisions. Telltale's development tools and engines had previously included means of tracking players' progress, but the use in ''The Walking Dead'' was more explicit, revealing global statistics. The ultimate goal of introducing non-game-ending choices into the game was to make the player more invested in the story and more likely to avoid using the rewind feature. Telltale spent a great deal of time to assure that no choice would appear to be punishing to the player, though ultimately "all choices are equally wrong", according to Whitta. The writers wanted to create choices that would appear to have a significant impact on the story but ultimately would be mostly inconsequential to the larger story. At major decision points, the writers' aim was try to have the audience split evenly by making the dialog as neutral as possible prior to the choice; they considered that a split of 75 to 25 percent was not ideal. They noted such cases occurred in both the first episode, where the player has an option to save Carley (the "hot reporter with a gun") or Doug (the "dorky dude"), with the vast majority of players saving Carley, and in the second episode, where the player is given the option to cut off Parker's leg before they are attacked by walkers or leave him behind, with most players cutting off the leg. As such, in subsequent episodes, they worked to modify dialog to eliminate any sense of suggestion, leaving the notion of the 'right' choice ambiguous, and totally up to the player themself. In some cases, the writers had to work around the established characters and chronology from the comic series. In the first episode, for example, the player is introduced to Hershel Greene, who is established in the comics as a bitter character due to witnessing his son Shawn turn into a walker in the early stages of the outbreak. One of the first decisions the player makes is whether to save Shawn or Duck; however, either choice results in Shawn being bitten, so as to maintain the comic's continuity; only the manner in which he is bitten is changed. The major consequence aspect of the choice instead involves how Kenny feels towards Lee. In other cases, Telltale designed scenes and choices knowing how the majority of players would be predisposed to certain characters. One example is the character of Larry, who is introduced in the first episode as a hard-nosed jerk. Based on the statistical feedback, Telltale recognized that most players would want to either abandon or kill Larry at the first opportunity, and as such, they created a conversation tree in episode two where Lilly goes some way to redeem Larry in the eyes of the player. The idea was that this might influence the player when they must choose whether to help Kenny kill Larry, who may, or may not, have died from a
heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
and be on the verge of turning. Telltale found that 75% of the players now wanted to save Larry, a result they had expected. The writers also used the decision statistics from previous episodes to develop the direction of future ones. Gary Whitta, the writer of the fourth episode, specifically reviewed all the statistics from the previous three episodes to determine the general development of the episode's story. One example involved the death of Duck in the third episode. In that episode, the player must choose to either kill Duck for Kenny, or have Kenny do it himself. In the fourth episode, Whitta wrote a scene where Kenny finds a similar-looking boy, who has starved to death in an attic and come back as a walker. Again, the player is faced with the choice of whether to kill the boy themselves or have Kenny do it. They also included a third choice, in which the player would simply walk away, leaving the boy as a walker trapped in the attic, but this decision would harshly affect the disposition of the others characters towards Lee. By the first act of episode 5, there were 32 variations due to past player choices that they had to write towards. The number of possible scenarios were considered necessary to make the game feel "organic" to the individual player, making the player feel like they weaved their own story within the game instead of just taking a specific route through the choices.


Art

Telltale's art director, Derek Sakai, led the creation of the characters and their expressions. Sakai was told to not use symmetric expressions to help create more human-like expressions and help improve the realism of the game. Sakai drew inspiration from his own daughter to develop the character of Clementine.


Soundtrack

On September 10, 2019, an official soundtrack album of
Jared Emerson-Johnson Jared Nathaniel Emerson-Johnson (born October 13, 1981) is an American video game music composer, sound designer, voice director and voice actor. Emerson-Johnson is the Music Supervisor and lead composer at Bay Area Sound, an audio production co ...
's B.A.F.T.A. Award nominated score to the game was released for digital download and on streaming services, with a special edition set of vinyl lps due to release shortly thereafter.


Multi-platform

The
game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term "software engine" used in the software ...
used for ''The Walking Dead'' was optimized so as to facilitate the multi-platform nature of the release, which included
PCs A personal computer (PC) is a multi-purpose microcomputer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. Personal computers are intended to be operated directly by an end user, rather than by a computer expert or techn ...
,
gaming console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to a ...
s and
mobile device A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physica ...
s, with the aim of minimizing the work in porting. However, the development team still focused on achieving the best control schemes for each platform; in particular, the
touchscreen A touchscreen or touch screen is the assembly of both an input ('touch panel') and output ('display') device. The touch panel is normally layered on the top of an electronic visual display of an information processing system. The display is ofte ...
control scheme on mobile devices was based on experience gained during the development of the ''Back to the Future'' game. A major challenge through the development of all five episodes was the save game file format, which they continually had to update and fix across platforms, in some cases causing existing save files to become invalid. Unique fixes applied for earlier episodes on one platform would reappear as problems in later ones. Connors stated that for the next series, they would be "a lot more diligent" on the save game issues, using data gathered during the first season development and information on how players would approach the game. In previous series developed by Telltale for multiple platforms, they had had difficulty in timing releases to reach all players at the same time. One aspect of this was due to issues encountered on the
Xbox Live Arcade Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) is a digital video game download service available through the Xbox Games Store, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360. It focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent ...
service for the
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generati ...
; for small publishers, like Telltale at the time, they had to arrange with larger publishers to allocate a slot within the Arcade's release schedule several months in advance, making it difficult to coordinate with releases on other platforms. After the success of the ''Back to the Future'' and ''Jurassic Park'' games, however, Telltale were able to officially achieve a publisher status on Xbox Live, giving them more control of the release schedule. Furthermore, they had designed the game such that the second through fifth episodes would be treated as
downloadable content Downloadable content (DLC) is additional content created for an already released video game, distributed through the Internet by the game's publisher. It can either be added for no extra cost or it can be a form of video game monetization, enabli ...
, allowing them to bypass slot scheduling and assuring same-day release on both PCs and consoles.


Downloadable content and sequels

The first series proved successful, leading Telltale to begin development of a second episodic season. The first episode of the second season was released in late 2013. According to Connors, Telltale incorporates what players liked best from the previous seasons, while considering how and by what means they will continue the story, and include the possibility of tying in more of the characters from the television show. In February 2013, Whitta suggested that there may also be some material released before the second season to tide players over until then. This was revealed to be the aforementioned ''400 Days'' downloadable content, revealed at the 2013
Electronic Entertainment Expo E3 (short for Electronic Entertainment Expo or Electronic Entertainment Experience in 2021) is a trade event for the video game industry. The Entertainment Software Association (ESA) organizes and presents E3, which many developers, publishe ...
following a week of brief
Vine A vine (Latin ''vīnea'' "grapevine", "vineyard", from ''vīnum'' "wine") is any plant with a growth habit of trailing or scandent (that is, climbing) stems, lianas or runners. The word ''vine'' can also refer to such stems or runners themsel ...
video teaser movies posted by Telltale, introducing the five main characters in the added episode. The content uses information from the player's saved game from the first season, and decisions made within ''400 Days'' will continue into season two. The content was made available on the game's existing platforms between July 2 and 11, 2013, while a special bundled edition of the
PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international terri ...
, including the full ''The Walking Dead'' game and ''400 Days'' content, was released on August 20, 2013. A "Game of the Year" edition of ''The Walking Dead'', including all five episodes and ''400 Days'', was released for retail for the Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 platforms on November 19, 2013. A three episode mini-series, ''The Walking Dead: Michonne'', based on the character
Michonne Michonne ( ), later revealed as Michonne Hawthorne, is a fictional character from '' The Walking Dead''. The character also appears in media adaptations of the series, most notably the television series of the same name, in which she is portra ...
, was released in February 2016. The first episode of third season, '' The Walking Dead: A New Frontier,'' was released on December 20, 2016, with physical season pass disc released on February 7, 2017. A fourth and final season, '' The Walking Dead: The Final Season'', has since been released in 2018, and concluded in 2019.


Marketing and release

''The Walking Dead'' was originally announced as a five-episode series with approximately monthly releases as digital downloads for Microsoft Windows, OS X, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 systems. Its release was slated for late 2011, but it was ultimately pushed back to April 2012. This date was shortly after the conclusion of the final episode of the second season of ''The Walking Dead'' television show, providing a means for the game to ride the popularity of the show. Telltale later announced that they would provide a disc-based release of the complete game for these platforms on December 11, 2012, after the release of the fifth episode. Exclusive to
GameStop GameStop Corp. is an American video game, consumer electronics, and gaming merchandise retailer. The company is headquartered in Grapevine, Texas (a suburb of Dallas), and is the largest video game retailer worldwide. , the company operates ...
stores in North America is the ''Collector's Edition'', which includes new artwork by
Charlie Adlard Charles Adlard is a British comic book artist known for his work on books such as '' The Walking Dead'' and '' Savage''. Career Adlard began his work in the UK on ''White Death'' with Robbie Morrison and '' 2000 AD'' series including ''Judge Dr ...
and ''The Walking Dead: Compendium One'', a book consisting of the first 48 issues of the comic series by Robert Kirkman. Following the retail release, some Xbox 360 owners without large storage options reported stuttering issues with the disc-based game; Telltale compensated these users with free codes to download the full series digitally. An iOS version of the game was announced in August 2012, with episodes released shortly after their computer/console debut. Later, after the full release of all five episodes to the
App Store An App Store (or app marketplace) is a type of digital distribution platform for computer software called applications, often in a mobile context. Apps provide a specific set of functions which, by definition, do not include the running of the c ...
, Telltale offered the first episode for free, something they had done in the past, as doing so, according to Dan Connors, "opens the funnel and gets it out to more people who can then convert into the
ull Ull or ULL may refer to: University: * University of La Laguna, a university in Canary Islands, Spain * University of Louisiana at Lafayette, a research university in the USA Other: * Ullr or Ull, a Germanic god * Ull (Greyhawk), a political sta ...
game". In March 2013, Telltale announced that ''The Walking Dead'' will be ported to the
PlayStation Vita The PlayStation Vita (PS Vita, or Vita) is a handheld video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 17, 2011, and in North America, Europe, and other international terri ...
, later revealed in June 2013 to be a retail release, including a special Vita bundle package that would include the game, the ''400 Days'' episode, and additional content. In November 2013, Telltale announced that a ''Game of the Year edition'' of ''The Walking Dead'' was to be released for PC, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 through retail. It will includes the five episodes, the ''400 Days'' DLC episode, the original score and a behind-the-scenes feature. Releases for the
PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 i ...
and
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
consoles were announced in May 2014 and released in October later that year. A version for the
Nintendo Switch The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a tablet that can either be docked for use as a home console or used as a portable device, making it a ...
was released on August 28, 2018, which included the ''400 Days'' downloadable content. A virtual
pinball table Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...
, developed jointly by Telltale Games and Zen Studios, was released on August 27, 2014 as downloadable content for '' Zen Pinball 2'' and ''
Pinball FX 2 ''Pinball FX 2'' (stylized as ''Pinball FX2'') is a pinball video game for Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows ( XP and higher) and is the sequel to '' Pinball FX''. It was developed by Zen Studios and published by Microsoft Studios. It was ...
'', as well as a separate, paid app on iOS and Android. The pinball adaptation is uniquely designed such that the table is shaped and surrounded by scale representations of set pieces and locales of all five episodes, and exclusively features 3-D, animated models of Lee and Clementine.


Reception

''The Walking Dead'' has received critical acclaim, with reviewers giving praise for the harsh emotional tone, the characters, story and the resemblance to the original comic book, although criticizing the graphical glitches. The game received over 80 Game of the Year awards and many other awards. "Episode 1 – A New Day" received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites
GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...
and
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
gave the PlayStation 3 version 85.14% and 84/100, the Xbox 360 version 83.87% and 79/100 and the PC version 83.38% and 82/100. The game received various accolades including the IGN "Editors' Choice", ''
PC Gamer ''PC Gamer'' is a magazine and website founded in the United Kingdom in 1993 devoted to PC gaming and published monthly by Future plc. The magazine has several regional editions, with the UK and US editions becoming the best selling PC games ...
'' "Editors' Choice", Xbox Editors' Choice Award, and the PlayStation Gold Award. "Episode 2 – Starved for Help" received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PC version 86.53% and 84/100, the Xbox 360 version 86.26% and 84/100 and the PlayStation 3 version 85.90% and 84/100. The game won the
GameSpy GameSpy was an American provider of online multiplayer and matchmaking middleware for video games founded in 1996 by Mark Surfas. After the release of a multiplayer server browser for the game, QSpy, Surfas licensed the software under the Ga ...
E3 2012 The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012 (E3 2012) was the 18th E3 held. The event took place at the Los Angeles Convention Center in Los Angeles, California. It began on June 5, 2012, and ended on June 7, 2012, with 45,700 total attendees. It was ...
award for "Best Adventure Game". "Episode 3 – Long Road Ahead" received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the Xbox 360 version 88.47% and 88/100, the PlayStation 3 version 86.11% and 87/100 and the PC version 85.41% and 85/100. IGN's Greg Miller gave it a 9 out of 10, saying "It's a disturbing, depressing and entertaining entry in a journey that's been nothing short of excellent so far."
GameSpot ''GameSpot'' is an American video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information on video games. The site was launched on May 1, 1996, created by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. In addition ...
gave the game an 8.5, saying "''The Walking Dead'' has passed the midway point of its series of five episodes with every indication that the game will keep getting better right through to its inevitably depressing and unsettling conclusion."
MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
also gave it a positive review, saying "Telltale has created a series of wrenching, emotional decisions in the middle of a collection of not-too-hard puzzles in a visually-impressive adaptation of the Robert Kirkman comic series (with some nods to the TV show)." "Episode 4 – Around Every Corner" received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PC version 84.00% and 80/100, the Xbox 360 version 82.50% and 82/100 and the PlayStation 3 version 78.94% and 81/100. "Episode 5 – No Time Left" received critical acclaim. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PC version 94.75% and 89/100, the Xbox 360 version 88.15% and 89/100 and the PlayStation 3 version 87.75% and 88/100. ''400 Days'' received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 78.20% and 78/100, the PC version 78.00% and 78/100 and the Xbox 360 version 76.88% and 80/100.


Sales

''The Walking Dead'' was a financial success, aided by the ease of digital distribution. The first episode topped the charts on Xbox Live Arcade for the week of April 30, and remained at the top for two weeks. It also topped the sales charts for both
PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smar ...
and
Steam Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporizatio ...
for a week. The first episode sold one million copies in 20 days (not including iOS sales), making it Telltale's fastest selling title to date. With the third episode's release, over 3.8 million episodes were delivered to 1.2 million players. As of January 2013, over 8.5 million episodes have been sold across all platforms, representing about $40 million in revenue. Telltale's CEO Dan Connors has stated that the iOS version represented about 25% of their overall sales, the "largest upswing" for any platform, with sale particularly high in November and December 2012, due in part to various sales on the App Store. Upon announcement of the ''400 Days'' content, Telltale reported that over 17 million episodes have been purchased across all platforms worldwide, while by October 2013, at the time of the formal announcement of Season Two, over 21 million episodes have been sold. As of July 28, 2014, 28 million episodes have been sold.


Accolades

''The Walking Dead'' has been described as representing a revitalization of the adventure game genre, which had been in decline since the mid-1990s. Telltale have been praised for taking their previous experiences in the genre and expanding on them, whilst also incorporating strong writing and
voice acting Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talen ...
;
Gamasutra ''Game Developer'', known as ''Gamasutra'' until 2021, is a website founded in 1997 that focuses on aspects of video game development. It is owned and operated by Informa and acts as the online sister publication to the print magazine '' Gam ...
and '' Game Developer'' named the studio one of the top 10 developers in 2012. ''The Walking Dead'' has garnered many other 2012 "Game of the Year" awards, notably from ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'', ''
Wired ''Wired'' (stylized as ''WIRED'') is a monthly American magazine, published in print and online editions, that focuses on how emerging technologies affect culture, the economy, and politics. Owned by Condé Nast, it is headquartered in San ...
'', ''
Complex Complex commonly refers to: * Complexity, the behaviour of a system whose components interact in multiple ways so possible interactions are difficult to describe ** Complex system, a system composed of many components which may interact with each ...
'', ''
GamesRadar ''GamesRadar+'' (formerly ''GamesRadar'') is an entertainment website for video game-related news, previews, and reviews. It is owned by Future plc. In late 2014, Future Publishing-owned sites '' Total Film'', '' SFX'', '' Edge'' and '' Comput ...
'' and ''
Official Xbox Magazine ''Official Xbox Magazine'' (or OXM for short) was a British monthly video game magazine which started in November 2001 around the launch of the original Xbox. A preview issue was released at E3 2001, with another preview issue in November 2001. T ...
''. ''The Walking Dead'' was awarded "Game of the Year", "Best Adapted Video Game", and "Best Downloadable Game" at the 2012 Spike Video Game Awards; Melissa Hutchison's role as Clementine was named as "Best Performance By a Human Female", while Dave Fennoy was nominated for "Best Performance by a Human Male". Telltale Games was also named as "Studio of the Year". The game was awarded "Best Downloadable Game" and "Best Character Design" for Lee Everett at the 2012 Inside Gaming Awards. ''The Walking Dead'' was
Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. History ...
's 2012 "Game of the Year" and "Best Multi-Platform Game".
Digital Trends Digital Trends is a Portland, Oregon-based tech news, lifestyle, and information website that publishes news, reviews, guides, how-to articles, descriptive videos and podcasts about technology and consumer electronics products. With offices i ...
awarded the game with "Best Writing", "Best Digitally Distributed Game", and "Game of the Year" for 2012.
Yahoo! Games Yahoo! Games was a section of the Yahoo! website, launched on March 31, 1998, in which Yahoo! users could play games either with other users or by themselves. The majority of Yahoo! Games was closed down on March 31, 2014 and the balance was clos ...
' Flan Dering listed ''The Walking Dead'' as his "Game of the Year" and "Best Downloadable Game" for 2012. For the 16th Annual
D.I.C.E. Awards The D.I.C.E. Awards (formerly the Interactive Achievement Awards) is an award show in the video game industry started in 1998 and commonly referred to in the industry as the "video games Oscar". The awards are arranged by the Academy of Interac ...
, ''The Walking Dead'' was nominated for eight awards, and won for "Adventure Game of the Year", "Downloadable Game of the Year", "Outstanding Achievement in Story", and "Outstanding Character Performance" for the character of Lee Everett. ''The Walking Dead'' won the "Best Narrative" award and received nominations for "Best Downloadable Game" and "Game of the Year" for the 2013
Game Developers Choice Awards The Game Developers Choice Awards are awards annually presented at the Game Developers Conference for outstanding game developers and games. Introduced in 2001, the Game Developers Choice Awards were preceded by the Spotlight Awards, which were ...
. ''The Walking Dead'' won the "Story" and "Mobile & Handheld" awards at the 2013
British Academy Video Games Awards The BAFTA Games Awards or British Academy Games Awards are an annual British awards ceremony honouring "outstanding creative achievement" in the video game industry. First presented in 2004 following the restructuring of the BAFTA Interactive En ...
, and was nominated for "Best Game", "Game Design", and "Original Music" for the 2013
British Academy Video Games Awards The BAFTA Games Awards or British Academy Games Awards are an annual British awards ceremony honouring "outstanding creative achievement" in the video game industry. First presented in 2004 following the restructuring of the BAFTA Interactive En ...
, along with separate "Performance" nominations for Fennoy and Hutchinson for their roles as Lee and Clementine, respectively. In March 2013, the game was nominated for and won several
Pocket Gamer ''Pocket Gamer'' is a video game website that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. The site launched in 2005 and is published and owned by UK company Steel Media Ltd. The site covers all major portable and mobile gaming formats, incl ...
Awards categories, including iOS Game of the Year. ''The Walking Dead: 400 Days'' won ''Animation, Interactive'' at the 2013 National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers (NAVGTR) awards.


See also

*''
The Testament of Sherlock Holmes ''The Testament of Sherlock Holmes'' is an adventure video game in the ''Sherlock Holmes'' series developed by Frogwares and distributed by Focus Home Interactive. After being delayed from an original 2010 release, the game was released in Europe ...
''


References


External links

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