I'd been wanting to for a while and finally last week finished playing through both seasons of Telltale's The Walking Dead. They were some interesting... games, I guess.

So let's get to that first. I'm not sure how to think of them. They definitely are more like what I imagine a visual novel would be like (having never played one), with a bit more action of course. They were different from what I'm used to, but not overall in a bad way. It was fun to play something new. At the same time, there most definitely were many moments where I just wanted to do something instead of just wait to react to the scripted moments.

Lee and Clem I played as very, very different people. Lee tried to be more of that guy in the middle while still recognizing the need to look past things in the situation they were in. Clem at first tried to follow his example, but even I was shocked at the end by how twisted she was becoming. That definitely influenced my choices at the end to try and find some redemption. I'm very interested in how season 3 is going to be handled given the 5 possible endings of season 2. That would truly be like playing different games at first, but it wouldn't surprise me to be funneled into the same place after maybe an episode or two.

My biggest problem with the games is probably Telltale's apparent desire to wipe the slate clean every season. Clem is clearly the main character and to them, the only one that matters. Everyone else must die. She must find a new group. Who then must all die. I know it's the zombiewalker apocalypse, but come on now... can't anybody else she knows live??

It was fun overall to see the story unfold, and I certainly felt some emotional extremes during the ride. I'll probably definitely be picking up season 3 as it comes out. May even look into Wolf Among Us and the Game of Thrones game. Between the fast action games I'm used to (and 5 of those came out this month aaaah I don't know what to play), sometimes something a little different is nice. I do still wish the "interactive" part of them was more true to the meaning of the word though.

For fans of the show or comics, definitely consider checking them out.

~|ET|~