Games have a way of connecting with us, they provide themes and ideas that force us to think and feel about a situation and sometimes even feel guilty for our end decisions. Taking us on a path of guilt works to truly enable us as the player to feel for our character and truly engage with the world and to a lesser extent feel like we are the character we are playing as. There have been a number of games that have done this idea over the years to truly engage us in our game, however there is only one true example I can think of that has completely engulfed me in feelings and overwhelming regret, this is Telltale’s The Walking Dead or to be more precise with what we will be talking about, I refer to the first season.
The first season of the Walking Dead followed Lee Everett at the beginning of the end essentially, following his story you quickly have to survive a zombie attack or two and then meet a young girl named Clementine who very quickly you feel responsible for. This in turn came down to the sheer scale of the story telling, most conversations led down to multiple choice responses which often led to you being to get drawn into the story and get to know your fellow survivors.
More often than not this idea was used for making decisions and often having to decide on tough situations such as choosing a side of an argument which could lead to further issues down the track. It was all clever and it was because of these decisions that we could follow and really attach ourselves to the main characters such as Lee and Clementine’s bond which often led to tense situations and even tougher decisions than normal.
You always had to think of the best thing for Clementine and had to try and do the right thing all because of how responsible the game led you to feel. You also never wanted Lee and Clementine to have problems which would often be tougher because as the game keeps reminding us characters will remember what you say and can use it against you.
Tougher still were the major story decisions set throughout each of the games five episodes, all tough decisions were left to you and it could be heartbreaking having to choose one option over another. This could often lead to regret and sadness over the choice you make with more than my fair share of tears shed throughout these decisions, a few particular moments in the later episodes are particularly troublesome and really do leave you upset.
Throughout this game I was always sad for one character who had to deal with so much and that was really one thing that made this so heartbreaking, having to go against the wishes of a character or cause more problems made me sad at times but also highlighted the sheer tough side of this world and how its characters had to go. The end of the game will live with me forever and that is because of the quality of the story telling and just how it impacts me as the player and I know it has done the same for many others.
It is all because of the emotional side of the Walking Dead game and the tough decisions that lie within that the game remains very memorable. It is for this reason that the game deserves to be a game of the week and one that ever oldest game player should give a go to. Just remember it available just about everywhere except Nintendo platforms but on a personal note I would highly recommend playing the game on the Playstation 4.
