2012 Gaming Year in Review: The Walking Dead Season 1 (July)

 The first point and click adventure RPG this year worth investing time into on our list this year is “The Walking Dead.”  This game based on the hit comic book series by the same name written by Robert Kirkman has both survivalists and necrophiliacs excited, as it presents a perfect combination of both an amazingly sad story, as well as a large variety of puzzles.  

Something neat that Telltale Games decided to incorporate into this was the way that the player’s decisions influenced the outcome of the game.  Instead of a fixed storyline with x number of outcomes, as the player comes to the end of an episode* major decisions made in the story are virtually tallied and when the next episode is released, the decisions affect the overall storyline.  For example, if the majority of players decide to kill a sick man in one episode in fear of him becoming a “walker”, said character won’t reappear in later episodes.  This type of feature allows for a flexible story impossible with most other RPGs.  


Another great attribute that brings out its origins from a comic book series are the graphics.  Although some may rate the simple graphics harshly, we feel that it reminds players of the humble beginnings of where this concept first came from, keeping consistency within the Walking Dead universe.  

Although the Walking Dead may leave you wondering more and more of what will happen with the rest of humanity with scenes that really tug at your heartstrings, what really sums up this marvelous game is what it won at the Spike video game awards, Game of the year.