Re: The Walking Dead Play
Sofie Kovalcheck
The Walking Dead[a] is an episodic adventure video game developed and published by Telltale Games. Based on the comic book series of the same name, the game is the first of The Walking Dead video game series published by Telltale and consists of five episodes, released between April and November 2012. It is available for Android, iOS, Kindle Fire HDX, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Ouya, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series SX and Nintendo Switch.
The game takes place in the same fictional world as the comic, at the onset of the zombie apocalypse in the state Georgia. Most of the characters are original to the game, which centers on convicted criminal Lee Everett who becomes a protective figure to a young girl, Clementine and must help her find her parents. Robert Kirkman, the original creator of the comic book series, 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, 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 events, 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. The choices were tracked by Telltale and used to influence their writing in later episodes.
The Walking Dead is a graphic adventure, played from a third-person perspective with a variety of cinematic camera angles, in which the player, as protagonist Lee Everett, works with a rag-tag group of survivors to stay alive in the midst of a zombie apocalypse.[7][better source needed] 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, The Walking Dead game is focused more on developing characters and story, and less on the action tropes that tend to feature in other zombie-based games, such as Left 4 Dead.[8]
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 (RPGs).[9] Some conversation trees 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 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.[9] 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.[10] In more action-based sequences, the player must follow on-screen prompts for quick time events (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.[11]
The Walking Dead occurs simultaneously with the events from the original comic series, where a zombie apocalypse overwhelms much of society.[12][13][14] 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, the game's events occur in the state of Georgia.
Numerous characters appear throughout the game. Lee Everett (voiced by Dave Fennoy[15]), the primary protagonist, is a native of Macon and a former University of Georgia professor convicted for killing a state senator who was sleeping with his wife.[16] Lee finds and becomes a father figure to Clementine (voiced by Melissa Hutchison[17]), an eight-year-old whose parents had left for Savannah, leaving her with a babysitter killed by the walkers. Lee and Clementine join a family from Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Kenny (voiced by Gavin Hammon[18]), a fisherman who prioritizes his family above all else;[19] Katjaa, Kenny's wife, who works as a veterinarian (voiced by Cissy Jones[20]);[21] and Kenny and Katjaa's son, Kenny Jr. (voiced by Max Kaufman[22]), nicknamed "Duck".[21] The five join a survivor group led by Lilly (voiced by Nicki Rapp[23]), who was formerly stationed on the Robins Air Force Base.[24] Lilly's group consists of Larry (voiced by Terry McGovern[25]), her cranky, aggressive and judgmental father, a retired U.S. Army commander who knows Lee's past;[26] Carley (voiced by Nicole Vigil[27]) a quick-thinking regional news reporter who is also aware of Lee's past but is open-minded about him;[24] Doug (voiced by Sam Joan[28]), a resourceful and logical information systems technician;[26] and Glenn Rhee (voiced by Nick Herman[29]), a former pizza delivery boy.[30] In the second episode, two more people join the group: Mark (voiced by Mark Middleton[31]), a survivor who used to work for the U.S. Air Force; and Ben Paul (voiced by Trevor Hoffman[32]), a high school student rescued by Lee, Mark and Kenny. Also introduced in the second episode are the farmers-cannibals the St. Johns, consisting of Andy (voiced by Adam Harrington), his brother Danny (voiced by Brian Sommer), and their mother Brenda (voiced by Jeanie Kelsey). In the third episode, more characters are introduced; Chuck (voiced by Roger Jackson[33]), a level-headed homeless man who lives in a boxcar; and Omid and Christa (voiced by Owen Thomas[34] and Mara Junot[35] respectively), a young couple who tend to stay away from large groups. The fourth episode introduces two more characters; Molly (voiced by Erin Ashe[36]), an acrobatic and resourceful young woman who carries an ice axe; and Vernon (voiced by Butch Engle[37]), a doctor and leader of a group of cancer survivors hiding in the morgue of a hospital. The Stranger (voiced by Anthony Lam,[38] 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.
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 on his way to prison when the police car transporting him crashes after hitting a walker. After killing the reanimated cop, he flees a group of walkers, and while taking shelter in a suburban home, meets Clementine, whose parents had traveled to Savannah. The two are picked up by Shawn Greene and taken to the farm of his father, Hershel Greene, meeting a fisherman named Kenny, his wife Katjaa, and their son Duck. After Shawn is killed by walkers, Hershel evicts the others. The group travels to Macon, Lee's hometown, where they join another group led by Lilly barricaded in Lee's family's pharmacy, which includes Glenn Rhee. While helping the group secure medical supplies and gasoline, Lee finds his parents and brother are dead. After the death of one of their own, the group is forced to flee to a nearby defensible motel to stay, though Glenn departs to find friends in Atlanta.
Three months later, the group is running low on supplies. They encounter a group of survivors attacked by walkers, and learn from the death of one of them that everyone is already infected and they don't need to be bitten to turn after dying. They take the offer of providing gasoline to the St. Johns, who run a nearby dairy farm, in exchange for food, but discover that the family has engaged in cannibalism. Losing two of their own, including Lilly's father Larry, 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, and with no one around but them, they ransack it. Some time later, the motel is attacked by bandits, which draws a walker horde. The group escapes, though Duck is bitten by a walker. Lilly, having become unstable due to losing her father, kills one of the others and eventually separates from the group. Lee's group travels to Savannah via train with plans to find a boat to escape the mainland, but before they head to Savannah, Lee encounters Chuck, a wise and resourceful homeless survivor living in a boxcar, who advises Lee to teach Clementine self-defense using guns and shooting techniques and to cut her hair to avoid being easily grabbed by walkers. En route, Duck succumbs to the bite, driving Katjaa to suicide. Near Savannah, Lee's group meets a couple, Omid and Christa, who join them. Clementine's walkie-talkie goes off, and a man tells her he has her parents in Savannah.
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