Stephanie Bendixsen: The Walking Dead is a legacy in video game storytelling others can learn from
There is so much emotion attached to the final season of the narrative epic The Walking Dead. This story-driven game saga has taken us on a journey that has spanned seven years and is a masterpiece of story-driven gameplay.
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There is so much emotion attached to this final season of the narrative epic The Walking Dead.
Part of the same franchise as the graphic novels and TV show of the same name, this story-driven epic by studio Telltale Games has taken us on a journey that has spanned seven years — as we saw the complex and layered protagonist Clementine grow from girl to woman in the harshest of worlds.
Now, not only is the series coming to an end; but it also marks the final release for Telltale, as the studio has sadly been forced to close its doors.
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The poignancy of this gives a heavier finality to every nailbiting choice, every tender moment. The choices in The Walking Dead are what put Telltale on the map as creators of a wholly unique and innovative platform through which we can explore narrative interaction.
It’s a masterpiece of story-driven gameplay.
And it’s this element that continues to excite me about video games as a medium — and what sets it apart from other forms of narrative entertainment like film, television or literature. Through experiences like these, we have the power to impact the story itself, to make choices based — not only our own moral code — but our judgment in moment, constantly forced-into snap decisions as the timer counts down.
Was it the right decision? Will there be consequences? Of course, you may feel confident — until the game shows you player statistics that state that only 13 per cent of players made the same decision as you.
Telltale were full of fascinating and clever ways to make us second-guess ourselves and feel real-world stress in this fictional, apocalyptic setting.
Following Clementine on this journey was particularly confronting as we started out with her when she was just a child.
In video games, we are quick to take lives without much of a second thought if our own lives are threatened.
But when a nervous, terrified child is placed in a situation like this, suddenly the stakes are higher, the brutality is heightened, and we wonder what sort of lasting effect it will have on Clem as she grows older.
While there have been some questionable mechanics implemented in these games over the years, it’s also been wonderful to discover how Telltale have finessed every aspect of gameplay with each new iteration.
The writing, I feel, is as strong as ever — with the first episode of the final season following Clem as she joins a group of young survivors in an abandoned elementary school.
AJ — the infant she saved from his dying mother — has grown into a capable young boy who looks to Clem for guidance and mentorship.
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This adds a wonderful new layer to the choice mechanic, as your actions not only affect the characters and story — but help shape AJ as a person as well.
For every moment of peril, every conversation, every reaction or moment of quick-thinking — AJ is watching, learning and formulating his own view of the world.
Your decisions are no longer simply about finding the best outcome — but they serve to shape AJ’s moral centre in a country ruled by chaos.
As I pushed through episode one, I found myself lulled into a false sense of security as each time I predicted some live-or-die decision that would likely see me losing someone I cared about — we’d all skirt danger somehow.
Well, fear not. The heartbreak is coming, and it will fill you with all the angst and anxiety we’ve come to associate with these games. Keep a box of tissues handy.
I of course can’t talk too much about the events of these games as they are so completely story-focused that it would spoil things. But I will say that there’s some wonderful new creativity in the way many of the quick-time elements are implemented.
Some characters seem to react rather impulsively with a very black-and-white view of the choices you’re faced with.
This can at times seem unrealistic and unfair — but it’s also been a common wildcard aspect of the entire series so I’ve come to mostly accept it.
In the end, fans of this series just want to know if Clem has managed to survive her perilous journey through zombieland.
We want to know if it was worth pushing through the horror, the fear and the loss without any real promise of safety or lasting happiness.
There are so few moments of levity in The Walking Dead, but because of that I clung to every moment that I managed to get someone to trust me or soften despite their defences.
I think back on the decisions I made that resulted in unintentional deaths of people I cared about, I think about the times I was betrayed — or when someone I thought was malicious turned out to be someone I could form a true bond with.
It consistently and gloriously subverted expectation.
The Walking Dead was a franchise that made every choice an agonising experience plagued with doubt, while forcing us to re-examine our very moral fibre as a result.
It’s a legacy Telltale can be truly proud of, and one that I hope will pave the way for new concepts in video game storytelling in the years to come.
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