9 Problems With The Walking Dead Nobody Wants To Admit: A Counterpoint

Counterpoint #3: The games can do more than the show.

I will admit, I haven’t played through all of Telltale’s The Walking Dead games. I have seasons one and two, as well as “4oo Days”, but, I’ve only completed season one. But, even with my relative inexperience, I can confidently say that Jules is correct: The games are better.

But, the reason they’re better has much more to do with their respective mediums than anything else.

In The Walking Dead games, you are the one making all the choices. You aren’t passively watching the action, you are the one driving it. This means that all the decisions that effect the group, especially for the worse, are on your head. I can tell you, as terrible as it is to watch a beloved character die on the show, it’s a million times worse watching a character die in the game, knowing you could have save them. I’m still trying to see if there’s a way I can save poor Chuck.

This dynamic makes the games infinitely more interesting because you are feeling the apocalypse in a way a show just can’t duplicate. Furthermore, the game doesn’t have time constraints. It’s not burdened by having only an hour or two to work with, nor does it need to fill time. Everything you do in the game is for the purpose of furthering the game.

That being the case, it’s no wonder the game is better.

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