As a kid, I loved video games, but I only really got into them because my brother was. When he went away to college, the first game I ever played on the Xbox that he passed down to me was Telltale’s The Walking Dead. I actually played the game before I even watched the show, mainly because one of my favorite YouTubers at the time, PewDiePie, played the series, and I really wanted to play it.
When I started this franchise, I didn’t realize how much it would not only change me as a person but also shape who I would love in video games years later. And it also made me wonder if there are people out there who wouldn’t play this game just because they don’t like video games in the first place. That’s why I’m here today.
I shared four reasons you need to play Telltale’s The Walking Dead, even if you don’t like video games at all.
The video game story is better than the show
I say this with the biggest heart for the show I grew up with, but this story is just better.
The big issue with The Walking Dead storyline, as a whole, is that there are too many characters. I could love Rick (Andrew Lincoln), Daryl (Norman Reedus), and all these other survivors, but there are so many storylines that it’s hard to keep track of. It’s a great ensemble show and does a good job of tying all those storylines together, but it clearly lacks a central figure, especially later in the series. Rick was that for a while, but his story started getting folded into everyone else’s.
That’s where this video game comes in handy. In the first game, you follow Lee, someone who isn’t necessarily the best man but has good values, and that’s it. Yes, you meet other characters, but they never take over the main tale. The story unfolds around Lee as the central protagonist, which makes it much tighter.
The characters are well-developed
While I love that the game revolves around Lee, I also like that the characters we meet are well developed. You know who they are by how they speak or walk, but you don’t know too much — and that's what makes them so good.
The key is that you don’t want to know every detail about the characters, because that would make anyone a villain at any time. The context clues in how they speak make them better. That way, when the twist comes, you can say, “I knew it!” It’s also pretty much an original story (with some characters from the comics thrown in), so you have no idea what’s going to happen.
Clementine isn’t an annoying child
Are there any great kids in video game movies and TV shows who aren’t annoying? Of course. I believe Ellie from The Last of Us is one of the best-written characters ever, but lementine is on another level compared to The Walking Dead kids.
Clementine is the girl whom Lee pretty much takes into his care when the world goes to hell and keeps her safe, since she has no one after her parents die. But she’s not some sniveling little kid scared of her own shadow. She learns to survive, listens to the adults around her, and does what she has to do to make it to the next day.
She also isn’t afraid to make difficult choices, far beyond her years. I can’t really get into a lot of them without spoiling the game because, trust me, it gets dark. But the way in which she handles herself, especially as the game goes on, makes me love her even more.
The choices actually do matter
Telltale Games is known for episodic adventures where your choices matter, and trust me when I say the choices you make here do, in fact, matter.
You could be the sole reason one of your favorite characters dies, or the story doesn’t go the way you thought it would, and then, in the next games, those choices can directly shape how the next chapter begins.
Those are the kinds of games I love — the ones with a clear narrative, where subtle choices can cause drastic changes, like a butterfly effect. The drama is everything you could look for and more.
Telltale’s The Walking Dead is available on many devices, and if you love it, you can play three sequels. But I implore you to check out the first one, even if you’re hesitant. You won’t regret it.
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