New Details on Telltale Games' The Walking Dead Game

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Richard Walker

Based upon both the fantastic graphic novel and hit TV series, The Walking Dead is set to come to the Xbox Live Arcade, with an original story following a new character named Lee Everett. Zoning in on the key theme of people losing their humanity amid a zombie apocalypse, The Walking Dead will pick up the action with Everett as he escapes from his prison escort after it's hit by a car and rolls into a ditch. A free man, Everett finds himself trying to leave Atlanta as the zombie hordes bear down upon him and a little seven-year old girl named Clementine who looks to him for protection. Taking Clementine under his wing, Everett will find himself facing both the undead and unfamiliar characters, some of which will be out to double cross him.

Familiar faces like Lilly from the books will also make an appearance, as will locations like Herschel's farm, which you'll visit before Rick Grimes manages to make it there. The Walking Dead game hopes to “push the boundaries of what's been done by Telltale in the past”, says Telltale's Kevin Boyle, and as such, the game will focus on the human aspects of the story, creating tension with the ever-looming threat of death around every turn. Although there's no screenshots or gameplay on offer of The Walking Dead as yet, the game will be evocative of the books' visual style, will be a 3D adventure game and will be episodic. The exact mechanics also have yet to be settled upon, but what we've learnt about the game so far is intriguing nonetheless.

The Walking Dead will be shuffling onto the Xbox Live Arcade in winter 2011 as an as yet unspecified number of episodes, at a price that's still being agreed upon. We'd love to tell you more, but that's all there is for now... Check out the brooding concept art below for an idea of what to expect when The Walking Dead rises from the grave later this year.

Comments
57
  • I never read the book or watched the t.v. series, but I have wanted someone to do a game about how people would really react to a zombie apocalypse. I feel like there are too many game where the main character doesn't show any kind of questioning of the situation and just beats crap up. I hope TT games can capture how people will really act and make it fun to play as well.
  • it was a damn good tv show !!!!
  • i was fully expecting this to be a top down shooter. maybe not?
  • Love the show (despite the emotional BS), love zombies, and love zombie games. Let's hope this turns out to be a winner.
  • @1 You owe to yourself to read the series. It's not your everyday campy zombie story. It's an incredible series mainly dealing with people trying to cope that the world they know is gone. Shows how horrible people can really be.
  • @1 i get how fun zombie games are, but considering its NEVER going to happen, emotion doesnt really matter.and whats this of a little gir? i hate havign to protect useless people in games!!!
  • I LOVED the comics but I'll be honest, Telltale isn't who I would want doing this kind of game. Don't get me wrong, Sam & Max is fun enough but they hardly have an amazing catalouge of games..
  • If there isn't a close enough correlation to the comic, then telltale will have quite missed their target demographic.
  • @2: It IS a damn good TV show. Season 2 is in production.
  • Fuck yes!!!! Been waiting for some more news on this bad boy :) PS: WHERES MY FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS DLC!!!!
  • I thought the show was quite boring, so i don't know about the game.
  • I finally got to watch the show when I bought it and I ended up finishing it in one night. Hopefully the game can keep me addicted the same way.
  • This could be really good, but I have a feeling it won't be as good as possible.
  • didnt read the comics,HUGE fan of zombies stuff,the show took me by total surprise,i liked the "human side" of the lore they persued,hopefully the game does the same
  • @6 "but considering its NEVER going to happen, emotion doesnt really matter." The chance of a zombie outbreak happening is not nonexistent, it has been scientifically proved it could happen. Just not the way we were trained to think from movies and games. That being said, that probability is the same of science creating a portal gun or having an underwater utopia few people know about. Imagine if games like Bioshock 1 gave up on creating an amazing EMOTIONAL background story or like Portal, which pulled of emotions using robots, didn't gave a damn to evolving player on the experience. Hell, even CoD which has not evolved at all in 4 games tries to keep you hooked (tries, I said). If developers stopped putting emotion on games just because it couldn't happen IRL, voice acting wouldn't matter and so wouldn't story, level design details (like L4D), NPC's background story (Dead Rising), humanization of situations (Undead Nightmare) and many others. Good games are all about emotions even if it is the player's, not in-game characters.
  • @6 I am just saying that a more interesting story would help the game. Especially for an XBLA title. I, along with countless other people, enjoy emotional scenes in games because sometimes a game is supposed to be like an interactive story. @15 I 100% agree. The story of Bioshock was so great, who cares whether building an underwater utopia is possible, it is how real people would react that should be shown in games.
  • Been dying (pun not intended) to see the show, but it's good to have a different style of zombie games for a change. I always wanted to play a zombie game based on finding survivors and migrating rather than just trying to kill every zombie in sight
  • @17 I agree with you, I'd like to see a zombie game that deals with the emotinal side of finding survivors and fighting with them rather than mindless kill everything that walks kinda game.
  • Love the books and series. I hope the game will live up to expectations. Will be keeping my eye on this.
  • Out of sheer respect for the TV show ill pay any amount for this :)
  • Really, no one else gets the feeling they're just cashing in here?
  • i kinda wish they'd make it 4 player co-op optional obviously.. but not like L4D co-op some kind of different take on it.. like where you all gotta work together to get 1 task done at the same time, but i'm not talking like timing of the buttons, but literally physical actions. idk they gotta come up with something sweet they are pretty smart at TT so we shall be anticipating it until its release date. atleast i know i will.
  • The show took me by surprise. I thought it was going to be mediocre at best, but it was actually a great show
  • The tv show is probably my favorite tv show on right now, can't wait for the season premiere. More on topic, i will almost certainly buy this once it comes out, as long as it's not too expensive.
  • So is this ACTUALLY coming to XBLA, or will it end up like Back to the Future where they say it's coming to 360 but never follow through?
  • @21: I feel like I've seen you say that at least once before, if not more. The video games industry is just that, an industry. Are they "just" cashing in? I highly doubt it. Are they hoping to? Absolutely. Gaming developers surely love what they do, but they wouldn't do it if they couldn't make a living at it, and the owners wouldn't back something they felt would lose them money. Telltale has been very faithful to a few other franchises, and most of their games (except the couple CSIs they've done) have got at least 70+ on metacritic, many higher. This whole "hate on the gaming industry and pretend every company is only out to make money" shtick is so tired. Some are, definitely. But let's wait and see how the game turns out before we make that determination, eh?
  • @26 that was the most mature response to a tired question I have ever seen. I really do hope this game takes it more to a personal level of what would happen. I found some clips of the show and it looks based more on survival and people's personalities than "oh look a zombie, shoot it, kick it, or hit it!". I will definitely try the demo of this when it comes out.
  • I totally forgot they were making a game for this. Absolutely love the show and comics as it's easily some of the best zombie goodness ever created. Can't wait for season 2 of the show to air later this year. Might pick this up if its decent and they release alongside the show to up the hype and whatnot. Would be a smart move on their behalf.
  • @26 well said. Loved the first season, hoping season 2 can live up to it. This game sounds interesting...
  • I wonder if they'll focus on survival horror or action.
  • I've only seen the show but I loved the hell out of it.. Wish it was someone else doing the game because of Telltale's style, but I'm sure they'll still make a great game and I'll at least play the trial to judge for myself.
  • i was really hoping this was gonna be a full retail game with atleast 8 to 10 hours of story, but it looks like 2 to 3 hours is all will be gettin with an XBLA title........Oh Well
  • I like the comic, the TV series started okay but went downhill (should've just followed the comic in my opinion, or at least not have those silly plot twists). Could be interesting to see how Telltale will handle the IP.
  • I'll definitely play this but no way will it come anywhere close to being as riveting as the graphic novel. After reading the first compendium I wanted to slit my wrists, God it was depressing, but so damn good. And there's no way a game could do it justice. I'm glad to hear it's adventure point and click based. With Telltale Games developing I guess that's to be expected. Only thing better to me would be if it was made like Heavy Rain was.
  • I'm one of the few who enjoyed the CSI's, so I kinda hope it's similar. Just like LA Noire takes the good bits of CSI and made them better.
  • Awesome! I loved the tv show! I just started reading the comics and it's great! I look forward to season 2 of The Walking Dead and the XBLA game! :)
  • I read some of the comics and the TV show was brilliant, I hope this will do them justice.
  • @32 I've gotten over 10+ hours on plenty of XBLA titles. At least wait until we see what the game has to offer before making that assumption. I'm interested now I just need more info on the game.
  • The Walking Dead is a great comic and I hope they set up the second season to be as great. It's not so much man vs zombie apocalypse. It's man vs man/environment, with zombies. Read enough of the comics and in the back of your mind you know the zombies are there, but they're not always at the forefront of your mind. I look forward to this.
  • I'm not really keen on the XBLA episodic games, I would much rather they just released the whole game on retail disc.
  • Walking Dead the series is awesome, would recommend to any zombie fan. season 2 airs in July I heard somewhere. hope the game does it justice.
  • Walking Dead is great have it on Blu-Ray but i am renting the game when it comes out since it's a game of a Tv Show even though the TV show is good so i might buy it but i will see though.
  • Sounds about as unappealing as its other incarnations.
  • I'm sorry but what light source is causing those gigantic shadows in the concept art???
  • Really looking forward to this, but a little worried about an episodic release on XBLA. I mean, look what happened with Wallace & Gromit.
  • I just cant wait until Season 2 releases in October, as for the game I will be very anxious to try it out.
  • Love the show, waiting on season 2!!! Keep meaning to start the reading, and can't wait for the game!!
  • the walking dead series is good. i got it on dvd and the second season starts in the fall.
  • TV series was really good, can't wait for Season 2. This might turn out alright. Cheers!
  • cant wait
  • The only thing that concerns me is how expensive this is going to be. They said it's going to be "episodic" so I can see at least 3 episodes running at about 800-1200msp. XBLA titles add up quickly, so I might hold off until a DotW puts them packaged together.
  • Made a mess in my pants
  • I'm really looking forward to this especially when I loved the Comics and TV show.
  • As long as story is as strong as in graphic novels and tv series I'm sold:-) Can't wait to hear more!
  • i wonder how this game is gonna play. the show is amazing, i hope they can live up to the show cause i know most of the time they cant
  • i've been waiting for more info on this game since it was announced, whats happening with this game, since the screen shots came out i've heard nothing about this game and it was supposed to be released this month, this wait had better be worth it for all our sakes seen as so many of us are keen to play it :/
  • this needs to hurry up and come out. i cant wait for it
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