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Telltale’s ‘The Walking Dead’ still holds up

PHOTO PROVIDED Pictured is “The Walking Dead’s” Clementine depicted from season one through season four.

I’ve been on a bit of an achievement hunting spree on my Steam account lately, and I recently completed 100 percent of the achievements for Telltale’s “The Walking Dead: Definitive Edition.”

Going into this I was a little worried that the games wouldn’t live up to the nostalgia I held for them, but thankfully I was proven wrong!

“The Walking Dead: Definitive Edition” covers all four seasons of Telltale Games’ “The Walking Dead” series, the Michonne side story and the 400 Days DLC. The main four seasons focus on Clementine and her struggles as she grows up in the apocalypse.

For those of you who may not know, Telltale Games (may they rest in peace) was an American video game developer known for their episodic adventure games. They also have released titles such as “The Wolf Among Us,” “Minecraft Story Mode” and “Tales from the Borderlands.”

Because this Bit by Bit is covering around 50 hours of gameplay, I won’t be focussing on the story of the games specifically. Instead, I’d like to focus on the overall quality of the series, the gameplay and, of course, the sound design.

First and foremost, the quality of the series is top tier. Though seasons 2 and 3 are a little redundant in terms of story, seasons 1 and 4 are IMMACULATE to this day. The storyline is heart wrenching and keeps you on your toes throughout.

Telltale Games’ big tagline for the gameplay was that ‘your choices matter’ but they really, REALLY don’t.

And honestly? I understand. I’m not a video game developer, but I can easily imagine how long it would take and how much effort has to go into creating a cohesive game where all of your choices matter. The dialogue trees alone would probably be hundreds of hours of work.

Consider this: you’re presented with a choice where you have two options: A and B. Those two choices create two separate game experiences. The choice after that, C and D, creates two more game experiences — but you have to do that for both choice A and B. Adding in a choice E and F further complicates this. Having just those six choices has now led to eight possible game options.

Now imagine having to do that for every single game choice throughout a 50 hour gaming experience.

“The Walking Dead” has a pretty decent sound design the whole way through all seasons, but I really think it shines in season 4 with some of the atmospheric choices.

There’s a specific scene at the end (that I can’t go into detail about without spoiling the story) where one of the characters sings while zombies growl in the background. It is so eerie and sets the tone for that section of the game really well.

I could ramble on about this game for several hundred more words, but I think I should probably save some of my love for a review of an individual season or two. Stay tuned for that (maybe).

The thing you really need to know is Telltale’s “The Walking Dead” is a really fantastic video game series that I truly think everyone should experience at some point. Despite the first season coming out 13 years ago, the storyline holds up against many new releases.

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Breanna Hanley is a reporter for The Express.

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