When it comes to the IP of "The Walking Dead", I think most people are best known for the American drama part, but I forgot to see the first season and it broke off, but I cleared an entire game series of this IP.
The game actually gives me a completely different feeling than the American drama, in terms of the walking dead in the first season, it really feels like "The Last of the Survivors" for me: the same doomsday, the same frustrated middle-aged male protagonist, the same homeless little girl, the same QTE system, the same god ending, so from the very beginning of the game made me very fascinated by the series, I can only say that the best game of 2012 is worthy of the name, even after 11 years, it is still the pinnacle of its kind. And this time, let's start with the first season and talk about this classic interactive movie game series.
The Walking Dead: Season 1
Although The Walking Dead is a work from a long time ago, the entire art style has not faded with the times. If there's a big downside to me, it's that there's no pause button, so sometimes I have to reread the archive. The advantage of this is that although it is an adventure game, it is full of tension, because I don't know that the next choice will come. Compared with later generations, although the generation controls a 37-year-old middle-aged man, there are fewer shots of the battle compared to later generations, so it really looks like a visual novel of micro-action. Therefore, after playing "The Wolf Around Us", I will feel that the battle between Bigby and Woodman at the beginning is quite exciting.
And the DLC "400 Days" of the first season is really not outstanding, it is a very painless skit. If there is a long gap between the 1st generation → DLC → the second season, some small Easter eggs may be overlooked. The first season has another meaning for me, because its achievements are not difficult to achieve, and you can achieve full achievements by playing smoothly, and it is also my first game with full achievements in the early days, which is really a kind of spiritual encouragement for me.
The Walking Dead: Season 2
The best thing about "The Walking Dead: Season 2" at the beginning is that the reading of the previous game was actually read, and it slightly affected the dialogue in the game. Compared with the first season, although the character controlled changed from a middle-aged man to an 11-year-old girl, I don't know why my heart hardened when I made the choice. Another little girl who always feels that she has experienced so many life and death partings and misfortunes should be born more in her heart. When I was in the camp for a generation, I would try to talk to everyone, explore the spirit of every corner, feel what is important at the moment, where to look, what role to talk to, and will be triggered intuitively; I always have to save people who have been annoying, so I don't think much about it.
I also spent a lot more time silent than a generation when making choices, because I always felt that it seemed strange that among a bunch of middle-aged people, a little girl kept interjecting or being asked for advice. In terms of plot, with the transformation of the scene, the production team did make some changes, but the god ending of the first generation directly made the second generation incomparable, and a certain important role that runs through the beginning and end was really a bit strange, and I can't understand it; Although most of the end of each paragraph still makes me feel "ah" in my heart, I have changed from emotional to rational. Although the second generation is overwhelmingly positive on Steam, for me I think it is 8/10 points.
The Walking Dead: Michonne
And the next "The Walking Dead: Michonne" after adjusting the button icon to the maximum in the options, is simply a generation of QTE close-ups - there will be an inexplicable refreshing feeling when encountering QTE scenes, so although the evaluation is not as bright as the previous work, I think it is worth playing if you can start painlessly.
In terms of plot, because the entire game lasts at most four hours, because the character of Michonne is important in comics or American dramas, but the background of her own in the game is actually very thin, which is the most pity for me. Although there are a few props or cutscenes in the game that lay out her story, I always think that a little more description would be better for players who have not been exposed to comics or TV series.
If there is a further drawback, it is that the Chinese translation of this work is quite terrifying, I often see a lot of words from the play, and when I play the second chapter, I am forced to switch back to the original English subtitles. But I still have to say that if you can start painlessly, it is good to be a good game for killing time, and I give it a 7/10.
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier
Playing it in one breath, I was actually curious about the background of its development time and space when playing this game, because the graphics are like two different games from "Michonne" a few months earlier. In addition, when I was playing, I began to feel a little impatient with the drama, so when I was rummaging through the relevant content on the Internet, I happened to learn some problems about the production team.
After the first season of The Walking Dead, Telltale Studios expanded rapidly, growing from 100 to a large team of 300. Each new IP brings not only a huge amount of workload, but also a strong time pressure (there should be a time limit in the IP licensing contract), interested players can pay attention to the release schedule of these Telltale games I play. Another problem with game development is the success of the first The Walking Dead title. As for the familiar "layoff" link, which takes place after the release of the third part, I won't mention it first.
Knowing these behind-the-scenes scenes, I suddenly understood why I had a "sense of flow" when I played the second season. Because The Walking Dead is launched episode by episode, the game time of each episode is usually "controlled" at 1.5~2 hours, and then just like the TV series, it will definitely get stuck at the end of an "accident". Therefore, if the story is not finished, a supporting character will be "killed", even if he has a lot of weight in the first few episodes, he will still die suddenly and without replying. This happens again in the new border, and it even sometimes makes me think that the screenwriter will deliberately blend "accident" + "being killed". What about the feelings you put into a certain character earlier? Even if it's a little, sorry, the time is up, the space is limited, and the story still has to go on, leaving you with only a moment of consternation.
" New Frontier " , although in many places , has been commented on as a third season. But in fact, after playing, it and "Michonne", released a few months earlier, although there are cross-generational differences in graphics, it is essentially just a gaiden. Looking at the timeline and combining some information, you can find that Telltale itself may want to develop new key roles in this time and space when restarting the IP of The Walking Dead, no longer let Clam exclusive, so that the story has more to say. It's just that the protagonist in the new boundary is actually very ordinary, and then the personnel relationship around him is really quite wonderful, so that the story composed of the X/Y axis does not cause reflection and resonance like the previous work. Therefore, the only thing that attracted me to this work was the picture. Although the graphics of the fourth generation are better, several scenes in the new border make people feel the "light" and "hope" that are rare in the entire series, so I will rate it to give a 7/10.
The Walking Dead: The Final Season
I haven't played a game for a long time and I feel weak and want to cry. There is even a feeling of death and wanting to turn off the game directly, or not touching it - not that the game is not done well, but playing the entire series in one go, and the protagonist in the play is already like a real friend. If it weren't for the final season, it's hard to imagine that the game production company at that time was experiencing bankruptcy, layoffs, bankruptcy and other disasters. The final season gave me a very good impression at the beginning, I had the feeling of a master brother coming back, especially after going through the middle generations in one breath, I would really believe that this is the same series.
One of the great improvements to the final season is that the group of companions who interact with the protagonist is a little smaller than in previous seasons. At the same narrative length, the protagonist can have deeper interaction with each supporting character, thus increasing the player's emotional concentration for each character. The deeper the feelings, the more the player's mind is invested, and the advancement of the game is no longer a cutscene, but a deeper past and memory. The final season is the same as the beginning of the series, the player controls one protagonist, but in fact the whole game is actually a double protagonist. The generation is middle-aged boys and girls, and eventually the girls grow up, become teenage girls and take boys with them... As I played, a word came to my mind – Karma.
Just like a generation of Lee hand-in-hand, teaching Clem one by one, the final season became Clem with AJ, and the game production team made players feel that the little boy AJ was like a mud doll through dialogue and plot advancement, and his personality was shaped by the player. In addition, because Clem, who represents the guide in this work, does not have any other older partners, it means that other characters are less likely to have obvious doubts about how Clem takes AJ. Under this arrangement, unlike Lee and Clem, the player has a more decisive commitment to AJ's actions, his growth and future.
Compared with previous generations, the partners of this generation are no longer old and calculating adults, but a group of children in the correctional home, and I now think that the plot of the final season will be easier than in previous seasons. Think about it, if the partners are teenagers, the children's dialogue, will there be less talk about the big reason, can make fewer difficult decisions? Of course, it backfired; Moreover, if the decision is too simple, it will have to be ridiculed by the player. A friend who was once touched by Lee's love for Clem in the first season, only to find that Clem, who is motherly, has doubled his love for AJ. The more love there is, the stronger the sense of responsibility, and every decision is more difficult.
I don't know if the ending of the entire final season is good or bad. But at the end, when I saw the name of the entire manufacturing team painted on the wall, my heart was full of emotion. Combined with the ending scene design of the staff list, this is probably the best I've ever seen. Although, the translation of this ending is somewhat funny. But actually, I just want to thank the production team and the finishing team for allowing us to see the end of the whole series.
Although I have seen many comments saying that this type of work is good to be a cloud player online, you don't need to spend time actually playing. However, just like how I felt when I first played Detroit and became human, I think if I just looked at the cutscenes online, I wouldn't have any deep memories and touches. Especially when I am older, sometimes I am too lazy to strike iron or run around with knives and guns, because those refreshing feelings are like special medicine for me, coming and going quickly, only a good story will always be in my heart.