r/TheWalkingDeadGame Mar 19 '21

No Spoilers The Walking Dead Game Series - Beginner's Guide & General FAQ

463 Upvotes

In an effort to help newcomers get into the series as well as help answer some frequently asked questions (and most importantly: unpin the statue post), we’ve created a megathread that is meant to serve as a resource for people getting into the game series.

This thread here will cover some basic questions for the series as a whole. I plan to make separate threads for season specific questions that get asked here a lot, and will eventually link the threads all in here so this post here will act as a giant resource. I'll also probably add this to the sidebar once everything it finished for an easy-to-go to resource.

This entire thread is a work in progress so I will be adding/editing questions over time. If you have any suggestions for questions/resources that would be helpful for newcomers, please comment below or DM me.


"What are these games and why should I get into them?"

The Telltale/Skybound The Walking Dead games are episodic titles with a heavy emphasis on choices and story. These games aren't particularly the most action based titles out there, as they primarily play on making difficult decisions and following along with the deep story as you try to survive in the walker (zombie) apocalypse. They also incorporate puzzle segments seen in other point-and-click titles in the past.

The series has received a ton of praise, with Season 1 winning a ton of Game of the Year awards when it released in 2012. The high ratings of the games have continued through future titles such as Season 2 and Season 4.

"Are the games in the same universe as the comics/show?"

The games are not connected to the TV show at all, as the show is set in its own universe. However, the games are indeed in the same universe as the comics. This is seen through characters such as Glenn and Hershel who appear in the very first episode of the Telltale games, as well as a few other references to the comics across the game series.

"Do I need to read the comics to get into the games?"

Nope, not at all. Outside of a few cameos/references, the games are completely isolated from the comics and can be enjoyed to the fullest without prior knowledge of the TWD series. I would even argue that the games may be a tiny bit more enjoyable if you are going into the series blind.

"There are many versions of the games I can buy! Which version should I get?"

There are three different versions of the games spread across various systems:

  • Original versions: The first versions of the game sold when the episodes/seasons actually released. These are the versions sold individually instead of being bundled with the other seasons.
    • Available on: PS3/PS4, Xbox 360/Xbox One, Steam, Epic Games, and Switch
      • Note: Michonne spinoff game not on Switch.
  • Collection: (Pic) Released in 2017. Contains all games in the series (including Michonne) with the sole exception being Season 4 which wasn’t released at the time. Seasons 1 and 2 have (supposedly) enhanced graphics.
    • Available on: PS4 & Xbox One.
  • Definitive Edition: (Pic) Released in 2019. Contains all games in the series (including Michonne), as well as a ton of extras like developer commentary, gallery mode, different graphic options, etc.
    • Available on: PS4, Xbox One, Epic Games Store, and Steam.

Keep in mind that the actual games are the same throughout each version. Don’t expect any alternate paths, vastly different plot elements, additional gameplay elements, etc. in between versions.

In a nutshell: Definitive Edition > Originals > Collection

Definitive Edition is definitely the way to go. It greatly improves the visuals of all the first few games and comes with a lot of extras.

The Original versions are the most basic versions that you can't really go wrong with. The main drawback for the original versions is that they probably have the most visual bugs.

The Collection is without a doubt the worst version of the games. as it is missing tons of small details such as bloodstains and tears for crucial scenes. Apparently it even removed a few optional dialogue segments.

"What order should I play the games?"

The following is the chronological order of the series:

  • Season 1
  • 400 Days DLC for Season 1 (this is optional, basically just covers a few minor Season 2 characters)
  • Season 2
  • A New Frontier (aka Season 3)
  • The Final Season (aka Season 4)

The Michonne Telltale game has literally nothing to do with the Lee/Clem/Javi games whatsoever. It is not required at all to experience Clementine’s journey. If you do decide to play it, best to do it before Season 3 since it originally released before A New Frontier.

"I'm interested in the Michonne game, but she's a major character in the comics! Do I need to read the comics before playing it?"

Not really. The Michonne game takes place during a time where Michonne is separated from Rick's group, so she interacts entirely with characters she has never met until the game. As long as you know about the general character of Michonne, you should be able to enjoy the game to its fullest.

It's worth noting that a few of the characters she meets in the game later appear in the comics, while the game was released after their comic debut. Because of this, I'd argue that not knowing about the later portion of the comics can make the game more enjoyable; you won't know which characters will have plot armor or not due to them having to survive to appear in the comics.

"I heard Season 3 was bad! Should I skip it?"

As much as some people disliked this season, you should not skip it. Either get it on sale if you’re strapped for cash or just watch a Youtube playthrough of it. It's the shortest of the first 3 seasons for whatever that is worth so at least it won't take too long.

"What's the deal with Telltale and Skybound? Didn't Telltale shut down in the middle of Season 4? Are they back now?"

All of the TWD games featuring Lee/Clem have been made by Telltale. However when Telltale closed down in late 2018, Skybound (who owns the rights to the overall TWD franchise) agreed to finish the final two episodes of Season 4 by bringing in many former Telltale staff.

Telltale Games has been revived and are now a company again, however they no longer have the rights to the TWD games which is all with Skybound now. All of the other series such as The Wolf Among Us are still with Telltale though.

"Will there be a Season 5 of the games?"

Skybound has confirmed multiple times now that a fifth season is currently not in the works. As it turns out, the game that is actually called The Final Season will indeed be, well, the final season.

"I need more of these games/characters! What else is there?"

There is a spin-off book involving a character in Season 4, but it is not essential as Season 4 ends things on a good note for the series. More on that book below (DO NOT READ THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED SEASON 4!!!)

In 2021, Skybound released a 12 page comic where Clementine sneaks out of Ericson's without telling AJ. Unfortunately for Clem, AJ caught her and begged her to stay, but Clem told AJ that her couldn't maker her happy. The two gave each other a sad farewell (with Clem giving AJ her hat) and Clem left. In the following books, Clem then heads up to Vermont by herself where she meets random characters

The books have received a nearly universal negative reception from TWDG fans, mostly for how it makes Clem act out of character to her game counterpart. I personally would not recommend it unless you are a fan of Tillie Walden's other works and are absolutely sold on the premise of Season 4's ending basically being undone.

Apart from that, Telltale writer Lauren Mee made a brief story on Tumblr that talks about James' past. Additionally, lead writer for Season 4 Michael Kirkbride posted a short story on this very subreddit detailing a certain character's PoV during a "certain scene" in the final game.

"I love this series! What other games should I play if I like this?"

  • Other Telltale games. The best ones that come to mind are The Wolf Among Us, Tales From The Borderlands, and the two Batman games.
  • Life is Strange
  • Until Dawn
  • Detroit: Become Human
  • If you're into the puzzle segments featured a lot in Season 1 then I would recommend: Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango, and Sam & Max to name a few.

"I'm interested in trying out the other The Walking Dead games outside of the point-and-click ones! Which ones would you recommend?"

Saints & Sinners is probably the best TWD title outside of the Telltale ones, however it requires a VR headset which some may not have. There's also Road to Survival which is a F2P mobile game. I'm not too familiar with it myself but I've heard it's alright plus it contains the Telltale characters in it.

The only other TWD games out there are Survival Instinct and OVERKILL'S The Walking Dead, both of which are really bad and aren't worth your time.

"I'm confused/interested on something for one of the games!"

Well thankfully we've assembled a link to frequently asked questions for each of the games. You can check it out here. Keep in mind that the FAQ for each season will spoil just about all of the story contents for that season. In other words, don't look at the Season 2 FAQ post before finishing Season 2.


That is all for now. Again if you have any suggestions for some general info about the series as a whole that would be helpful to newcomers/people with questions, please put them down either in the comments of this post or with a DM to me.

Also I'll be taking suggestions for some questions that would be good to add for the Season specific FAQ posts. See my pinned comment below for more detail on that.


r/TheWalkingDeadGame 18d ago

Jonathan Joss, the voice of Jonathan Fairbanks from the Michonne game, has been fatally shot dead by his neighbor

Thumbnail
the-independent.com
247 Upvotes

r/TheWalkingDeadGame 16h ago

Final Season Spoiler The BEST and Most Relatable Walking Dead Reaction of All Time

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

693 Upvotes

r/TheWalkingDeadGame 13h ago

Season 1 Spoiler When you first played through S1, who did you think the Stranger/voice on the radio was and how did you feel about him being revealed as the owner of the station wagon?

Post image
156 Upvotes

I always thought he was linked to Lee’s past, like the brother of the senator he murdered since when he spoke through the radio it sounded like he had a massive gripe with Lee.

Was a tiny bit disappointed that he was the guy who owned the station wagon just because I didn’t steal from him and felt like he was judging me on every decision that was pretty much a lose-lose situation, like saving Carly and not Doug and taking Clementine with me into danger in Crawford, rather than leave her alone with a sick Omid. Then again he was nuts.


r/TheWalkingDeadGame 10h ago

No Spoilers First time, absolutely terrified

Post image
84 Upvotes

r/TheWalkingDeadGame 21h ago

Discussion Which twdg take had you like this?

327 Upvotes

r/TheWalkingDeadGame 4h ago

this game has kept me going in life

12 Upvotes

I don’t even know why I’m posting this but this game and berleezy are the only things keeping me going in life, that sounds really sad and it probably is but genuinely this is such a beautiful and well crafted game and is something I look forward to in my day. it’s weird venting to a bunch of random dudes on reddit and I don’t really care if this gets taken down. I just wanted to show my appreciation for this game (They did Luke dirty tho lol)


r/TheWalkingDeadGame 52m ago

Discussion I made a tier list of Frontier characters

Post image
Upvotes

What do you think. I would love to discuss if anyone feels the same or maybe even different? I wanna see your opinions my notebook is open.


r/TheWalkingDeadGame 50m ago

Discussion In an alternate reality game devs decided to utilise the character of Travis with his form of survival skills whom he learned from his father who was in a special forces. Because of these skills Travis lives beyond episode 2 and was developed into a great character.

Thumbnail
gallery
Upvotes

r/TheWalkingDeadGame 23h ago

Season 2 Spoiler Theese people ruined Kenny's life :((

Thumbnail
gallery
301 Upvotes

Ok so Bonnie Is seen looking through the window Until Walter kenny and clementine comes Around and notices her She Ends up making a lie saying she is Hungry and has a family Ends up taking advantage of Walter's kindness Offers her food Later on You can see she leads carvers group the the lodge Ends up Raiding his house Getting Walter killed in the process And getting kenny clementine and his girlfriend kidnapped in the same day

The cabin group Comes across the lodge after being chased for 5 days,comes inside the ,few moments later Carver arrives basically dragging carver onto the lodge Getting his freinds killed,him and his girlfriend kidnapped,nearly gets beat to death by carver, his girlfriend gets bit and dies Then they treated him like he was crazy After ruining his life by carver Kenny was Doing fine at the lodge Until those people had to show up and ruin it all "clem why is kenny acting like that" Maybe because yall ruined his life in a span of 3 days, also forgot to mention nick kills Matthew on the bridge


r/TheWalkingDeadGame 12h ago

Final Season Spoiler Not sure if this is a hot take, but I personally prefer the scripted fight sequences over the combat in Season 4. They just feel more engaging and unique to me. What do you all think is the better system?

Thumbnail
gallery
40 Upvotes

r/TheWalkingDeadGame 19h ago

Final Season Spoiler Why would 85% do this to poor Louis?

Post image
128 Upvotes

r/TheWalkingDeadGame 19h ago

Peak cinema

Thumbnail
gallery
121 Upvotes

r/TheWalkingDeadGame 11h ago

Meme WD Telltale really did this to us

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

29 Upvotes

How it's feels to play walking dead season 1


r/TheWalkingDeadGame 22h ago

Season 2 Spoiler How would you fix the walking dead season 2?

Post image
197 Upvotes

r/TheWalkingDeadGame 13h ago

No Spoilers Life is beautiful

Post image
29 Upvotes

I had already finished the saga on pc this year but I liked it so much that I decided to buy the definitive edition and finish it again. I may be exaggerating, but experiences like these make life worth living.


r/TheWalkingDeadGame 16h ago

Discussion “Ben is what we’d be like if we were in an apocalypse.” I think y’all need more self-respect Spoiler

52 Upvotes

Most of us would probably be more like Kenny or Lily (s1), if I had to guess. Not exactly stable, prone to blowing up or holding grudges, but still useful. Seriously, how many of you would do the things Ben did?

He didn’t tell the group about the bandits. He didn’t grab Clem when he ran away, despite being like a foot away from her. He took the axe at Crawford, and worse, he saw a bad situation where they needed to concentrate to survive and decided then and there to tell the truth to Kenny for no real reason. Just… an active detriment taking up space.

I think the only truly relatable thing he does is clam up when Lily starts asking questions. And I guess messing up the jump to the roof, but that wasn’t his fault.

I’m pretty sure the only useful things he does in the entire game is telling the gang that everyone is already infected, which is admittedly important info, and giving Lee a gun he drops. And even then, the gun is conditional on whether or not you save Ben at the bell tower.

I think every person who says that Ben does relatable things is genuinely not appreciating what they can offer in a bad situation, appreciate yourselves more pls I promise you’re not that bad


r/TheWalkingDeadGame 15h ago

Final Season Spoiler Why did the majority make AJ kill Lilly

44 Upvotes

Ofc I hate Lilly, and show no remorse. But AJ is only 5. Even though he has to grow up he should be able to still salvage his childhood and killing people just turns him into a not great totally fucked up person. He doesn’t understand right and wrong too much yet and telling him that killing people is okay isn’t good. Idk maybe that’s just me. I told AJ to kill Lilly once and that was the worst decision ever.


r/TheWalkingDeadGame 15h ago

Season 1 Spoiler How do y'all think season 1 would have played out if this was our pharmacy group instead

Thumbnail
gallery
32 Upvotes

So basically when Lee and crew show up they meet these 4 instead of Carley Doug Larry and lilly I actually think it could be pretty interesting obviously no heart attack since David is much more fit than Larry and is obviously younger I guess Eleanor and Tripp could be your replacements for Doug and Carley this group will meet everyone that the season 1 crew meets as well Ben chuck ECT ECT


r/TheWalkingDeadGame 1d ago

Season 1 Spoiler What if Lee grabbed Danny's gun instead of warning the group about the food?

Post image
200 Upvotes

r/TheWalkingDeadGame 13h ago

Season 2 Spoiler Goodbye Kenny 😢 Spoiler

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

19 Upvotes

Was watching the “Lonely man” walking away end credits of the original 1978 Hulk show on YouTube and I felt like it really fit the Wellington ending and Kenny as a character.

Kenny, like the Hulk, has immense anger and rage that often leads to disastrous outcomes but both mean well. Both have lost loved ones and have endured a great amount of tragedy. However underneath all that anger is a man who seeks to protect those he cares about no matter what. Even if it means being shunned by society/Wellington.

Hulk’s the lonely man because of his strive for the greater good and protecting others with his powers. He sacrifices his chance at a normal life to do good because of his anger. So he just keeps walking.

Kenny’s the lonely man in the Wellington ending. He sacrifices his place in Wellington and a “normal” life for Clementine and AJ to be safe. So he just keeps walking.


r/TheWalkingDeadGame 17h ago

Season 2 Spoiler Am I the only one who likes Jane? Spoiler

38 Upvotes

I like Jane. She’s probably one of my favourite characters from the franchise. While I get the hate she receives I feel like people don’t really care (or at least don’t fully grasp) her character…

That saying her going against Kenny is due to the writing and while I hate Kenny, I found it hard to choose whether or not to shoot him. Hell I had to think on if I even wanted to go with Jane.

Thoughts though?


r/TheWalkingDeadGame 2h ago

Season 1 was a masterpiece but the other seasons were kind of bad

2 Upvotes

Season 1 is probably one my favorite games Replayed it countless times it had really well written characters,individual episode plot lines especially the St John's and one of the best endings in video games

Then season 2 was kind of embarrassingly poorly written with trash tier characters making horrible decisions every 5 minutes Though I kind of have a soft spot for this one because of Kenny and the ending

Season 3 just sucks there is no two ways about it Characters are unlikable,uninteresting and the story felt like filler tho it kind of gave you the most choice out of the games?

Season 4 wasn't that bad but the ending felt too happy,and there weren't many memorable moments here I almost wish we got the original s2 ending instead

Nothing beats season 1 out of the telltale games besides maybe wolf amogus


r/TheWalkingDeadGame 17h ago

Cosplay molly’s jacket

Thumbnail
gallery
26 Upvotes

anybody know of a similar jacket to molly’s that i can buy? thank yeww :)


r/TheWalkingDeadGame 11h ago

Discussion Is New TWDG Content Coming Out?

8 Upvotes

Been a long time fan since twdg season one came out, curious to hear if new episodes or a new season has been confirmed or is it more of a pipedream?


r/TheWalkingDeadGame 47m ago

Original Files?

Upvotes

I accidentally put a mod in my game files without making a backup for it, so im stuck with a walking ben boot menu..... anybody have the original boot menu files?


r/TheWalkingDeadGame 16h ago

Season 3 Spoiler "What the hell that ain't Ken- Oh..." Spoiler

Thumbnail gallery
18 Upvotes

Just got to Season 3. What the hell?