The Walking Dead (full title The Walking Dead: The Game) is a computer game developed by Telltale Games based on the famous comics by Robert Kirkman ("The Walking Dead"). He, by the way, was directly involved in the creation of the project, consulting the developers on various issues. The genre is something between action, quest, and adventure game.
The main character in the first episode of The Walking Dead (Episode 1: a New Day, there are five in total) is a character named Lee Everett. Poor guy was caught by the law for his misdeeds, but his imprisonment didn’t last long. Zombies attack the police car where Lee is at that moment. A fierce fight for survival begins, and Everett comes out victorious. It wasn’t easy for him – all battered, bruised, and covered in blood, Everett encounters a little girl named Clementine. This complicates the situation even further, as the main hero has to protect her. They remain almost alone in a suddenly empty world now ruled by zombies, the undead, and other horrors.
During their perilous journey in search of a better life, they meet various secondary characters. Typically, these are just as lost and destitute people, abandoned to their fate. Communication with them is framed in the form of very tragic and heart-wrenching dialogues. The developers worked really well on the emotional side of the game, so you really want to believe in everything happening around. Sometimes the player is faced with a difficult choice – to kill or not to kill a certain character. The heroes encounter different people on their way, and not all of them are well-disposed. Nevertheless, situations are presented in such a way that you almost feel the fear, hope, and despair of a person sentenced to death. But life is life. A pardoned character can suddenly grab a shotgun and shoot Everett in the back.
In The Walking Dead, it is not recommended to open fire at every step (and you are often not allowed to do so, to be honest). Of course, there are various situations where mass zombie slaughter is unavoidable, but it is usually better to overcome most dangers quietly and unobtrusively – for example, to sneak behind the backs of terrifying flesh-eaters, making as little noise as possible. If this is impossible, then you need to come up with how to distract the zombies from yourself – with cunning, deception, a high IQ, or something else. In this matter, all means are good.
This game is much scarier and bloodier than it might seem at first glance. The zombies here are not some clay pseudo-decaying bits of pixels, but real walking dead with broken bones, shattered skulls, swollen bellies, and bared "smiles." Horrifying, truly terrifying. It becomes even scarier in special scenes where you must frantically press certain keys, thereby delaying the inevitable end. Make a mistake with the button or fail to pick up a certain combination in time? No problem, you’ll just be gently bitten on the neck, reaching the sweet and tender human flesh. Yum-yum.