If you haven’t played though a game created by the people at Telltale Games, then you really are missing out. If you didn’t know, they are pretty much video games based around the same concept as those “Pick your own adventure” books back when we were kids. There are 5 episodes per season, and each is filled with choices that change some outcomes for the rest of the game. I recently ran through Walking Dead Season 1
So these were my choices from Season 1. Starting with Episode 1:
Keep in mind that these will make a lot more sense if you played the game yourself and experienced all these choices first hand. If you haven’t then SPOILER ALERT!! It’s always fun to compare choices between people and hear their explanation why they felt how they did. Feel free to leave a comment with some of your decisions and reasoning.
Episode 1:
- I definitely lied to Hershel about the fact that I was an escaped convict. At this point we really don’t know how severe this whole “Zombie Breakout” thing is. It could be over tomorrow for all we know. So yeah, I decided to not let the guy have an instant negative view of me because I just happened to be a convict. Because this might be a way to start over if this thing is game changing.
- At this point I really liked Kenny. I valued him more than Shawn. So I had to save Duck or else Kenny wouldn’t have forgotten it. Also I thought Shawn could more easily get away than Duck. I was very upset with Duck because he did kill Shawn and I made sure he knew it every chance I got.
- As I said earlier. Kenny was the person I wanted to have as an ally. So of course I sided with him.
- I would have just killed her myself. But I was trying to play the role of a college professor and not a convict. I figured being able to so easily dispatch another human might be a red flag to someone who took an interest in my past.
- When I started this game I said I would play by two rules. 1. Always take Clem’s side and watch out for her. 2. Hook up with the finest hunny there. So I saved Carley because I wanted to sleep with her. Also because there had been more character development between me and Carley. Doug was just the dude I went outside with. He was funny. I’m sure I missed some clever remarks from him by choosing her. But hey, a man has needs.
Episode 2:
- I’ve seen enough zombie movies to know that most of the time if you cut the limb that got bit off the guy will be okay. I was actually surprised less than half of the people chose to cut his leg off. It didn’t seem like much of a choice to me.
- Jolene was going to out me about being a convict. I had just spent the better part of an episode trying to keep that a secret. She had to go. She also threatened my relationship with Clem because who knows who would have believed that I kidnapped her…especially if they found out about me being an escapee.
- I remember early on when I met Larry I said to myself, “The first chance I get. I’m putting you in the ground, asshole.” I kept that promise.
- I happily killed them. I was a little upset that Clem watched one of them die. But after they chopped off my friend’s leg they didn’t deserve to live anymore. Who knows how many people they had eaten since the start of this whole thing. Creeps.
- You’re damn right I stole food from that car. No one has manners in the apocalypse. I was worried about my group and this saved them. Who knew that this would be the one decision that drove the entire rest of the narrative? (Regardless of your choice, you still end up taking the food. So there’s no way to avoid Clem getting kidnapped after this and the plot that ensues from that).
Episode 3:
- I didn’t shoot her because she was already a goner. If I would have known who it was. I would have definitely put her out of her misery. But I had no connection to her at all, I wasn’t going to risk my safety by telling every walker nearby where I was by shooting her.
- Lilly killed one of the only things I cared about in the game so far. My booty call. I spent so much time trying to get on that. I gave her food and everything. I wanted so bad to just kill her then and there but I decided leaving her might be an even worse punishment.
- I tried to calm Kenny down because I care about the dude. I don’t want him to freak out on me and do something stupid.
- I couldn’t let Kenny go through something like that. Knowing your kid died is one thing. Killing him yourself is another. I had his back on that one.
- I helped Omid because his leg was hurt. I was pretty sure Christa would have been just fine on her own.
Episode 4:
- Yeah I did. He was this helpless harmless little zombie bro. It was a really sad situation, but the choice wan’t that hard. The percentage seems to agree.
- I threatened that homie because I wasn’t letting some little old man push me around. I did get shot a few times in this scene because I guess I said the wrong thing.
- I wasn’t going to trust anyone else with Clem at this point. Coming with might not have been safe. But I felt that she was safer with me than anywhere else regardless.
- Ben was an idiot. And in a roundabout way the death of the girl I was trying to sex up. He caused a lot of people’s deaths. But I still couldn’t help but feel for the dude. I would have given him a second chance because I knew he felt bad for everything he had done. But I could tell that he wanted to go. So I let him make that choice instead of doing it for him.
- I think it was pretty clear to everyone on this one. There was no use hiding the bite at that point. I trusted who was left and I knew they wouldn’t just off me because of it. Everyone that was alive came with me to find Clem. I’m sure if Ben was still alive at that point he would have also joined me.
Episode 5:
- FUCK NO. I had shit to do. I wasn’t letting someone cut my arm off. I was surprised that this was actually a decision that mattered. I figured if you chose to cut your arm off it would just stop it somehow. Nope. They really do cut his arm off. Although it doesn’t seem to change too much of the rest of the episode. Just a few things you have to do differently since, you know, you only have one arm! I was really surprised by how many people decided to chop his arm off.
- I guess I was in the minority when I kept my cool. Guess I was trying to play the calm leader really well by now.
- This was the lowest percentage choice I made. I can’t believe so few people gave up their weapons. I figured it was the only way to get to Clem. If he saw that I still had weapons he would have just killed me instead of giving me the courtesy of a James Bond Reveal in order to get time to figure something out.
- I killed that sick fuck. Easiest decision I made the entire time. If you don’t Clem does it. And I didn’t want that to weigh on her. I was going to die. I had already killed plenty. I wanted to preserve her innocence at least a little. Killing walkers is different, killing someone alive could really mess her up.
- This was a tough decision. I thought it would be good for Clem. Make her stronger. I also thought it would leave her with some closure as well. I know I wouldn’t want to sit there thinking about how Lee could be wandering around, turned, killing people. It was a great ending though.
400 Days:
- I wasn’t aware that whoever I chose pretty much died. I didn’t think I would shoot his whole leg off. I don’t think I really had a particular reason for my choice on this one. I know I wanted the actual criminal on my side instead of the guy who embezzled money. I can’t remember which one ended up coming with.
- I stayed. I didn’t want to deal with whatever was going on out there.
- Nate was a lunatic and would have eventually gotten me killed or killed someone else in front of me. I didn’t want to deal with that.
- 75% of people lied to Leland because he would have probably killed us without thinking if he found out that we accidentally killed his wife.
- I killed Stephanie. I was kind of expecting this one to be a pretty low percentage because they made it kinda hard to kill her. There were lots of times when you could change your mind.
Based on this chart, these are the characters that we’ll most likely run into in Season 2.
Final:
I was always curious why they didn’t have Clementine on this list. It would have been cool to see how she felt about Lee. Maybe she didn’t like him as much because of some decisions. Maybe they could have made that dictate her final decision at the end of the season instead of having us pick. I guess they just went with the idea that Clem and Lee were always gonna end up becoming really close by the end of it. Even if you were mean to her it just made her stronger.
All in all this season was an enjoyable experience. The Achievements are super easy to get if that’s something you care about. It’s a very casual game. I would suggest playing it episode at a time which should only take an hour or two each typically. I recommend everyone checks out this game and experiences it for themselves if they haven’t already.
I am currently playing through Season 2 and will link to the post about that when it gets done!