The Game of Emotion

About three days ago I completed a computer game I got. It was a very, very sad story with plot twist's you could never see coming, characters you grew to love and care about and just hoping that whatever you did all the group would make it to the end. I'm talking, of course, about The Walking Dead.

Apart from the Shadow Moses return in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, The Walking Dead is the only other game to actually make me cry and feel something towards these characters. Differing from other zombie games this one was mainly story driven and Telltale Games, the creators, actually set out with a sole purpose to make you upset.

Three days later and I'm still thinking about the survivours and their heroic deeds. Kenny's sacrifice, Carley's untimely shock death, which I actually spent a couple days upset over her, Ben in the belltower and of course Lee's determination to get Clementine back from the Stranger. Even finding chuck in the sewer made me sad knowing he also gave his life for the group when he barely even knew them a day. The main thing I found so remarkable about these characters is that each one of them has a personality, a backstory and determination to get to a goal. It's strange that even though you play as a murderer, you still want him to make it. It would have been much different that if Lee killed the guy after the outbreak but no, it was weeks before. His truly good side shows when he is tasked with looking after little eight year old Clementine after she rescues you from a walker.

From that point on after she saved Lee's life, I felt as if I had to keep this girl safe. Even though the story obviously made you do that anyway, I always tried to keep her happy. In episode three, Long Road Ahead, we lose many of our beloved characters. Carley/Doug, Lilly, Katja. But the most shocking one of all of them was Kenny Jr (Duck). In not one single video game have I ever seen a child die let alone giving me the choice to pull the trigger so his father doesn't have to kill his only son after he was bitten. From this point on I tried to keep Clementine as safe as I could knowing that if they could kill Duck like that then there is nothing to say that Clementine would survive.

I am writing this because I just want to say that this game is a work of art. Thank you Robert Kirkman, Charlie Adlard, Tony Moore and everybody at Telltale who worked on this game. You have truly created what you set out to do.. An amazingly written story driven by sheer will to survive in a world that no longer cares for the living. This is exactly the kind of writing that I hope to one day produce. This is what I live for, this is my inspiration. Season two, I await you with great hope.

To all of those who were lost in Lee's group, rest in peace.