The Emotional Dead

I had some time to finish up my first playthrough of Telltale Games' The Walking Dead - Episode 4 and it's really been a great experience. Despite its simple 3D graphics and relatively abstract control system the game has really managed to make me feel something for the characters. This is especially true of the relationship between Lee and Clementine but there have been moments with other characters like Ben and Kenny that have really felt real. I was reading a Gamasutra article about Resident Evil 6 that really drove the point home that this game isn't like a big AAA title that took 3 or 4 years and tens of millions to develop, it's a smaller, simpler affair but still manages to have a much greater emotional impact than a premium title like Resident Evil. It says, 'there's more in a shared glance between The Walking Dead game's Clementine and Lee than in all the posturing cut-scenes and eye-swivelling dialogue of RE6.' And that's entirely true, very few games make me feel something and those that do tend to have a lasting impact upon me. Every decision I make while playing I have to ask myself, 'How will this affect Clementine's safety and well-being?'. I don't wish to spoil the story at all, and I don't think this will ruin it for anyone, but there's your warning. In one episode Lee is asked by another survivor if he would allow Clem to join their group as they are more suitable guardians to her. I felt that Lee was feeling, so many questions ran through my mind, reasons why she'd be better off, reasons why I had to keep her by my side, questioning my own selfish motives. I sure as hell never felt that way about Leon Kennedy.

The most wonderful relationship I've seen in a game

Some of the decisions I've had to make have really aided my connection to the game too, feeling like I have an impact on the narrative. It's not quite the decision engine from my last post but it certainly has an impact on the way the story unfolds and the characters that help or hinder your progress. It all adds up to drawing the player inside the tale, and the month I have to wait for the final episode is torturous. Telltale have hit the nail on the head with this game and I really hope they decide to create more experiences like this. It's an adventure game at heart but it dispenses with the usual esoteric puzzles and nonsensical solutions for a better way of telling the story, action. Choices are given a time limit, dying is a possibility (though not in a Sierra 'you have to start over' way) and at the end of it all you get to compare your decisions to every other player of the game.

My cries never seem to attract hug-hungry rabbits, funny that

This is one of the features I really like in the game, and it seems like such a simple thing to implement and that just makes me love it more. At the end of the episode your decisions are compared by the wonder of percentages to what all the other players of the game decided to do in the same situation. Sometimes it's nice to see too, as generally it seems that most players are good at heart, choosing to save other characters' lives rather than saving their own skin and making selfless choices rather than selfish ones. But there's always that little bit of satisfaction being in the lower percentile for a decision, feeling that you made the tough choice that most people couldn't bear to face.

The whole experience is well written, well executed and makes me wish I worked for Telltale. That's right, I'm jelly. But it's also taught me about how to design a game well, and I appreciate that greatly. Every game should teach you something and I've truly been taught something by this game. Now I just need Capcom to play it and hope they get the same out of it as I do. Anyone from Capcom reading this at all?