Listing Life Dangerously – The Three Best Moments in The Walking Dead

*SPOILER WARNING*

You all know what The Walking Dead is.

I finished the game recently (the Telltale Games one, not the ropey-looking new one).

I thought it was proper bo. Here are my favourite moments.

3. Carley gets shot

At the end of the first episode you have to decide whether to save Carley or Doug from the zombie horde. Doug is a kindly tech nerd. Carley is a supermodel journalist who is handy with a pistol and an audacious flirt. I saved Carley.

the game popped up a “Carley will remember that” note immediately before she died, as pure misdirection

To get around having to write every scene twice, to accommodate whichever character survived in each player’s game, the writers mugged Doug and Carley off big time. Towards the start of episode two, Carley (or Doug) heads back to the motel while you head to the farm, and then doesn’t turn up again until the very end. Then, about 20 minutes into episode three, Carley (or Doug) gets shot right in the head by Lilly during an argument. Besides making the writers’ lives easier from that point on, it comes so sharply out of the blue (for me the game popped up a “Carley will remember that” note immediately before she died, as pure misdirection) that it leaves you with the lasting impression that no other character will be safe for the rest of the game. Which is a powerful notion, sort of like Deep Heat. No, wait, that’s a powerful lotion but the point stands.

It’s a defining moment in the game, and is particularly interesting because it makes you feel like you did something wrong, like you could have avoided it happening if only you’d selected the right dialogue options. Of course, the truth is that there was nothing you could do.

2. Clementine does funnies

One of the most refreshing aspects of Telltale’s The Walking Dead is how well-rounded Clementine’s character is. She’s not just there to be rescued, is far from helpless, and the way she sees and interacts with the world develops in a meaningful and noticeable way. Kids aren’t stupid, apart from the stupid ones. They just know less stuff about stuff.

Part of her charm is how funny she is. There’s a great moment when she complains that Duck said that she put a bug on his pillow. When you ask her if she did it, there’s a short pause before she perfectly deadpans “Yes”.

However, my favourite Clementine moment is the salt lick. When you visit the farm in episode two, Clementine tells you not to lick the salt lick, because it’s “gross”. When you ask her if she licked it, there’s a lengthy pause before she plumps for the response “I don’t know”.

1. Talking to the man in the hotel

Two of the strongest messages in Telltale’s The Walking Dead are taking responsibility for your decisions, however impossible they may seem, and raising a child to know the difference between wrong and right, however impossible that too may seem. When you finally reach the hotel to confront Clementine’s captor, those themes are brought together.

The scene reminds you that actions often have unseen consequences, and that human heads can fit in bags.

He has knowledge of the choices you’ve made up until that point, and he challenges you to explain yourself. For example, he called me out on saving Carley because she was hotter than Doug, the clever swine. It’s a tense encounter which, while clearly contrived, is memorably delivered and stays with you. The scene reminds you that actions often have unseen consequences, and that human heads can fit in bags.

It’s the sort of end-of-game moral review that is perhaps missing from a game with similar mechanics and themes – Heavy Rain. However, Heavy Rain does feature something that The Walking Dead doesn’t – a man shouting “Jason” loudly and repeatedly.

You can follow Simon (@MrCuddleswick) on Twitter here and also slowly by car if you want.

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