Top 10: The Walking Dead Game Moments from Season 1

by Illusivebroker on Mar 28th, 2014

Just to warn the readers this top 10 lists down moments from the game where pretty dark and gore-ish things happen. Reader Discretion is advised.

#10: Giving the girl the gun (Episode 1: A New Day)

The reason The Walking Dead is such a compelling game is that it presents you with decisions which aren’t the usual good or bad/black and white. An example of which was during the very first episode in which Lee, Glenn and Carly come across a bitten girl at a motel. You spend the majority of your time killing the walkers in order to reach her, only to find out that she was bitten.  It’s here where she pleads with you to give her your gun so she can kill herself to stop her turning into a walker. What makes this moment so memorable is that you have to make the decision on whether to give her the gun or not. It makes you question your own morality as you can allow her to commit suicide or attempt to leave her to turn (While that might seem like a possibility she does take the gun from you forcefully if you refuse). All the while you are forced to watch as she ends her own life. It’s such a dark scene and one that leaves you feeling empty inside soon after.

#9: Dealing out Rations (Episode 2: Starved for Help)

The choices you are presented with in The Walking Dead are really punishing. Not in a gameplay perspective, but in a moral sense. In episode 2 you are in a scenario where the group is running low on food, and Lily being angry over the fact that everyone hates her decides to force Lee to hand out the rations. With only four rations of food to distribute in a group of ten people you have to pick who needs the food the most. It’s a hard and morally punishing choice even more so as you have the option of giving some to Lee himself, or sparing it for others in the group. No matter who you choose, you are reminded that there are still others who needed to eat and you couldn’t feed them all.

#8: Meeting Clementine (Episode 1: A New Day)

Straight from a police car and into the wild, Lee Everett had no idea where to go after he escaped the walker hoard in the forest. After investigating a suburban house you come across Clementine, who comes to your aid as you are fighting off her walker babysitter. You can tell from the first scene that they share that Clementine is fragile to the hell hole the world has become and you feel a need to look after her in order to keep her safe. Even though Lee and Clementine share no relationship you can sense a bond between them and over time you watch as their bond becomes stronger and stronger.

#7: Killing or trying to save Larry (Episode 2: Starved for Help)

There was no denying how much we hated Larry. He felt unnecessarily cruel and mean towards Lee as he knew that he was a convicted killer. So throughout Episode 1 and 2 you get a full frontal of insults and taunts from the old man and he didn’t really show any signs of stopping. But it was when he suffered a heart attack in episode 2 that the game really pushed you to act on your attitude towards Larry. Knowing that you come back as a walker no matter what Kenny makes clear that if you don’t help him kill Larry he’ll come back and kill them all. You are forced to make a very big decision at that point: Help Lily perform CPR in order to bring him back to life or help Kenny drop a salt lick on the guy’s head. No matter your decision the outcome is quite shocking and you realise that the game makes you suffer for your actions.

#6: The Kid in the Attic (Episode 4: Around Every Corner)

While holding up in a small estate, Lee and the group decide to comb the estate to make sure it’s safe to stay in. While talking to Clementine with Crista about the man on her radio Ben rushes down to warn Lee that Kenny is in the attic and something is wrong. Going into the attic you see Kenny kneeling on the floor, quiet and almost empty. It’s then you see why, as within the attic is a small boy who starved to death and turned into a walker. What makes this scene so tragic is the resemblance the kid has to Duck; Kenny’s son. It’s the tone and atmosphere that make you feel sorry for the kid as you learn that he starved to death trying to hide from the walkers, making his body very skinny and weak. It’s here you make the decision on whether you or a grief-stricken Kenny should kill the kid. Once dead you listen to the depressing piano beat as you carry him downstairs to bury him in the garden. It’s such a sad and deep scene which makes a bigger impact through the piano beat in the background.

#5: Finding out the St Johns Family Secret (Episode 2: Starved for Help)

The Walking Dead Game can accomplish plenty of shocks throughout each episode. It was in episode 2 that a serious shock was in store for everyone. During the episode there were plenty of little hints about the St John family and their secret. You’d be given probing questions about your group, forced to watch as a women was killed right in front of you before she was about to tell you something, then there was the locked door in the barn, which once opened revealed a butchering room full of bloodied tools and other foul sites. You then find out that Mark who was injured previously had both his legs chopped off within a secret room within the St John house. Realising that Mark was being served as the ‘meat’ of the dinner you rush down to stop Clementine from eating it and confront the family on their secret. It’s here they make their intentions clear as they lured the group here so that they could kill them and eat them. What makes this moment is the utter shock of it, everything was played out so subtly before you and when it came to finding Mark you really get thrown into a much darker part of the story.

#4: Getting Bit (Episode 4: Around Every Corner)

Around Every Corner had Lee and what remained of the group accomplish quite a lot. You saved Omid, Found parts to fix up the boat and it looked like you were set to leave Savannah and cross the river.  But through all the busy things you had to get done Lee didn’t realise that there was still one other matter; Clementine and the man on the radio. So after finding out that she wouldn’t be able to go look for her parents, Clementine cries to sleep while a guilty Lee leaves out the radio and falls asleep on the chair. Once awakened you find Clementine and the radio gone. Following the trail from her hat Lee comes across a small box where the radio lays playing out loud static. Reaching down for the radio and grabbing it, you are suddenly jumped on by a walker hiding within the boxes. The jump-scare of the walker itself was bad enough, but once you again pick up the hat you notice that there’s fresh blood on it. Shocked beyond belief you realise the worse has happened as Lee has a deep bite mark on his arm. This moment is so shocking as it forces so much on you and gives you very little time to dawn on it as you are given the choice between telling everyone you’ve been bit or to hide it. It was a moment that made you realise that no-one is safe in this game, not even the main character.

#3: Lily Kills Carley/Doug (Episode 3: Long Road Ahead)

Long Road Ahead gave out a serious amount of shocks with a characters being killed off in quite surprising ways. One of which was the death of Carley/Doug by the hands of Lily. Just escaping the now over-run motor inn within the RV; Lily was more than a little upset. After learning that someone was supplying the bandits with medical supplies she begins to start accusing Ben and Carley/Doug. Her aggression really tips the atmosphere into a tense set as you feel Lily becoming even more paranoid as she blames Ben. It was when a walker forced the RV to stop that the realisation of how serious Lily was became apparent. Becoming tired of Ben’s constant denial against her accusations Carley and Doug suffer for it. As she pulls out of her gun and shoots them (Carley’s was even more shocking as she intended to shoot her, while Dougs was accidental as she was aiming for Ben) It’s in the brief seconds afterwards in that you soak up what just happened and you make the choice of whether to leave Lily out on the side of the road or bring her with you. It was such an unexpected moment that it caught you totally off guard.

#2: Putting down Duck (Episode 3: Long Road Ahead)

One of the many depressing shocks that episode 3 had for us was the fact that Duck, Kenny and Katjaa’s son was bit during their escape from the motor inn. Trying to continue on like nothing happened; Kenny tries to put his attention on getting the train going so he doesn’t have to face the facts. It’s only when Duck begins to cough blood that Lee steps in to make Kenny see sense and end his son’s life before it’s too late. The scene they share on the train was rather emotional as Kenny’s behaviour and morals on the subject seemed very believable, as he thinks that Karma is punishing him for not saving Hershels son in episode 1. It’s only later on when Kenny and Katjaa take Duck into the woods that you hear a gun shot, only to find Katjaas dead body with Kenny crying over her. Not being able to take the death of her own son, Katjaa killed herself. This made you share such a strong and emotional scene with Kenny where you watch as he has to kill his sun. You can offer to do it yourself or make Kenny do it. No matter which choice you make, the scene itself leaves you with a great sense of depression and sadness.

#1: Making Clementine Kill/Leave Lee (Episode 5: No Time Left)

Everything that happened during Season 1 of the Walking Dead Game was done in a way that showed the father-like bond Lee was having with Clementine. Through each episode you strived to keep her safe no matter what. It was during the final episode, No Time Left; that you knew you had to safe Clementine from the strange who kidnapped her, all the while slowly and painfully turning from the infection. It was in the very last scene where the true emotional power of this game came into fruition. Unable to carry on, Lee forces himself to stop inside a jewellery store while he helps Clementine look for a way out. After killing a walker Clementine is given a final and tear-jerking farewell from Lee. With the slow ambient music playing in the background you just can’t help but cry as the final decision comes up. You can make Clementine leave Lee or kill him. No matter what the choice you see the pain Clementine is going through at this part, and you wish that you could tell her it’ll be ok. It accumulates into a final shot with either her shooting lee or Lee finally dying from his infection. Either way, you feel the massive emotional impact of the scene all the while the credits roll with “Take it Back” playing.

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