The Walking Dead: Episode 1 - A New Day

 PC
User Score
8.4

Generally favorable reviews- based on 821 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 692 out of 821
  2. Mixed: 70 out of 821
  3. Negative: 59 out of 821

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  1. DesireMercy
    Oct 21, 2012
    4
    The story and the art of this game are great, and so are many of the interactions, but after having played seasons 1-4 I can tell you with certainty that most of the major decisions are decided for you. Certain characters will die regardless of how you try to save them. This is disappointing as the game heralds "adapting to your choices" when in reality practically ALL of your choices areThe story and the art of this game are great, and so are many of the interactions, but after having played seasons 1-4 I can tell you with certainty that most of the major decisions are decided for you. Certain characters will die regardless of how you try to save them. This is disappointing as the game heralds "adapting to your choices" when in reality practically ALL of your choices are superficial and have no bearing on how the game actually plays out.

    Having watched seasons 1-4 of the walking dead by Myndflame on Youtube, I made a concerted effort to pick the OPPOSITE choices. Yet, in spite of this, my game has been practically identical save for a few superficial differences.

    Another major problem with the game is that MOST of it is cut scene. In the places that you are given control of your character, generally, you are stuck with ONE option to solve the puzzles or progress to the next scene. Often times you'll run into invisible walls, whether it be in the environment or in the choices the game will allow you to make. Too many times I was greeted with Lee telling me "This is probably not a good idea right now..." So what? I thought this game was about making choices?

    Although I find the game, the world, and the story fascinating I am disenfranchised with this promise of "choice". When you compare it to other great games like Fallout or Mass Effect the game falls short on its promise. The story doesn't really change. The results are almost identical, and what you do doesn't really matter.    … Expand
  2. RoomOne01
    Apr 25, 2012
    3
    In my opinion the game is falsely marketed. The choices you are presented with are forced and out of place. It is not tailored to you like it claims, it simply puts a ridiculous situation in front of you and forces you to literally pick left or right. The movement of the characters is extremely limited and geared completely towards consoles. The fact that it shows you an XBOX controller inIn my opinion the game is falsely marketed. The choices you are presented with are forced and out of place. It is not tailored to you like it claims, it simply puts a ridiculous situation in front of you and forces you to literally pick left or right. The movement of the characters is extremely limited and geared completely towards consoles. The fact that it shows you an XBOX controller in the menu even though you are on a PC tells me that they didn't give two sh*ts about PC gamers when they ported it. The puzzles are random and illogical. It takes more brute force than thought when it comes to solving them. All in all I wouldn't recommend this purchase. It's a crap game built around a great show and comic book. It's a forced story line, with absolutely no openness at all. I know movie/tv/book based games are known to be bad, but this one takes the cake on that badge. The only reason I give it a three is because of the name.… Expand
  3. Lord0r
    Aug 11, 2013
    0
    I liked it: the story is well built, the graphic is OK and the game play is enjoyable.
    But the game is full of bugs, a lot of players are experiencing problems in playing the game and i'm one of them.
    It deletes my saves every time and there's no solution to this bug. (One of the hundred unsolved bugs of this game)
    It isn't worth the price i paid!
  4. crystal3d
    May 15, 2013
    2
    I just cant believe all those 7s 8s and nines...this is a very poor game, but i would still like and recommend this game if it had a valid choice system and intuiative game play...

    take out the enthusiasm and there you have nothing...

    try heavyrain...
  5. Lorgan
    Oct 31, 2012
    0
    This game is basically tries to sell on a big lie, that you can impact the story.
    And not only do they lie to you in the marketing, they also lie to you when you play the game.
    The game pretends that you have a lot of big choices but its easy to see that you cannot make any impact. If you replay the choices you will see black on white that the result is always the same. I cant believe    This game is basically tries to sell on a big lie, that you can impact the story.
    And not only do they lie to you in the marketing, they also lie to you when you play the game.
    The game pretends that you have a lot of big choices but its easy to see that you cannot make any impact. If you replay the choices you will see black on white that the result is always the same.

    I cant believe this got such a high rating. Most likely it have been doped by the developer.
    If I ever see a game made by telltale ever again I will stay miles away.    … Expand
  6. ZombieBacon
    Dec 27, 2012
    0
    I have no idea where these high ratings come from.
    As another Walking Dead property this might be okay, but as the game Telltale advertises it's a zero. The main "game" aspect is all about your choices and the effect they have on the story and world at large. The problem is that this notion of choice is a lie. Even when you have a choice, which isn't that often as many outcomes are set    I have no idea where these high ratings come from.
    As another Walking Dead property this might be okay, but as the game Telltale advertises it's a zero. The main "game" aspect is all about your choices and the effect they have on the story and world at large. The problem is that this notion of choice is a lie. Even when you have a choice, which isn't that often as many outcomes are set in stone, the effects are superficial at best. If Telltale can't really offer a game that is greatly affected by your in game choices they shouldn't advertise it as such. Considering "choice" is the main or lone mechanic in what makes this a game it fails pretty miserably.

    If you're interested in another Walking Dead story I hear you can just watch playthroughs on YouTube. Trust me, with the lack of variation you won't miss anything this way.    … Expand
  7. LazyLord
    Nov 16, 2012
    3
    The biggest part of this game are the decisions, which at first seem fun, but if you play through different routes you'll realize your decisions don't make much of a difference. The action scenes seem to come out of nowhere, and sometimes you only realize it isn't a cut scene after it's too late. But even if you do realize it in time Lee doesn't seem to be in a hurry to not get eaten.The biggest part of this game are the decisions, which at first seem fun, but if you play through different routes you'll realize your decisions don't make much of a difference. The action scenes seem to come out of nowhere, and sometimes you only realize it isn't a cut scene after it's too late. But even if you do realize it in time Lee doesn't seem to be in a hurry to not get eaten. Though even if you are bad at that kind of action sequence there aren't enough to really ruin your gaming experience.

    To sum up, the most advertised part of this game is that it's tailored to your decisions. But it's really not, there's a very strict order in which everything has to be done. And most importantly, usually whatever you decide you have to stay behind 100%, for the most part the game doesn't give you the option to regret any of your decisions. Which is kind of annoying when someone gets pissed off at you for a decision you made while on a timer.

    Overall, I give it a 3.5/10.    … Expand
  8. refdxf
    Sep 19, 2012
    0
    This is a point and click adventure focused on dialogue. It has a cheesy mechanic where the time clicks down and if you are too slow in choosing what you want to say, the listener will think you are lying. The game see black and white truths and doesn't understand complexity. In a game that is all about dialogue, this is just painful to play.
  9. Comet
    Aug 26, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. I've never played a Telltale game before for several reasons, but I thought I'd give "The Walking Dead" a try because I like the series and the setting.
    To sum it up shortly: I'm not satisfied and here's why: First, this is not an adventure as advertised, it's an interactive movie/comic. The puzzles are scarce and ridiculously easy, most of the game consists of cutscenes and quick-time events. On the plus side, I think the dialogue system is good although a little hasty maybe.
    Second, the decisions you can make are very limited and most have close no effect on the path the story takes (contrary to what has been promised). Most of the time you will not only end up with exactly the same results in the end but all choices are of the "A or B" type. [spoilers] Example: When you have to chose if you want to save Shawn or Kenny's kid it will always turn out the same. The kid is save, Shawn is dead and Herschel is throwing you off his farm. You're not able to solve this situation as a normal person would do if somebody's stuck beneath a tractor: getting on the damn thing and drive it backwards.[/spoilers]
    Third, it is way too short for the amount of money you pay for it. 25$ for a 2 hour game (I hardly see any replay value) is daylight robbery. Maybe 40$ for all 5 episodes with all in all 10 hours of gameplay would've been adequate.
    Forth, the controls are pretty bad. Although you have to use WASD to walk you can't look around as the view is always limited to a certain area. The good old fashioned "click mouse to make player to there" way would've been a lot better.
    Fifth, the engine cause a lot of stutters during fast scene changes. This can be very annoying.
    I'm giving it a 4 out of 10, mainly because I think the story/dialogues and the graphics are done quite well, but overall it's a disappointment and certainly not worth the money. Too bad...    … Expand
  10. Zombie_Expert
    Nov 11, 2012
    2
    Complete waste of money. Nothing like cartoonish terrible graphics and the same outcomes every time. No matter what you choose it's the same outcomes the only thing that changes is the words people say. Unless you care for Story Time, don't bother.
  11. VitaminK
    May 17, 2012
    3
    With the reviews I was hoping for A LOT better. You don't really get to make the choices you want to or at least I wanted too, everything is forced generally one direction. Story is mediocre. This isn't a game, its a bunch of cut-scenes.
  12. lisitsa
    Jul 26, 2012
    4
    Not great. It IS an interactive story rather than a full-fledged action/puzzle game, but that's not the issue I have with it. I do wish it offered more of a branching story line, if story is where it's trying to shine -- most of the conversation decisions seem to be purely cosmetic. (They're also stressful to make; there's usually barely enough time to read them all before the timer runsNot great. It IS an interactive story rather than a full-fledged action/puzzle game, but that's not the issue I have with it. I do wish it offered more of a branching story line, if story is where it's trying to shine -- most of the conversation decisions seem to be purely cosmetic. (They're also stressful to make; there's usually barely enough time to read them all before the timer runs out.) But more importantly, the story it does lead you through is just so generic. It must have hit every single zombie apocalypse bingo square in the first half hour. That's what killed it for me. If there's no gameplay to speak of and no exploration of the game's world allowed, the story better be gripping. It wasn't; it never made me care. I'll grant that the characters were decently written for the most part, and I hope they will grow in complexity in future episodes.

    On top of the lackluster story, the gameplay aspects are terribly implemented. It might play better on console, but the PC controls are atrocious, character movement felt cumbersome and stunted, and the fixed camera/scenery drove me batty, since it frequently conceals walkable paths. The player is also artificially held back from progressing at multiple points. Some of the puzzles you're presented with have obvious solutions, but the game won't give you the tools to solve them until you've passed some other check point. (The brick thing was particularly annoying, as was the pharmacy door.) Some other puzzles were also just insulting to the characters themselves. I won't go into detail, but Carly -- presumably at least passing familiar with technology, being a reporter, not to mention perfectly capable of firing a handgun -- couldn't figure out the issue with the radio? Twice? Really, now?

    As for the the visual style, I'm not a fan, though I'll grant that's partly a matter of personal taste. The line work looked sloppy to me, the colours too muddy -- Clementine's face was a good example of this. What's not a matter of personal taste are the graphics glitches, particular the pixelated shadows all over the place. I did play this on an Mac via Steam, however, so it's possible it runs better on Windows.    … Expand
  13. DDK
    Dec 31, 2012
    2
    How anyone could rate this game higher than a 3 is beyond my meagre ability to comprehend. It's incredibly buggy on all platforms. It has high requirements despite having poor quality graphics. The characters in it are beyond moronic. The drama is forced to the point of complete farce. And you have zero real choice in anything that happens despite the wondrous claims of Telltale (a tellingHow anyone could rate this game higher than a 3 is beyond my meagre ability to comprehend. It's incredibly buggy on all platforms. It has high requirements despite having poor quality graphics. The characters in it are beyond moronic. The drama is forced to the point of complete farce. And you have zero real choice in anything that happens despite the wondrous claims of Telltale (a telling name if there was any). The people who gave this Indie GotY were either paid off or smoking crack.… Expand
  14. Coeco
    Apr 25, 2012
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A "Survival" puzzle game where next to all choices you make have no real impact besides tiny different scenes and tries to make up for its flaws by getting the player emotionally involved, doing so poorly due to all the audio-cuts, freezing problems and stacks upon stacks of illogical situations most which can be thanked for by this attempt of a comic adaptation that no doubt went through being ported.

    The developers recognized this flaw which is why they sacrificed the amount of power and influence the player had in order to make more emotional scenes, be it having to choose between two strangers every five minutes just to be yelled at the one who survived or just kill someone close that got infected.

    Next to all lines are being re-used in all scenarios, no matter your decision and to top that off, there are some very redundant plot-holes being formed from poor design for example: You see a brick outside the fence which you can easily grab with your hand, but even so the character insists on it being out of reach. A logical person would remember back to another room where he stumbled upon a walking stick that could be used to add the amount of "reach" necessary to grab the brick which would be 2 inches but no. It still could not be interacted with and would not until later reveal itself to be a sequence in the events much, MUCH later on, leaving players left confused, thinking they've missed something.

    I did enjoy the nice change with that of an interactive comic movie but unless they do a serious turn-over in the next episodes WHICH WILL BE RELEASED MONTHLY    … Expand
  15. Minsk
    Jul 20, 2012
    0
    What the hell they call this a game? Yeah nothing more exciting than clicking bubbles that make you do one action. Interactive movies are pointless, I would rather just watch a movie and not have the irritating task of pressing one button. Dialog choices never give the intended result it seems and are usually a black or white issue. Overall quality of the game is okay but the entire time IWhat the hell they call this a game? Yeah nothing more exciting than clicking bubbles that make you do one action. Interactive movies are pointless, I would rather just watch a movie and not have the irritating task of pressing one button. Dialog choices never give the intended result it seems and are usually a black or white issue. Overall quality of the game is okay but the entire time I played this game I didn't feel like it's a game. If you want a zombie game go with something like Dead Island or Left 4 Dead because you're actually playing a game. 0/10 for not being a game but an interactive movie. I'm upset I bought the game because I can go on the internet and find a flash game that gives more entertainment than this crap. Come to think about it, this game is exactly like an adventure game you would find on a flash game site and does not deserve to be a pay to play game especially since they release the entire game in a series of episodes instead of giving you the entire thing at once.… Expand
  16. threesuxty
    Sep 18, 2012
    4
    It's more like watching a game than playing one.
    Story, artwork and characters fine.
    Game play - poor. Dialogue options - poor. 1. Far too little freedom of movement. Not a bit too little ENORMOUSLY too little. The point and click system just doesn't cut it. 2. Dialogue options let you choose between one vapid answer and the other. Obvious smart answers are usually conveniently left    It's more like watching a game than playing one.
    Story, artwork and characters fine.
    Game play - poor. Dialogue options - poor.

    1. Far too little freedom of movement. Not a bit too little ENORMOUSLY too little. The point and click system just doesn't cut it.
    2. Dialogue options let you choose between one vapid answer and the other. Obvious smart answers are usually conveniently left out.
    3. Controls are awkward.

    The game would have been enormously superior on a standard FPS system, but it would still need to add at least a passing shot at incisive dialogue options.    … Expand
  17. gamemasterq
    Apr 25, 2012
    1
    Story is forced and not as open ended as it makes out. Graphics, suck and the character falls down way way too many times. Does not allow full control, may as well made it into a cartoon for all the movement and control you get.
  18. billynoshow
    Aug 9, 2012
    1
    Good story and animation, but if you are playing in a PC the controls are horrible and you cannot go where you want. Feels like PC was an after thought. Too rigid in the ability to roam, feels so scripted and controlled.
  19. Renan
    Apr 30, 2012
    2
    This is Telltale's Jurassic Park all over again, only on a different setting.

    I'm also impressed by the suspicious amount of 10's around here. With Jurassic Park some Telltale employees confesses they were writing their own critics giving all 10's on this site. I wouldn't be surprised it such was the case again. Anyway, they have done away with the insane amount of QTE's from Jurassic    This is Telltale's Jurassic Park all over again, only on a different setting.

    I'm also impressed by the suspicious amount of 10's around here. With Jurassic Park some Telltale employees confesses they were writing their own critics giving all 10's on this site. I wouldn't be surprised it such was the case again.

    Anyway, they have done away with the insane amount of QTE's from Jurassic Park, which is good. But a pretty poor story and very bad execution make for a game you will probably regret buying.    … Expand
  20. ArchAngel-7-
    Jun 5, 2012
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Horrible. When I heard that Tell Tale Games was making it I knew it would suck. I had hoped when they announced that there would be a video game adaptation, that they would finally give me the zombie game that gamer fans of the genre were looking for. I see Tell Tale's strategy of making games that mimic a "Choose your own adventure", Cutscene styling as lazy game making. I had hoped for something like the DAY Z mod in ARMA 2. Why did I buy it??..simple, it was called "The Walking Dead". Now ofcourse I knew before purchasing it , this game was going to be boring to play, however i had hoped it would atleast have some type of immersion. NONE. Whenever anyone points this out about the game, either a Tell Tale employee or FanBoy states "You dont think that smashing a zombie's brains in with a hammer is immersion"? "You dont think that choosing what happens is immersion enough"?....My answer is NO, not the way the game is styled. All of your decisions are forced. Any action sequences were made so that a child could complete them. This game is more like pressing "Q" or "E" so that you can continue watching a crappy movie/comic book video. And "Choices" ...really...."Choices"...the "S" on the end of the word "Choice" implies more than ONE...and when it comes to this game they are not lying...in fact you get TWO. "Save Carly or Nerd boy Doug", "Save Hershel's Son or the idiot kid".(Which i hope that kid dies). And not even all the choices are logical. Someone mentioned a brick small enough to fit through the gate at the pharmacy....or even the fact that you could use the Cane to grab it....not an option. It would not even let you pick the cane up. The one and only puzzling puzzle was the TV Remote. and that was just lame. Aside from the games integrity, how about the critics....I call BS on the many positive reviews of this game, however i see this alot in gaming. Lets just put it this way...I have come to this site to read reviews on just about every game before buying...until now I have never reviewed a game until being disgusted by the lack truth when it comes to the reviews of this game. I realize that this is only my opinion. I own every zombie/game/mod so naturally, I bought this as well. One more thing, where is episode two? I was told before buying that the game's episodes were to be released monthly. Maybe if they spent less time making you tube videos, patting themselves on the backs for the horrible game they have made, and more time making the game...there wouldnt be alot of angry customers out there. Usually the response to this statemeny by a TT agent or FanBoy is "Do you want a crap episode now or a great one later"? ..my response is I dont really care and TT doesnt either, they already got my money. I'll definitely save my money on the next set of episodes. Think Ill just watch someone playing those on You Tube. Which will get the story told to me for free.… Expand
  21. antioche
    Jun 13, 2012
    0
    As expected with Telltale games; their own devs have been padding the scores. The game sucks; & the episodic continuance is a fancy way to get us to pay to develop their game. Vaporware.
  22. aortaclogger
    Nov 29, 2012
    0
    I hope you enjoy having your saves rendered unplayable because that's what this game is all about. Your hard earned progress is likely to be wiped by a faulty save system when you try to resume playing. And guess what? YOU CAN'T SKIP DIALOGUE OR CUTSCENES. Unbearable. Such a great game but so terribly implemented.

Awards & Rankings

38
#38 Best PC Game of 2012
39
#39 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012
53
#53 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 40 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 33 out of 40
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 40
  3. Negative: 0 out of 40
  1. Hyper Magazine
    Jul 8, 2012
    80
    Great both standalone and as a gateway to a larger series. Let's hope it all pans out. [July 2012, p.76]
  2. PC PowerPlay
    Jul 3, 2012
    80
    A slow-burn character study, some quick thinking and a constant air of menace make for a gripping start to a new adventure. [July 2012, p.68]
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  3. Absolute Games
    Jun 28, 2012
    72
    Rich atmosphere compensates for poor gameplay mechanics of The Walking Dead.
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