The Walking Dead is a 2012 episodic graphic adventure video game developed and published by Telltale Games. Set in the same universe as the comic book series of the same name by Robert Kirkman, it is the first installment, or "season", in Telltale's The Walking Dead video game series, and comprises five main "episodes" and one DLC episode released between April 2012 and July 2013. The game follows Lee Everett, a convicted criminal who becomes the guardian of a young girl named Clementine amidst the onset of a zombie apocalypse in Georgia. Player decisions, such as dialogue choices and actions, influence the story's direction, with the consequences of these choices carrying over across the game's episodes.

Telltale developed The Walking Dead after securing a deal with Robert Kirkman and Warner Bros. in 2011. Influenced by narrative-driven games like Heavy Rain and Mass Effect, it focused on player choice and character-driven storytelling rather than action. Kirkman provided oversight while allowing Telltale creative freedom, ensuring the game aligned with the comics. The choice system influenced character interactions and minor events but did not significantly alter the overall story. Developed for multiple platforms, the game faced technical challenges with save data and release scheduling.

Released in five episodes between April and November 2012 on various platforms, The Walking Dead received widespread praise for its emotional depth, narrative, and the dynamic between Lee and Clementine. It helped revitalize its impact on the adventure game genre. It won year-end accolades, including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications. By the end of 2012, it had sold over 8.5 million episodes, with total sales reaching 28 million episodes by July 2014.

In 2013, Telltale expanded the game into a franchise by releasing an additional downloadable episode, 400 Days, to extend the first season and bridge the gap towards Season 2, which was released in 2013–2014. Season 3 and the final season were released in 2016–2017 and 2018–2019, respectively, along with a spin-off game based on the character Michonne.

Gameplay The Walking Dead is a point-and-click graphic adventure video game played from a third-person perspective. In the game, the player character, Lee Everett, tries to survive and protect a young girl named Clementine during the midst of a zombie apocalypse, working with a small group of survivors. Using an on-screen reticle, the player can examine and interact with characters and items, and must make use of collected items and the environment. Throughout the game, the player is presented with the ability to interact with their surroundings and options to determine the nature of that interaction. The player must solve environmental puzzles or talk to different characters to progress the story. According to Robert Kirkman, The Walking Dead is focused more on developing characters and story, and less on the action tropes that tend to feature in other zombie-based games, such as Left 4 Dead.

Some parts of the game require timed responses from the player, often leading to significant decisions that will impact the game's story, in the manner of role-playing games (RPGs). Some conversation trees require the player to make a selection within a limited time, otherwise Lee will remain quiet, which can affect how other characters respond to him. Unlike in other RPGs such as the Mass Effect or Fallout series, where choices fall on either side of a "good or evil" scale, the choices within The Walking Dead have ambiguous results, having an effect on the attitude of the non-player characters towards Lee.

The player can choose to play in "Minimal" mode, disabling hints and the "choice notification" feature that signals changes in the game or characters' attitudes toward Lee. In more action-based sequences, the player must follow on-screen prompts for quick time events (QTEs) so as to keep themselves or other characters alive; if they die, the game restarts from just prior to the QTE. Each episode of the game includes several points where the player must choose between two options. The player can create multiple saves and use a "rewind" feature to revisit and change previous decisions, allowing them to explore different outcomes.

Plot This is a broad overview of the plot. Certain decisions made by the player will alter details of specific events.

The Walking Dead occurs simultaneously with the events from the original comic series, where a zombie apocalypse overwhelms much of society. On day one of the outbreak, convicted criminal Lee Everett (voiced by Dave Fennoy) is being transported to prison when the police car crashes after hitting a walker. After killing the reanimated cop, Lee flees from a group of walkers and takes shelter in a suburban home, where he meets Clementine (Melissa Hutchison), a young girl whose parents had traveled to Savannah. They are rescued by Shawn Greene (Peter Edward Mussad), who takes them to his father Hershel's (Chuck Kourouklis) farm, where they meet Kenny (Gavin Hammon), his wife Katjaa (Cissy Jones), and their son Duck (Max Kaufman). After Shawn is killed by walkers, Hershel forces the group to leave. They travel to Macon, Lee's hometown, and join another group led by Lilly (Nicki Rapp), barricaded in Lee's family pharmacy. The group includes Glenn (Nick Herman), who eventually leaves to find friends in Atlanta.

Three months later, the group has holed up in a nearby motel and is low on supplies. They encounter a group of survivors, including Ben Paul (Trevor Hoffmann), whose teacher's death shows the group that everyone is already infected, turning into walkers upon death, regardless of being bitten. They make a deal with the St. Johns, a family running a nearby dairy farm, to exchange gasoline for food. However, they discover the St. Johns partake in cannibalism. The group loses two of their own, including Lilly's father Larry (Terry McGovern), but eventually escapes the farm, leaving it overrun by walkers. On their way back to the motel, they find an abandoned car full of supplies and take what they need. Later, bandits attack the motel, drawing a horde of walkers. The group escapes, but Duck is bitten. Lilly, hostile after Larry's death, murders one of the group members and leaves the group. The remaining survivors head to Savannah by train, planning to find a boat to escape the mainland. Along the way, they meet Chuck (Roger Jackson), a homeless survivor who advises Lee to teach Clementine how to defend herself. En route to Savannah, Duck succumbs to his bite, and in turn, Katjaa commits suicide. Near Savannah, the group meets Omid (Owen Thomas) and Christa (Mara Junot), a couple who joins them. A walkie-talkie that Clementine carries suddenly activates, with a man claiming he has her parents in Savannah.

In Savannah, the group sets up shelter in an abandoned mansion but loses Chuck to walkers. Lee and Kenny discover that all the boats in the area are either gone or destroyed, and that the walled community of Crawford has scavenged most of the supplies. Separated from the group, Lee encounters another group led by Vernon (Butch Engle), who helps him return to the mansion, where they discover a motorboat in a shed. The group raids Crawford for supplies, only to find the community overrun by walkers. They manage to escape, but not without losses. Vernon leaves, doubting Lee's ability to protect Clementine. Clementine, desperate to find her parents, goes missing. In his haste to find her, Lee is bitten by a walker. Realizing he doesn't have much time left, Lee tries to find Vernon's group but discovers they have stolen the boat. Clementine contacts Lee via walkie-talkie, telling him that she is being held at a downtown hotel, the same one where her parents had stayed. Lee's group heads to the hotel, navigating rooftops to avoid walkers in the streets. Kenny is seemingly lost after sacrificing himself to save another member. Separated from Omid and Christa, Lee reaches the hotel alone and confronts Clementine's captor, The Stranger (Anthony Lam), who reveals he is the owner of the car they had previously ransacked. After killing him, Lee and Clementine cover themselves in walker guts to avoid detection and head through the streets.

They encounter Clementine's zombified parents, and a weakening Lee helps her reach an abandoned store. Inside, Lee urges Clementine to escape the city and find Omid and Christa. He instructs her to either shoot him or leave him to become a walker. In a post-credits scene, Clementine, having escaped the city, spots two figures in the distance who notice her.

400 Days The downloadable content 400 Days relates stories of other survivors in the zombie apocalypse, starting at its onset and occurring concurrently with the first season.

There are five stories: Vince (Anthony Lam) is a convicted murderer who was imprisoned for killing a man to protect his brother. On Day 2 of the outbreak, he is on a prison transport bus with fellow inmates Danny (Erik Braa) and Justin (Trevor Hoffmann) when a violent standoff leads to the bus being overrun by walkers. Vince must free one of the other prisoners to escape while leaving the other to die. Wyatt (Jace Smykel) and his friend Eddie (Brandon Bales) are on the run after accidentally killing a friend of Nate (Jefferson Arca). On Day 41, while fleeing in a car, they hit one of the prison guards from Vince's bus in heavy fog. When one of them steps out to check on the injured man, the other is forced to drive away when Nate suddenly attacks. Russell (Vegas Trip) is a teenager traveling on foot to find his grandmother. On Day 184, he hitches a ride with Nate, who takes him to a gas station and truck stop. There, they are fired upon by an elderly man named Walt. Nate sees an opportunity to kill and rob Walt and his wife, Jean. Russell must decide whether to go along with Nate's plan or leave him behind. Bonnie (Erin Yvette), a recovering drug addict, is traveling with Leland (Adam Harrington) and his wife Dee (Cissy Jones). Dee is suspicious of Bonnie, believing Leland has feelings for her. On Day 220, after Dee steals supplies from another group, they are chased into a cornfield, where Bonnie accidentally kills Dee with a rebar. She must then decide to either tell Leland the truth or lie about what happened. Shel (Cissy Jones) and her younger sister Becca (Brett Pels) are part of a group living at the same truck stop from Russell's story. Some members were once with Vernon, whom Lee encountered in Savannah. Their leader, Roman (Kid Beyond), enforces strict control over the group. On Day 236, Shel is the deciding vote in the fate of a captured scavenger named Roberto, who attempted to steal from them. Later, on Day 259, fellow group member Stephanie (Dana Bauer) is caught stealing, and Roman demands that Shel execute her. Shel must choose whether to comply or escape with Becca in their caravan.

On Day 400, Tavia (Rashida Clendening) finds a billboard near the now-overrun truck stop, displaying photos of the survivors and a map leading to a supposed safe haven. She tracks them down and offers them sanctuary. Bonnie accepts, while the others' decisions depend on their past choices and whether Tavia can successfully convince them to join her.

Episodes The game was separated into five episodes, released between April and November 2012. Each episode lasts about two and a half hours.

Supplemental episodes

An additional episode, titled 400 Days, was released in July 2013 as downloadable content, bridging the gap between the first and second season. It is presented in a nonlinear narrative style; the player can approach the five stories in any order they choose.

Development Background