The Walking Dead Season 2: 5 Improvements Needed

TellTale have already announced that a second season of their hit game, The Walking Dead, will be releasing some time in the future. This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, given the amount of popularity the game garnered from critics and gamers alike. Sequels tend to be hard beasts to create though, as developers need to make something fresh yet stay true to the title’s identity. Here are some ways that TellTale can improve the series.

5) Better Puzzles

The Walking Dead video game kind of falls into the point-and-click adventure category. It’s really an evolution of that genre. One of the best parts of that genre were the puzzles that used to be included. The Walking Dead didn’t really have many brain teasers in the game itself. Most of it was straightforward too. Granted, this was mostly so that gamers didn’t spend much time away from the story. The story was the meat of the game, everything else was secondary. I think better puzzles could still be implemented though, as elevating the game play isn’t the worst thing that could be done.

4) Less Spoilers

It may sound weird, but many people predicted the course of the story in The Walking Dead through the preview images that were attached to each chapter. You kind of knew stuff that would happen, and who would still be alive and such. It’s a shame really because a game that relies heavily on its story shouldn’t be spoiling that story. This is also the case with the previews that occur for the next episode after each chapter. They’re pretty pointless and are only there to confuse gamers anyway. There’s no point in introducing such spoilers, as minor (or major) as they may be.

3) Better Animations

Admittedly, as fun as the story was in The Walking Dead, the animations weren’t up to par. I think the cell-shaded look of the game was brilliant, but the characters themselves were too stiff at times. I’d like to see the sequel have more fluidity in the game. That also goes for voice acting and lip syncing too. Some issues might be due to technical issues, but forgiving that, in general, I think a boost to the animation aspect of the game would help gamers become more emotionally invested in the characters and their actions.

2) No More Technical Issues

The Walking Dead had a number of technical issues whether they are on the PC version or the console version. From laggy sections to corrupt save files, there seemed a few too many technical issues than found in other competent games. These issues can be a real hindrance to the game, as losing a save file can seriously dampen a gamers desire to play a game. The loading and lagging issues also pull the gamer away from the experience, reminding everyone they are playing a game. Immersion is a key factor to a game such as this, so it’s not something to simply toss aside.

1) In-depth Choices & Consequences

The most important improvement needed in this series are more in-depth choices and consequences. For an open-story game, the choices and consequences felt shallow or superficial in the fist The Walking Dead game. Need I remind people how weird it felt when a particular person berated you for stealing from his car, when you chose not to? It also affects your attachment to the game, as the longer I played, I began realising that my choices wouldn’t hugely impact the game. This moments like ‘dropping’ Ben didn’t seem important as I knew something would happen to him later anyway. I’d like more grey choices too, as opposed to straight black and white choices. For instance, the section where you choose to kill Larry or resuscitate him ends up the same no matter your choice, making it plain obvious that you should have tried to resuscitate him. I’m not saying you can’t have moments like that, where certain events are out of your control, but in The Walking Dead, it just happened too often.

So, do you have any points for improving The Walking Dead?