What Do You Want in Terminal Reality’s Walking Dead?

I would be lying if I said my excitement level for the newly announced The Walking Dead game by Terminal Reality started off at a high. While I find myself enthralled by the franchise, I feel that Telltale Games’ episodic adventure provided the perfect experience to match the staple tension that oozes from both the print and televised iterations. When I heard who gamers would be playing as, my excitement flipped and increased quite significantly. Despite my newfound desire to get my hands on this game in 2013, I am still wary of the faults that can rear their ugly heads in the finished product. The following is a list of things I would like to see in Terminal Reality’s The Walking Dead.

Stay True to the Character:

The Walking Dead will play off as a prequel to AMC’s television series and follow the redneck-esque Daryl Dixon and his brother Merle on their trek through an infected Georgia. Though several characters on the show have shown change due to the increasingly dangerous situations over the initial two seasons, there is little about Daryl’s portrayal that would lead anybody to believe he was any different prior to the rise of the undead. Therefore, Terminal Reality needs to stay true to the character that the show’s scribes have created. His inept survival skills can play a huge part in creating a tense experience for the gamer while also adding a level of depth not typically found in your average survival horror FPS. While the developer has mentioned an emphasis on stealth gameplay, it should be more than just having to sneak around Walkers to avoid alerting a horde. Why not emphasize the characters hunting abilities by allowing the player to scavenge the state’s thick forests for food or track down a fellow survivor that may have run off with essential supplies. Sometimes it’s the little side-quests that make a game stand out amongst the competition.

A Pinch of Tension:

If The Walking Dead is to succeed at being a true horror title, it needs to rely more on just the gross-out factor and scary look of the zombies. Tension is a necessity, and in a game like this, it shouldn’t be that hard to accomplish. Left 4 Dead was successful in making gamers jumpy with its seemingly continuous stream of running zombies, but The Walking Dead’s fare of undead foes don’t match the speed or viciousness of its FPS brethren. They may not have speed to match, but the walker’s near silent movement and tendency to stick to hordes could make these slow moving creeps an intimidating foe. Since the fear of a solitary walker may not be there, their strength in numbers should be utilized frequently.

The Horror of Humanity:

If time has told us anything, it’s that humans can be their own worst enemy. Though the undead are typically viewed as the “main” antagonist, your fellow survivors aren’t too far behind. When the world starts to deteriorate, people tend to do whatever they can to survive, even if it means loosing a bit of their humanity. From stealing supplies to exerting power over their weaker companions, humans can be far more disgusting than gut-tearing walkers. Having Daryl and Merle aid a few helpless survivors only to have them run off with supplies will only emphasize the horrible state the world is in.

Multiplayer:

While I’m no advocate for a game that focuses on multiplayer over the single player experience, allowing a second player to control Merle would be a welcomed addition. Inclusion of a two player Co-Op play will allow for some cool scenarios including one player distracting a walker while the other sneaks in for a brutal kill. Competitive multiplayer could include modes that pit two players playing as Daryl and Merle against other players playing as survivors with AI controlled zombies making a mess of everything. If Telltale fleshes out the hunting and tracking aspects of Daryl, there could also be a one-on-one mode that pits one player hunting down another through a zombie-filled environ.

If you could give Terminal Reality your input, what would you include to make The Walking Dead an effective and entertainingly thrilling zombie FPS?