The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is an episodic adventure video game developed and published by Telltale Games. The game is the first of The Walking Dead video game series published by Telltale. Based on the comic book series of the same name, the game consists of five episodes, released between April and November 2012. It is available for Android, iOS, Kindle Fire HDX, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Ouya, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X and Nintendo Switch.

The game takes place in the same fictional world as the comic, shortly after the onset of the zombie apocalypse in the state Georgia. Most of the characters are original to this game, which centers on convicted criminal Lee Everett who becomes a protective figure to a young girl named Clementine and attempts to help her find her parents. Robert Kirkman, the original creator of the comic book series, provided oversight for the game's story to ensure it corresponded to the tone of the comic, but allowed Telltale to handle the bulk of the developmental work and story specifics. Some characters from the original comic book series also make in-game appearances.

Unlike many graphic adventure games, The Walking Dead does not emphasize puzzle solving, but instead focuses on story and character development. The story is affected by both the dialogue choices of the player and their actions during quick time events, which can often lead to, for example, certain characters being killed, or an adverse change in the disposition of a certain character or characters towards protagonist Lee. The choices made by the player carry over from episode to episode. The choices were tracked by Telltale and used to influence their writing in later episodes.

The Walking Dead was critically acclaimed, with reviewers praising the harsh emotional tone of the story and the relationship between Lee and Clementine. It won year-end accolades, including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications and is considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time. More than one million unique players have purchased at least one episode from the series, with over 8.5 million individual units sold by the end of 2012, and its success has been seen as constituting a revitalization of the weakened adventure game genre. In 2013, Telltale released an additional downloadable episode, 400 Days, to extend the first season and bridge the gap towards the Season 2, released later that year as well as 2014. Season 3 and the final season were released in 2016–2017 and 2018–2019 respectively, along with a spin-off game based on Michonne.