Innovative, bold, and fantastic storytelling that will leave you clamoring for more; this is the experience a player gets when they have finished an episode of The Walking Dead by TellTale Games. But I often find myself asking “Why all the hate for how long it takes between episodes?”, especially when the finished product is at such a high standard!
Okay: after the first episode, a promised release date of mid-June for the second installment was never met; however, after playing the second episode, I found the delay justifiable. As they saying goes, “You can’t rush art”, and that’s exactly how the episodes should be taken.
The game develops on Robert Kirkman’s comic story by offering a fresh point of view, and by elaborating more on known characters, such as Lilly and Glenn, allowing us to learn more about them before their actual involvement in the comic. It also puts the player in no-win situations, ratcheting up the pressure to react. This gives The Walking Dead universe a chance to move from being straightforward entertainment and into the realm of an overall experience. So why rush an episode and risk not fully capturing the essence of The Walking Dead in order to release it quickly?
Games are pushed back all the time in order to make sure that they are up to standard and can deliver what the gamers expect. Personally, I would happily wait a little longer for TellTale Games to do a better job with an episode, rather than having them release some shoddy content for the sake of keeping within a tight deadline. Had the episodes flopped, then it would be a totally different story altogether, and the criticism would be justified. But that is not the case; each episode is a truly magnificent installment that will test both your emotions and your mettle.
People need to stop breathing down the neck of TellTale Games and allow them to do what needs to be done. So what if it takes a month or two? They have captured the character and the gritty style of storytelling that Kirkman is renowned for, which is something that can’t be rushed in order to replicate!
So to all those impatient gamers that are reaching the point where they are considering nagging the TellTale Games forum for Episode Four, just wait patiently (from what I hear it is rumoured to drop on the 29th, so you won’t have to wait long). At the end of the day, it’s always worth it and everybody is left wanting more!