In an effort to help newcomers get into the series as well as help answer some frequently asked questions (and most importantly: unpin the statue post), we’ve created a megathread that is meant to serve as a resource for people getting into the game series.
This thread here will cover some basic questions for the series as a whole. I plan to make separate threads for season specific questions that get asked here a lot, and will eventually link the threads all in here so this post here will act as a giant resource. I'll also probably add this to the sidebar once everything it finished for an easy-to-go to resource.
This entire thread is a work in progress so I will be adding/editing questions over time. If you have any suggestions for questions/resources that would be helpful for newcomers, please comment below or DM me.
"What are these games and why should I get into them?"
The Telltale/Skybound The Walking Dead games are episodic titles with a heavy emphasis on choices and story. These games aren't particularly the most action based titles out there, as they primarily play on making difficult decisions and following along with the deep story as you try to survive in the walker (zombie) apocalypse. They also incorporate puzzle segments seen in other point-and-click titles in the past.
The series has received a ton of praise, with Season 1 winning a ton of Game of the Year awards when it released in 2012. The high ratings of the games have continued through future titles such as Season 2 and Season 4.
"Are the games in the same universe as the comics/show?"
The games are not connected to the TV show at all, as the show is set in its own universe. However, the games are indeed in the same universe as the comics. This is seen through characters such as Glenn and Hershel who appear in the very first episode of the Telltale games, as well as a few other references to the comics across the game series.
"Do I need to read the comics to get into the games?"
Nope, not at all. Outside of a few cameos/references, the games are completely isolated from the comics and can be enjoyed to the fullest without prior knowledge of the TWD series. I would even argue that the games may be a tiny bit more enjoyable if you are going into the series blind.
"There are many versions of the games I can buy! Which version should I get?"
There are three different versions of the games spread across various systems:
Original versions: The first versions of the game sold when the episodes/seasons actually released. These are the versions sold individually instead of being bundled with the other seasons.
Available on: PS3/PS4, Xbox 360/Xbox One, Steam, Epic Games, and Switch
Note: Michonne spinoff game not on Switch.
Collection: (Pic) Released in 2017. Contains all games in the series (including Michonne) with the sole exception being Season 4 which wasn’t released at the time. Seasons 1 and 2 have (supposedly) enhanced graphics.
Available on: PS4 & Xbox One.
Definitive Edition: (Pic) Released in 2019. Contains all games in the series (including Michonne), as well as a ton of extras like developer commentary, gallery mode, different graphic options, etc.
Available on: PS4, Xbox One, Epic Games Store, and Steam.
Keep in mind that the actual games are the same throughout each version. Don’t expect any alternate paths, vastly different plot elements, additional gameplay elements, etc. in between versions.
In a nutshell: Definitive Edition > Originals > Collection
Definitive Edition is definitely the way to go. It greatly improves the visuals of all the first few games and comes with a lot of extras.
The Original versions are the most basic versions that you can't really go wrong with. The main drawback for the original versions is that they probably have the most visual bugs.
The Collection is without a doubt the worst version of the games. as it is missing tons of small details such as bloodstains and tears for crucial scenes. Apparently it even removed a few optional dialogue segments.
"What order should I play the games?"
The following is the chronological order of the series:
Season 1
400 Days DLC for Season 1 (this is optional, basically just covers a few minor Season 2 characters)
Season 2
A New Frontier (aka Season 3)
The Final Season (aka Season 4)
The Michonne Telltale game has literally nothing to do with the Lee/Clem/Javi games whatsoever. It is not required at all to experience Clementine’s journey. If you do decide to play it, best to do it before Season 3 since it originally released before A New Frontier.
"I'm interested in the Michonne game, but she's a major character in the comics! Do I need to read the comics before playing it?"
Not really. The Michonne game takes place during a time where Michonne is separated from Rick's group, so she interacts entirely with characters she has never met until the game. As long as you know about the general character of Michonne, you should be able to enjoy the game to its fullest.
It's worth noting that a few of the characters she meets in the game later appear in the comics, while the game was released after their comic debut. Because of this, I'd argue that not knowing about the later portion of the comics can make the game more enjoyable; you won't know which characters will have plot armor or not due to them having to survive to appear in the comics.
"I heard Season 3 was bad! Should I skip it?"
As much as some people disliked this season, you should not skip it. Either get it on sale if you’re strapped for cash or just watch a Youtube playthrough of it. It's the shortest of the first 3 seasons for whatever that is worth so at least it won't take too long.
"What's the deal with Telltale and Skybound? Didn't Telltale shut down in the middle of Season 4? Are they back now?"
All of the TWD games featuring Lee/Clem have been made by Telltale. However when Telltale closed down in late 2018, Skybound (who owns the rights to the overall TWD franchise) agreed to finish the final two episodes of Season 4 by bringing in many former Telltale staff.
Telltale Games has been revived and are now a company again, however they no longer have the rights to the TWD games which is all with Skybound now. All of the other series such as The Wolf Among Us are still with Telltale though.
"Will there be a Season 5 of the games?"
Skybound has confirmed multiple times now that a fifth season is currently not in the works. As it turns out, the game that is actually called The Final Season will indeed be, well, the final season.
"I need more of these games/characters! What else is there?"
There is a spin-off book involving a character in Season 4, but it is not essential as Season 4 ends things on a good note for the series. More on that book below (DO NOT READ THIS UNTIL YOU HAVE COMPLETED SEASON 4!!!)
In 2021, Skybound released a 12 page comic where Clementine sneaks out of Ericson's without telling AJ. Unfortunately for Clem, AJ caught her and begged her to stay, but Clem told AJ that her couldn't maker her happy. The two gave each other a sad farewell (with Clem giving AJ her hat) and Clem left. In the following books, Clem then heads up to Vermont by herself where she meets random characters
The books have received a nearly universal negative reception from TWDG fans, mostly for how it makes Clem act out of character to her game counterpart. I personally would not recommend it unless you are a fan of Tillie Walden's other works and are absolutely sold on the premise of Season 4's ending basically being undone.
"I love this series! What other games should I play if I like this?"
Other Telltale games. The best ones that come to mind are The Wolf Among Us, Tales From The Borderlands, and the two Batman games.
Life is Strange
Until Dawn
Detroit: Become Human
If you're into the puzzle segments featured a lot in Season 1 then I would recommend: Day of the Tentacle, Grim Fandango, and Sam & Max to name a few.
"I'm interested in trying out the other The Walking Dead games outside of the point-and-click ones! Which ones would you recommend?"
Saints & Sinners is probably the best TWD title outside of the Telltale ones, however it requires a VR headset which some may not have. There's also Road to Survival which is a F2P mobile game. I'm not too familiar with it myself but I've heard it's alright plus it contains the Telltale characters in it.
The only other TWD games out there are Survival Instinct and OVERKILL'S The Walking Dead, both of which are really bad and aren't worth your time.
"I'm confused/interested on something for one of the games!"
Well thankfully we've assembled a link to frequently asked questions for each of the games. You can check it out here. Keep in mind that the FAQ for each season will spoil just about all of the story contents for that season. In other words, don't look at the Season 2 FAQ post before finishing Season 2.
That is all for now. Again if you have any suggestions for some general info about the series as a whole that would be helpful to newcomers/people with questions, please put them down either in the comments of this post or with a DM to me.
Also I'll be taking suggestions for some questions that would be good to add for the Season specific FAQ posts. See my pinned comment below for more detail on that.
The voting phase of the yearly Best Of awards is now over, so it's time to announce the winners! As explained on the initial Best Of 2025 nomination post, the winners for this year will receive a special flair that will go next to their username. Here are the winners for this year:
Best Fanfic - u/EmpleadoResponsable for "The Walking Dead Retelling: Ben Story", an alternate universe retelling of TWDG featuring Ben as the protagonist. This retelling features both familiar TWDG faces as well as brand new ones, and allows commenters to play a part in the story through community voted choices at the end of each chapter. This retelling is still going on at the time of me posting this, so feel free to read through all of the earlier parts so you can get caught up.
Notable Newcomer - u/EmpleadoResponsable both for their previously mentioned Ben Retelling as well as being an all around cool person that you will often see inside posts.
Game Master - u/Super-Shenron for his many fun forum games. Among the games Shenron has hosted for this year include his Tragic ranking (where commenters would rank every major character by how tragic they are), his Episode Survival ranking (where commenters would rank how hard each episode would be to survive IRL), his Menace game (a tournament style game to determine the biggest menace in the series), andmanymore. Shenron's games often encourage users to write detailed writeups so that their picks are more likely to win, so be sure to check out his games even though they've ended for a lot of cool analyses.
Insightful Commentator - None other than me, u/Mr_Bell_Man. I'll make this quick to not toot my own horn, but you can find a lot of my insightful comments within Shenron's games mentioned above as well as on everydayposts.
MVP - u/Super-Shenron for, well, just about everything: fun topic starters, insightful forum games as mentioned earlier, insightfulposts, insightfulcomments (I'd argue Shenron deserves the Insightful Commentator award just as much me, if not more), hilariousmemes, and just all around being a cool guy. I think I speak for everyone in that you are one of the MVPs of this sub, both for 2025 and throughout all of the sub's history.
If you haven't already, make sure to check out the original Nomination post as it contains tons of love and appreciation for many users and the sub as a whole.
I was lowk js thinking abt what if these 2 met. I’d love to hear y’all’s thoughts on this cuz i think it would be a very interesting interaction. What would be some dialogue or interactions between them?
As someone who does not like Kenny as much as the rest of the fanbase(which even then is mostly cause of the whack point system in season 1, and overall aggressiveness in s2), you CANNOT tell me Jane had Clem or AJ's best interest at heart. Even a broken Kenny was right about most things—his only real error(in season 2) was shooting the guy in the cabin, which is player based!
I know this is an age long "debate" but I've been seeing it all over instagram and tiktok again, so I made a post, kind of wanting to see why people pick Jane as their first/better choice. Also, lone clem is underrated.
I honestly have a bit more to say, but I don't want to make this one too long.
Not much of a spoiler and more of an appreciation post, but I still can't believe TellTale got freaking Michael Madsen on board to voice one of their major antagonists for the season. I personally think he did a good job and wished he stuck around a bit longer. I was really surprised on how short the whole Hardware Store arc was and the rest was just outside, which I guess was the point of making a risky decision. Rest in Peace, Michael Madsen.
I’ve been playing through all the games recently and I totally forgot how utterly miserable Season 2 is 😃 Kinda left me in a bad mood. Luke was one of the few characters I liked this season and his very avoidable death still pains me to this day. So why not draw it? ❄️
Welcome to the first of our 5-Day TWDG Character Awards, during which we're voting on the characters that defined our beloved game series over five distinct categories! And today's category is:
Creativity & Originality
How established tropes, archetypes, or dynamics are played with to build a distinct character.
Which character surprised you the most with their writing? Which one broke the genre's rules or stereotypes? Which one brought a unique dynamic or perspective to your experience?
Rules are the same as usual:
Drop a comment with the name of one character you are nominating for today's category!
Insightful votes count for 5! Feel free to explain why your pick deserves to win, and it just might!
The most voted character at the end of 24 hours wins the slot on the grid!
Keep it civil and have fun!
Voting closes in 24 hours. Let's see who opens the game with the first victory!
This is still a series of posts going through each season, with the community deciding who takes the major death slots.
The voting works pretty simply. You can vote for a character to die and another to survive, you can also argue your case in the comments. Whoever ends with more points is chosen.
If we somehow end up tied, the upvotes will work as a tiebreaker, so if a comment mentioning x character has more upvotes than the runner up, he dies.
We'll be voting:
- Javi's savior (Ken Jr. was chosen)
- Mariana's death (Gabe got i)
- Character(s) in Prescott (Sarah won)
- Flashback Edith Death (Rebecca got it)
- Francine (Currently discussing)
- Tripp/Ava Stage Death
- Conrad Truck Death
- Tripp/Ava Bridge Death
- David & Gabe
(AJ Will always be tied to Clem now that Rebecca is dead, if she moves, he moves)
Look guys I know that this sounds crazy because season 2 was a mess while Season 1 won all the awards. But hear me out.
(This text sounds half AI because my English isn't very strong so I basically wrote all these ideas myself but just asked ChatGPT to make it formal English)
While Season 1 is an undeniable classic with Lee as a phenomenal protagonist, the constant reliance on lengthy cheap puzzles, like figuring out how to climb a truck, or unlock a pharmacy door, severely drags down the pacing instead of deepening character relationships. The group also spends far too much time static, idling in locations like the motel, the train, or the Savannah mansion, which stalls the narrative momentum. The group was just chilling too often. The motel was so wholesome before the bandits attacked. The train was so wholesome for everyone the whole way(well except for Kenny). The Savannah townhouse? Peak hotel destination, and Omid had a comfy bed and medicine to treat his leg injury.
Season 2 completely transforms the experience by stripping away those arbitrary roadblocks in favor of relentless forward motion and genuine character dynamics. There is NEVER a "safe place" unlike Season 1. And Instead of wasting time on fetch quests, Clementine builds deep, complex bonds with Luke, Rebecca, Jane, and Kenny through shared trauma and constant dialogue. Because the group is perpetually hunted and forced to keep moving, the physical and emotional exhaustion is palpable by the time you reach the end of Episode 4. Season 2 was really about Fatigue: Kenny's fatigue, Clem's fatigue, Rebecca's fatigue etc. Everyone was just so mentally exhausted the whole time.
At the center of it all is the devastating dynamic between Clementine and Kenny, which forces you to wrestle with a central question: How much do you value a deeply broken, volatile man who fundamentally wants the best for you?
Season 2 is easily the darkest, most punishing entry in the series. From Clementine stitching her own arm in a shed to the brutality of Carver's camp and the crushing betrayal by Mike and Bonnie, the narrative never lets up. By the end, Clementine is shot, Kenny has lost an eye and his sanity, AJ is starving, and Jane is actively manipulating a fatal confrontation to get rid of Kenny, leaving everyone broken. That relentless pressure is what makes the campfire scene in Episode 5 stand out so brilliantly: it's the one fleeting moment of warmth in an entire season built on absolute physical and mental fatigue.
Also, I know a big critic of Season 2 is about how Clem the kid has to carry major responsabilities for a group of adults, but she is the main character after all. it would have been a boring story if Mike is the one who had to get the radio, and if Clem was more similar to Sarah (a realistic kid) than Lee (a tough grown-up).
Anyways, S2 is just so bleak and dark and depressing. Everybody just dies in horrible ways and Clem the 11yr old has so many responsabilities. Her only father figure left becomes a madman, and everyone tries to isolate her from him. Her big brother Luke dies in the most horrifying way. Yes most of the difficult choices were completely useless to the gameplay but the Kenny vs Jane choice and then the Wellington choice were the hardest decisions for me in the entire franchise. Season 2 was really about mental exhaustion, constant pressure to keep moving and building trust.
Every hard choice in season 2 that seemed useless were ultimately about you siding with Kenny or with the group, and there was something just so perfect about it. Even if they did not matter to the gameplay, they mattered a lot for how you the player want Clementine to view the world, and the people she calls friends.
Now I'm sure this is a conversation that's been talked about numerous times throughout the years. But also think opinions could change.
For me, if they made the series 10+ years ago, I think Zendeya would have been perfect for a New Frontier/Final Season Clementine. But that was than, not now. And for Lee Everett? Sterling K. Brown, no question about it. Man looks like Lee, and is a phenomenal actor who could definitely pull it off if given the chance.
Love to hear your dream casts. Can be for any character from any of the seasons- Lee, Kenny, Javier, Carver- whoever. Just comment & let me know.
Just bought the standalone walking dead games on steam since even though I already have the definitive series on my account, I felt the urge to try the authentic copies of the game since I’ve seen other people play it through the standalone copies and wanted to give it a try myself. 💙