The Strolling Lifeless: Destinies places you in command of the TV present’s first 4 seasons, enjoying out the occasions because the characters however making selections that may change the course of occasions, equivalent to having Shane kill Rick to guide the group, or changing into pals with The Governor. On paper, it sounds nice, however in actuality, you find yourself altering little and simply see static cutscenes performed out with totally different characters. I am a giant fan of the sequence, so regardless of its unattractive look and the truth that it is printed by Cranium Island: Rise of Kong’s GameMill Leisure — sure, this 12 months’s Kong recreation that helped us neglect in regards to the terrible The Lord of the Rings: Gollum for a short second — I used to be nonetheless taken with checking it out.
Now, to be clear, I’ve had moments of enjoyment with The Strolling Lifeless: Destinies, as when performed on its Regular or Laborious difficulties, it performs as a fairly enjoyable stealth recreation, however it’s overshadowed by unimaginative design decisions and sheer ugliness. Ranges are linear and activity you with working via varied components of the TV present, which virtually interprets to sneaking previous zombies, destroying some crates, and reaching the mission’s finish to fend off a wave of zombies. Rinse and repeat. Alongside the way in which, you will discover well being kits and quite a few throwables like bottles and grenades that are utilized by urgent LB — you may solely carry one factor at a time — and quite a few totally different weapon varieties like machetes, shotguns, revolvers, and the like. Most gadgets are both mendacity on the ground or might be present in smashable, copy-pasted crates discovered all through the degrees, which amusingly might be opened with any weapon however the sledgehammer.
Whereas you should use any weapon you want, it is not fairly the identical case for characters. In every stage, you’re locked to the characters that function within the corresponding scene from the TV present. Whereas every character has a ability tree and skills you may unlock with Talent Factors, the gameplay itself largely sees you sneaking round and stabbing zombies within the head, so that they’re nugatory for 90% of the sport. You might discover a distinction when battling the ultra-thick human enemies, however for essentially the most half, the ability system presents little gameplay selection.
![The Walking Dead: Destinies proves video games can be lifeless corpses](https://www.trueachievements.com/imgs/143790/the-walking-dead-destinies-proves-video-games-can-be-lifeless-corpses.jpg)
Nonetheless, one of many strangest design decisions is discovered between every stage whenever you’re positioned again within the hub space. Relying on the Act you are on, you will end up within the campsite, on Hershel’s farm, and many others. It may need been cool to hold round these necessary areas in-game, apart from the truth that there is not something to do however stroll over to the Mission Desk to begin your subsequent mission. You will be provided expeditions right here as properly, however all they include is telling a member of the group to go and do one thing when you’re in a mission, which rewards Talent Factors if it is a success. You will discover a single choice to make every time you go to, which is selecting to aspect with somebody on an argument, and appears to don’t have any actual worth apart from rewarding you with but extra Talent Factors.
The hub areas, or the beginning of every mission to be extra exact, is the place you will bear witness to the lifeless, static cutscenes, which loosely hyperlink the story factors to pull you thru every stage. I’ve felt dragged as properly, because the storyline has been minimize in order that as a lot of the sequence might be squeezed into as little a recreation as potential. When not watching static cutscenes stuffed with finances variations of the TV present’s characters, you are enjoying catch-up by studying snippets of textual content to assist fill in a few of the gaps. Should you’re a fan of the present, you will have already got a good suggestion in regards to the occasions surrounding every stage, however for newcomers, it might be a little bit of a whirlwind.
![The Walking Dead: Destinies proves video games can be lifeless corpses](https://www.trueachievements.com/imgs/143791/the-walking-dead-destinies-proves-video-games-can-be-lifeless-corpses.jpg)
After writing all of this, I am sitting right here wracking my mind in an try to search out one thing optimistic to say, however to be sincere, I simply cannot discover it in me. The character fashions are nearly insulting to the present’s forged, who performed their roles phenomenally, and the limp gameplay solely serves as a motive to place off any Strolling Lifeless newcomers from ever watching AMC’s present. My suggestion? Save your $50 and spend it on an Amazon Prime Video subscription so you may take a look at the true factor.