Activision announce The Walking Dead video game, first details emerge

Activision very recently announced The Walking Dead video game, a first-person shooter based on AMC’s hugely popular show of the same name. Now, the game’s developer, Terminal Reality, shares some initial insights into its mechanics.

First off, the game will be based on AMC’s television series The Walking Dead, itself loosely based on Robert Kirkman’s comic book series. As a result, the game immediately distinguishes itself from Telltale Games’ episodic game series that is strictly based on the world created by Kirkman.

Angel Gonzalez, creative lead at Terminal Reality, writes on the PlayStation Blog of the team’s excitement when first approached by Activision to develop the game,

“The whole team went crazy. We are all fans of the show and couldn’t wait to get our hands on it. Immediately the team knew that an FPS game based on The Walking Dead was something we wanted to help bring the fans.”

The game is a prologue of the television series and follows the story of Daryl and Merle Dixon as they travel from Georgian countryside to Atlanta. The gamer assumes the role of Daryl and gameplay focuses on the early weeks after the zombie advent, before the two brothers meet up with Dale and the rest of the group.

The Dixons are survivors but the player must make the right decisions and manage resources effectively to survive.

“The Dixons are survivors and Daryl is one of the best. Through FPS gameplay and resource management the players will assist Daryl in making the right decisions to help guarantee he and his brother survive.”

Gonzalez introduces two characteristics that we can expect of the game – the Walkers (zombies) react to sound and smell. Walkers are “suspicious of gunfire” and other general noise. They even understand that only humans can yield weapons.

“In the game, you’ll need to carefully sneak into and out of some dangerous situations and you may meet a few Walkers along the way. If you show up with guns blazing, you’ll quickly find yourself dealing with a much larger crowd and you could easily become overwhelmed.”

Walkers can sense the living by their smell, just like in the show. The longer both protagonists stay in a fixed position, the larger their scent radii grows and the more likely they are of being detected.

“Our goal in creating our Walkers is to make them as living (or, actually, as undead) as they are portrayed in the series. They see you, smell you, and hear you, and they won’t stop until they find you.”

The game will be released in 2013 for the PS3, Xbox and PC.