E3 2012: Walking Dead Episode 2 Is Way More Brutal

Editor's Note: The Walking Dead: The Game is a character-driven endeavor. This preview covers the first section of Episode 2, so elements of the tale are detailed along with some plot points from Episode 1.

I loved the first episode of The Walking Dead because I felt like I was the main character Lee Everett. A clever dialogue system led to me making decisions and worrying about what it all meant for Lee and the girl he's charged with protecting. Taking that mindset into the first 20 minutes of The Walking Dead: The Game - Episode 2 "Starving for Help" is going to really screw with my head, because "gut-wrenching" doesn't even begin to describe Episode 2 so far.

Picking up three months after the events of the first game, Lee's group has grown by one but his problems have grown exponentially. It's winter, the group is nearly out of food, and people are turning on each other.

All of this weighs on us as players in two specific ways -- brutality and choice. The opening of the game is Lee slamming his axe into a walker's skull, and within minutes, we're treated to the most grotesque moment of the Walking Dead game so far.

After hearing a scream, Lee and a new companion named Max come to a man caught in a bear trap. The metal jaws have been tampered with. There's no release latch and it's anchored to a tree with a chain. So as walkers shamble towards the downed man, we're left with an axe and a series of choices. Hack at the chain, try to pry the jaws open, abandon the man, or separate the foot from the body.

In my demo, a developer from Telltale Games chose the impromptu surgery route, and it was disgusting. As a player, you have to look to the leg, choose the axe option, and watch the blade strike. The man screams, blood splatters, and the foot doesn't separate. You have to make Lee strike again, and the camera drops to a close-up of the wound. The axe still doesn't make it through. The camera gets closer. The axe comes again. The man screaming, the crowd gasping, and us cringing.

The axe man cometh.

Once that's settled, it's back to the Motor Inn -- homebase for our survivors. After an argument, Lilly puts Lee in charge of doling out rationed food for the day, and this is where the decisions come in. You have four pieces of food and nine people to take care of. Whom you give food to will drastically alter your relationships.

I got to see some of the fallout, but then the demo ended with the player gouging out a walker's eyes from a first-person Lee perspective. Lovely and awesome.

The Walking Dead: Episode 2 should be out by the end of this month.

Read the rest here:
E3 2012: Walking Dead Episode 2 Is Way More Brutal