The Walking Dead: Destinies

The Walking Dead: Destinies is a 2023 action-adventure by studio Ballistic Moon set in the world of the famous television series The Walking Dead, offering players an unusual hook – the ability to change the fates of key characters and the course of the well-known story itself through their own decisions. The game does not copy the show one to one, but instead builds on what would happen if characters acted differently, if someone who died on the show survived, or conversely if someone who survived the show died, offering an alternative take on familiar story milestones.

Gameplay-wise, it's a mix of action combat against zombies called walkers, sneaking past living enemy patrols, gathering resources for crafting, and adventure-style decision sequences, where choosing a line of dialogue or an action affects both the tone of conversations and the relationships between characters, as well as the overall direction of the plot. The graphical and technical side drew significant criticism at launch – character and environment animations felt outdated and clunky, and the game came across to both regular players and reviewers as noticeably below the expectations set by the show itself and by the earlier, highly regarded Telltale adventures from the same universe.

Despite the weak technical execution, the game has its circle of fans who appreciate precisely the ability to rewrite a beloved story and see alternative fates for Rick, Michonne, Daryl, and other characters known from the show. For the Walking Dead franchise, it's an interesting, if not entirely successful, experiment in interactive storytelling that shows how difficult it is to translate the atmosphere, tension, and emotional weight of a successful television format into a video game without a matching budget, technical foundation, and experienced development team. Compared to the earlier Telltale adventures that made the same characters famous through sensitive writing and an emphasis on dialogue, Destinies feels like an attempt to narrow the focus toward action shootouts and quick decision-making instead, which part of the audience sees as a departure from what drew fans to The Walking Dead as an interactive experience in the first place.