The Walking Dead searchlight evasion

23 Jun 2019
The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series has action sequences that limit the player's mobility and visibility. These limitations are dramatic, but one sequence can be frustrating because of them.

Context

The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series is a video game franchise that takes place in the same universe as the TV show, which is based on the comic book. The player controls Clementine, a teenager who had been orphaned as a child during the zombie apocalypse. By the fourth and final season, she protects an orphaned boy named AJ and leads a small group of juvenile survivors.

In one episode, Clem, AJ, and another survivor must sneak aboard a docked ship. Their goal is to rescue some of their friends whom a hostile group have captured. Clem can disguise herself among zombies, and her ally James can manipulate a herd of them. She plans to lead the way by using darkness and zombies as cover. So, the player guides Clem through a herd of zombies and toward the docked ship.

In effect, the player also guides her toward a searchlight that’s mounted atop the ship. The player must avoid being in the central beam for too long, otherwise an unseen sentry will shoot and kill her. The searchlight’s beam sweeps across the area, but the player can use any zombie as a shield.

The Walking Dead: Get to the Pier — The objective of this sequence is semantically and visually obvious. The text is horizontally centered and displayed in a color that contrasts with its background.

The sentry thins the herd as the player moves toward the ship. The sentry also shoots any zombie that the player uses as a shield, thereby limiting its usefulness. This sequence can be more difficult than it seems. I was successful on my second-ever attempt, but a few weeks later, I failed a dozen or so times. I forgot the secret to success.

The Walking Dead: Searchlight — Besides Clem being illuminated, an audio cue indicates that the sentry will soon shoot in her direction. The prompt to use a zombie as a shield is superimposed on the zombie, which will be the player’s object of focus anyway.

Flaws

During dramatic action-sequences, the player has limited mobility and visibility. Clem walks by default, and her running speed is only minimally faster. The camera is positioned closely behind Clem and it can’t be independently controlled. As a result, the player has a restricted view of the terrain. In this sequence, the player can’t make Clem turn, either. Thus, to view anything that’s off-screen, the player must move her sideways.

The Walking Dead: Hold R1 to Run — The game reminds the player about the controls for running. A tip about running sideways would be more useful.

These flaws are less about oversight and more about tension. The restricted movement and view ensure that the searchlight is always visible. However, the key to success in this sequence is taking leaps of faith. The player must move Clem sideways to find potential zombie-shields even though none seem to exist. Doing so can involve briefly moving into the searchlight’s beam, which is counterintuitive.

The Walking Dead: No Man's Land — Clem is increasingly exposed as the player moves toward the pier. Because running is useless, the player must find and use zombies for protection. The narrow view is mostly fixed, and the UI doesn’t indicate if and where zombies might be located.

This critical information isn’t communicated with text or visuals. The game does have prominent button-prompts and instructions about using zombies as shields. The game also has a reminder about running, but its usefulness isn’t obvious. Because Clem is slow, running past or even through the searchlight’s beam isn’t viable. Running is only useful while moving sideways across the terrain in the hope of finding a zombie.

Fixes

The game developers could’ve positioned the camera farther behind Clem. The player would have a wider and more useful view of the terrain. The developers could also use signals to convey the density, direction, and/or proximity of zombies. During other action-sequences, the HUD signals whenever an off-screen zombie is close to Clem.