Walking Dead

It’s the zombie apocalypse. Your small band of survivors is under siege and two of your compatriots are in immediate danger. You only have time to save one. Who do you choose? This is the thrust of the new “Choices Matter” trailer for Telltale Games‘ The Walking Dead game, which hits XBLA Friday. The video’s game footage is intercut with commentary by  episode three designer Harrison Pink, who explains some of the role player choice will have in the first episode – and the entire “season” of games – when it releases.

The choices the player makes, Pink says, will affect the way your entire experience plays out – who you side with in arguments, who you save in dire situations, and even how much of your character’s background you choose to reveal. Many of these choices will reverberate throughout the rest of the episode and into the chapters that follow, changing certain aspects of the story. This kind of player agency is relatively unique in adventure games, a genre whose games tend to follow a set story path dependent on the player using the correct item in the correct sequence.

The Walking Dead puts players in the shoes of Lee Everett, a convicted murderer who was on his way to prison when the apocalypse hit. This week’s release is the first of five planned episodes. The game follows a separate path than that of Robert Kirkman’s Image Comics series, though some existing characters are confirmed to appear in the series. The Walking Dead: Episode I releases on XBLA tomorrow for 400 MSP