WithThe Walking Dead Season 3: A New Frontiercoming out on December 20, Telltale Games has released details about how the story generator will work for players starting the series fresh. Players that have no saves from the last two games, because they either did not play them or lost them due to having played the game on old-gen platforms, will be taken on a whistle-stop tour of 42 significant decisions that will shape the starting conditions ofA New Frontier.
Telltale’s iconic series, set in the same universe asThe Walking Dead, is known for forcing players to make tough choices – just askMichonne– and the story generator likely promises to be a gut-wrenching ride for new players. It will, however, be less interesting for those who played the first two seasons on thediscontinued PS3 and Xbox 360, and are forced to revisit the tough choices that shape the events inA New Frontier.
Then again, those players will get to do some serious soul-searching, as the story generator won’t just focus on what players did in earlier games. According toTelltaleCEO Kevin Bruner, the game wants to know why players did what they did.
“Why you make a choice is what matters most in our games. There are only two big options at the end of Season One, but there are many different types of Lee and Clementines out there. That last choice is representative of some pretty complicated motivations, and we wanted to capture that.”
The team analyzed several thousand playthroughs people had experienced and figured out there were about 42 different paths they took. The story generator lets players pick their way through these 42 decisions and then decides howThe Walking Dead Season 3will start. Bruner says players could be roughly divided up into several types: “Some of you are pragmatic, some of you are family-driven, some like joking with Kenny. Some hate Jane, some empathize with Sara. The game is kind of like a weird ‘personality test’ that lets you know who you are (or at least who you’re pretending to be).”
It looks likeSeason 3will be as much of an emotional roller coaster as the last two. Thetrailer forA New Frontierthat came out last week promises a story full of mystery thanks to the jump in time between this season and the last, and the introduction of a group “who used to be decent people, but now are something else.“The Walking Deadfans have been waiting for two years, but they will only have to wait just a few more days to seewhat happens to Clementine.
The Walking Dead Season 3: A New Frontierwill be available on December 20 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.
