The Walking Dead’s First Vision was Left for Dead
On the 10th anniversary of Telltale‘s ‘The Walking Dead’ release, the dev team released a documentary on the game’s development. Within were several interesting tidbits of information, including a vision for the game that never saw a full release.
“The first conversation was actually with Valve, about ‘what if we did was a narrative side-story in the universe of Left 4 Dead.” The documentary itself wasn’t especially focused on what-ifs and other possibilities. Because of that, the topic quickly switched back to the game as we know it today. But, it was enough to open the door. Many are speculating on what the game might have looked like as an expansion to the Left 4 Dead universe.
For starters, the documentary mentioned something important about how the team approached character writing. They discovered that their format didn’t suit the idea of adapting an existing character – they’d rather do something original.
Given how character-driven the final product is, it’s totally possible that a Left 4 Dead version would not have looked all that distinct. The universe and the role of zombies would diverge, obviously. But the core heart of the story could’ve carried over into this unique direction.
As-is, the video is certainly worth a watch. It showcases the journey that the developers went through in a heartfelt way. There’s also some insight into The Walking Dead’s development process, but there’s only so much info you can fit into 12 minutes. But if you have those minutes to spare, you’ll likely have a fun watch ahead of you.