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More than one million unique players have purchased at least one episode from the series, with over 8.5 million individual units sold by the end of 2012, and its success has been seen as constituting a revitalization of the weakened adventure game genre. It won year-end accolades, including Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications and is considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time.
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The Walking Dead was critically acclaimed, with reviewers praising the harsh emotional tone of the story and the empathetic connection established between Lee and Clementine. Choices were tracked by Telltale, and used to influence their writing in later episodes. The choices made by the player carry over from episode to episode. The story is affected by both the dialogue choices of the player and their actions during quick time events, which can often lead to, for example, certain characters being killed, or an adverse change in the disposition of a certain character or characters towards protagonist Lee. Unlike many graphic adventure games, The Walking Dead does not emphasize puzzle solving, but instead focuses on story and character development. Some characters from the original comic book series also make in-game appearances. Kirkman provided oversight for the game's story to ensure it corresponded to the tone of the comic, but allowed Telltale to handle the bulk of the developmental work and story specifics. Most of the characters are original to this game, which centers on university professor and convicted criminal Lee Everett, who becomes a protective figure to a young girl named Clementine and attempts to help her find her parents. The game takes place in the same fictional world as the comic, with events occurring shortly after the onset of the zombie apocalypse in Georgia. It is available for Android, iOS, Kindle Fire HDX, Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Ouya, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch.
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Based on The Walking Dead comic book series, the game consists of five episodes, released between April and November 2012. The game is the first of The Walking Dead video game series published by Telltale. The Walking Dead (also known as The Walking Dead: The Game and later The Walking Dead: Season One ) is an episodic adventure video game developed and published by Telltale Games.
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