Poll: The Walking Dead or The Last of Us?

[Nonomori]

You probably already know, but in any case, I'm talking about Telltale's The Walking Dead.

It's hard not to think about the similarities of two of the most talked games in recent memory. Even if you discard zombies or the end of the world as we know it as valid themes, we can't forget about the hopelessness, the corruption of mankind, and, of course, the bond between the guy with dark past and the orphan girl.

Unfortunately, they are not competing for any game of the year award, because that would be fun to watch. Anyway, I really want to know which story-heavy zombie game the Escapist prefers.

 

[Daystar Clarion]

If I had to choose?


For the record, I really, really like both games, but for me, I'd pick The Walking Dead.

Too many feels to not pick it

Edit: Just saw the poll -_______________-

Ellie already knows how to shoot a gun, so I'm guessing TWD wins their too.

 

[Mr Cwtchy]

In my opinion, TLOU's dialogue didn't feel believable. It felt kinda like a movie that was trying to be realistic, if that makes sense.

TWD was more like how I'd imagine people behaving in the apocalypse. They didn't go overboard with making any of its character 'badasses'(Molly came hella close though), where TLOU went too far in making Ellie a 'strong character' to the point where I was rolling my eyes and thinking, "Really?". I would also say that TWD did a better job of creating good female characters. They were well rounded, strong but flawed like anyone else. TLOU's female characters were strong, definitely, but I found them to be lacking in identifiable flaws.

TWD also had me more emotionally invested in its characters. Partly because there were far more of them, but also because they made a real effort to characterise each one of them, showing their strengths and flaws. TLOU seemed to spend more time with what their characters were *doing* rather than *saying*.

Naturally TLOU wins in terms of gameplay, as it actually has it.

Visuals is a tougher question, since they went for completely different themes. Can't really compare them very well.

Overall I enjoyed TWD far more though.

 

[Smooth Operator]

As an actual game TLOU, because even if it doesn't do everything right it does function as a good game all around, trying to play Walking Dead on the other hand makes me want to strangle kittens.

 

[Zhukov]

TLOU had better gameplay. TWD's gameplay was either terrible or nonexistent depending on how you look at it. However, it was terrible/nonexistent in a very unobtrusive way, at least for me, so I didn't really mind.

I'd rate them about equal in narrative strength. However TWD sneaks an extra point for the sheer feels of the ending. TLOU came dangerously close for me near the end, but not quite.

...

Well, fuck. Still can't choose one.

Oh, screw your arbitrarily binary poll options! I abstain. So there!

 

[Smertnik]

As far as the writing goes I enjoyed Walking Dead noticeably more. I was far more interested in its story and characters, some of which I actually liked or even cared about, as opposed to Last of Us where I wished nothing more than to shoot every last one of them, especially Ellie.

 

[Casual Shinji]

The Walking Dead had a fantastically satisfying emotional ending, slightly blemished by a shitty epilogue.

The Last of Us had a fantastically satisfying emotional ending that left me with a four course meal's worth of food for thought.

And to add to that TLoU started out with me disliking Ellie, but loving her in the end. While TWD had me liking Clem from the very beginning. So I feel TLoU accomplished more on that front. Also, simply more gameplay.

So The Last of Us it is. Though The Walking Dead had a better end credits song.

 

[alphamalet]

It's not even close, the Last of Us is WAY better.

The Walking Dead is an over-appreciated mess. The graphics are horrible, the frame rate is all over the place, the choices are meaningless, the story IMO is nowhere near as good as people make it out to be (I saw the ending coming a mile away), and the bits of TWD that resemble gameplay are horrid. They devolve into mindless puzzles or boring point and click moments. It's clear that the developers were far more concerned in telling a story than creating enjoyable gameplay, and if that's the case then the Walking Dead should have NEVER been a game. A visual novel would have been a much better style for it.


The Last of Us was not the Citizen Kane of gaming that everyone makes it out to be, but it was a great game. It was so damn refreshing to see a game that didn't use regenerating health, and made the player manage ammo. I thought the gameplay of it all was great fun. The story however is not very good IMO and all seemed very cliche to me.

TL;DR Neither game has an amazing story, but at least Naughty Dog put some effort into the gameplay. Because of this TLOU gets my vote.

 

[Mossberg Shotty]

I liked The Walking Dead, but lets be honest. It wasn't that good. The dynamic between Joel and Ellie in TLOU was beautifully crafted, and Ellie could actually shoot people for you once she learns how, which is pretty helpful. It actually felt like the two of them were on an epic journey together.

Plus some of Lee's dialogue made me cringe uncontrollably. "It's good to be good, ya know? Even when things aren't so good... ya feel me?"

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

The Last Of Us

For no other reason than I simply liked The Last Of Us more.

 

[Tiger King]

i vote for the walking dead, mostly because i found it quite moving.
was skeptical of the last of us, that inner nerd rage that is ultra conservative towards good franchises came out.
one man? paired up with a girl he must protect? you copying bastards! thats the walking dead!

however after watching a play through on youtube, i have to say it's a good game with a good story.

walking dead wins for me though.

 

[Sunrider]

It's a sad day when The Last of Us is the winner in terms of gameplay. The gameplay was by far the weakest part of that game, but that goes for The Walking Dead too.

TWD has my vote.

 

[Full]

The Walking Dead. Simple preference, really. The last ten minutes were great, and the whole episodic structure added to it. Also I kind of inexplicably don't care about the shallow gameplay thing.

Spoiler

Don't Be Afraid master race

 

[Casual Shinji]

I actually have some problems with the story of the Last of Us, it's really, really hard to pinpoint why though. One shot could be the ending, or rather, the non-ending. Honestly, it almost looks like they ran out of budget and had to cut the game immediatly. The ending is basically "Joel, you didn't lie when you said the rebels were assholes, right?" "Nope" "Okay" and credits. I mean, that's it? That's the note you want to end on? The hell kind of conclusion is that?

It was the end of their character arcs.

The game was never about saving mankind or anything like that, it was about following these two characters on a roadtrip and see how it changes them.

Spoiler

Joel starts out as a cynic who has no illusions that things will ever get better. He's just surviving for the sake of it. Ellie while being used to the harshness of living in a quarantine zone, still has the hope for a better tommorow. All the more when she realizes her immunity could be used to save mankind. In the end though, their roles reverse, and it's Joel who finds a reason for living again though it being a delusional one and built on a lie, and it's Ellie who has come to realize that there's nothing left to save. And it's actually her immunity that will probably have her end up alone, which is her greatest fear.

That final gameplay section as Ellie drives this home, where she's very brief with her wording and walks slowly by default, while Joel runs on ahead all enthusiastic and running his mouth. Sound familiar?

It's also the fact that Ellie, despite being supposedly 14, acts, talks, sounds and it treated like a 20+ full grown woman. Yeah, I now you want to pride yourself on "strong female character" naughty dog, but why even have Ellie be 14 when it basically doesn't mean anything? She's extremely capable, can handle tough situations remarkably well and is basically written to be as likeable as she can be. Her character was getting interesting in the beginning when spring when she'd, naturally, got a little down after chopping a perverted psycho-cannibal into a big pile of mess with a machete, but then she went like "yey, giraffes" and apparently forgot about the whoel deal.

That section was there to contrast the horror of the Winter chapter, and have Ellie just be a kid again for a little while. The cutscene right after shows she hasn't forgotten about it at all. This also comes into play at the end...

Spoiler

"It can't be for nothing" ...Yet it has been.

 

[nathan-dts]

Can't answer this one. It's weird how the age difference of two girls can alter the feel of a story by so much. I'd say that Bioshock Infinite, The Walking Dead and The Last of Us are all very much different, but all equally fantastic.

 

[Drummodino]

Ummmmmm I can't decide. Both of these games are incredible. The Walking Dead is my GOTY 2012 and The Last of Us is (so far) my GOTY 2013. Clementine and Ellie are both amazing, I couldn't possibly choose a favourite.

 

[serious biscuit]

Well I played the Walking Dead and watched a play-through of TLOU so opinion may be slightly biased but I preferred the walking dead, mainly because the choices i made mattered and impacted the story somewhat, whereas with last of us it felt more like you're getting pushed along a sequence of terrible events. And I was much happier with walking dead's ending (as emotionally shitty as it was) because last of seemed to have the motto of 'lets save humanity, by killing all of them'and the ending twist wasn't as great or unexpected either.

 

[Drummodino]

I liked The Walking Dead, but lets be honest. It wasn't that good. The dynamic between Joel and Ellie in TLOU was beautifully crafted, and Ellie could actually shoot people for you once she learns how, which is pretty helpful. It actually felt like the two of them were on an epic journey together.

Plus some of Lee's dialogue made me cringe uncontrollably. "It's good to be good, ya know? Even when things aren't so good... ya feel me?"

Clementine learns to shoot too, and does so at least twice (depending on your choices)... Saving a life each time. The amount of opportunities for her to show that skill are far more limited than for Ellie though so it's not as prevalent.