Telltale's fantastic Walking Dead game was a surprise for several reasons. Not only did it reverse the studio's reputation for middling-to-unsatisfactory games, it will no doubt be in the running for many a publication's Game of the Year award. It proved that good writing and characterization can carry a video game, that the point-and-click adventure game still had some life left in it, and that choice and consequence can feel vital and terrifyingly important.

And on top of all of that, its episodic structure may well signal a change in the way we consume games.

Looking back, it's hard to believe that the game premiered back in April. It feels like it's been with us for a lot longer than that. Over the course of seven months and five episodes, we all became wrapped up in the harrowing, zombie-filled story of Lee, Kenny, Duck and, of course, Clementine. With the release of last week's season finale, the story that began in April finally came to an end.

When I think back over those months, the most remarkable thing wasn't how good The Walking Dead was, it was the way we all experienced it. Every six weeks or so, a new episode would come out. We'd all quickly play it, and then talk about it, and anxiously await the next one. In that way, it was unlike any game I've ever played.

The debut, "A New Day," impressed us with its credible characters and interesting dilemmas. "Starved For Help" threw up some schlocky thrills, but more importantly, demonstrated that the first episode wasn't a fluke, and that the series would likely be strong throughout. And the third episode, the emotionally devastating "Long Road Ahead," immediately put the game in the running for best-in-class.

What was so cool about all of that was the timeline over which it happened. Because we had to wait between episodes, we the audience could digest and discuss each new entry, and the game became a social phenomenon to an extent that few other games are. With each new release, people would be on Twitter, or Facebook, talking about the latest development, dancing around spoilers, fretting about the fates of our protagonists and comparing notes on the decisions they'd made. It stood in contrast to the way it goes with most video games, where people chatter for a week or a month after the release date and then move on to other things.

The rare long-lived game, like Borderlands 2 or Skyrim, carries on past this point, but many games, particularly AAA console games, seem to lose their critical mass of interest within about six weeks. But not The Walking Dead. Here we are, still talking about it, seven months after its release. To put that in perspective, the much-hyped Fez, blockbuster Max Payne 3 and excellent Trials Evolution were all released at around the same time as The Walking Dead. But Telltale's game retains far more conversational capital now.

Of course, it doesn't hurt that The Walking Dead was terrific. It was daring and smart, brave enough to allow for real tragedy, and emotionally affecting without feeling manipulative. It was based on a popular intellectual property, and came along right when some people were getting frustrated with the AMC TV show based on the same series. (Though I'd argue that the series has finally found its footing in this new season, but that's a separate article.) All of that played a vital part in the game's success—note that I didn't write this article about Telltale's similarly episodic but less successful Back to the Future and Sam and Max games, and certainly not their by-all-accounts risible Jurassic Park game, which was meant to be released episodically but wound up being lumped together into a single release. It also helped that the game was released on just about every platform possible, from PC to Mac to consoles to iPhones, giving it a much larger potential audience than your average video game.

But the role of the episodic model in The Walking Dead's success shouldn't be overlooked. I found it refreshing to experience a game in the same way that I experience TV shows. For once, I wasn't way ahead of a bunch of my friends, I hadn't already finished, and didn't have to wait for them to catch up so we could talk about it. By necessity, we were all on the same page, and so conversation flowed so much more freely. Wouldn't it be cool to see more games like this?

Of course, I don't mean to suggest that The Walking Dead will change everything. No single game could. The current way we create and consume games is pretty established, and any change will happen in bits and pieces over time. And just as single-serving movies exist alongside TV series, massive one-shot games will continue to exist alongside episodic ones. But Telltale's success could send a signal to other developers and publishers that the episodic model really works, when done properly. Most AAA publishers gamble huge amounts of money on making a splash and quickly selling millions of copies, and find little relief in post-release-window sales. Most games need to do big business in their first month on the market, otherwise they'll be deemed failures. It's a crazy and unbalanced model, and it's in need of some alternatives.

Episodic games like The Walking Dead could offer an avenue for change. For seven months this year, it was possible for fans to get in on The Walking Dead while it was still happening. For seven months, people talked about, recommended, and hyped the game. And now that it's finally complete, even more people can buy it as a complete package, a "Season 1 DVD," if you like. We won't have final sales numbers on The Walking Dead for a while, but it's a good bet that sales of the game continued at a much more consistent rate since April than, say, Max Payne 3. And more to the point, it was a fun, different, and refreshing way to experience a video game.

The Walking Dead isn't the first episodic game ever—Telltale has been pursuing this course of action, with limited success, for years. But Walking Dead is certainly the most successful one, and as such is something of a proof-of-concept. I've had hopes for the format for a long time—the episodic structure is why I will always prefer Mass Effect 2 to the other games in the series, and I find that I have more fun dissecting TV shows in real-time with my friends than I do games. In fact, I'd argue that in terms of structure, length, and format, story-based video games share more in common with television programs than they do with films.

We live in a golden age of television, where visionary writers and showrunners have embraced the TV format to tell long-form, novelistically satisfying stories. From The Wire to Deadwood to Mad Men, TV has granted the opportunity to tell complex, rewarding stories with a more flexible structure than film. It's no coincidence that Game of Thrones, the defining epic of the past (and likely next) several years, is happening not on the silver screen, but in living rooms.

With that in mind, it's not such a stretch to imagine that Telltale's The Walking Dead game could be a sign of things to come. And if more games were to follow in the footsteps of television, it could be a very good thing indeed.

[The Walking Dead is a difficult series to write about. I want you to experience the game for yourself. After all, your game will likely play out entirely different from mine, given how dependent on player choice it is. But I still want to give you an idea of what it was like to experience the final episode of this season. So think of this less as an impressions piece, and more of a diary entry.]

I knew we'd end up here eventually, in this dark and bleak place.

Sometimes I look back at the journey we've taken together and wonder how the hell all this even happened. Death, betrayal, moral ambiguity running rampant. Feels like every step we took for survival pushed us further into our graves. We've learned so much—about people and how they change, about the threat of the walkers at hand—and somehow I feel much farther off the track of staying alive than I did back when all this madness first started.

Maybe the only thing keeping me going even after the end of the world is a little girl with a big heart and sweet eyes. Everyone else distrusted me at one point or another. Maybe it's my shady past, my seemingly weird relationship to this girl who is effectively a stranger, or my actions since taking her in. There have been arguments, tussles, even, and a whole lot of hard decisions that often led to death. I have a difficult time not blaming myself, and so it's hard not to see some truth behind people questioning my leadership. They don't always doubt me, but it still stings as hard as if they did. Doing right by everyone is important to me.

But Clementine, she's different. She stood by my side through each decision I had to make. She never doubted me. And while everyone else slowly changed, their stomachs rightfully churning after the horrors they faced, Clementine remained steadfast. It's a marvel, really, to think that an eight-year-old can stick it to the apocalypse harder than a grown adult. Military, doctors, teachers...everyone breaks. But not Clementine. I like to think I had something to do with that, even if this recent episode is making me to begin to doubt my fatherly abilities. The overpowering feeling that I need to, above all else, keep Clementine safe was once what helped me push on in the face of no hope. Now that instinct to be protective is turning into guilt, and that guilt is crushing me, slowly seeping into my conscience and making me second guess everything that has gotten us this far.

People show their true character after a disaster. It doesn't matter if you donated to charity while your life was merry. How did you act when you were starving? Did you steal from someone else, who was likely just as close to death? Did you ever kill someone just to keep them quiet and yourself safe? These are the situations in which your decisions should be judged.

One of the most fascinating aspects of The Walking Dead episodic series has been watching personalities and relationships evolve. When I first met Christa, the spitfire survivor you meet in episode four, I wasn't particularly fond of her. She seemed to have good intentions, but she also didn't seem to care much for anyone outside the locked enclaves of her steely heart. I grew to respect her, though. Cherish, even. Love, maybe. Had I had enough time to explore the complexity of her character, I could definitely see myself loving her.

Ben's weak disposition had me fed up by episode four. No matter how hard I tried to guide him, he stumbled over his own feet. It was infuriating. No one else exhibited these problems, I'd impatiently scoff. And then I realized that while Ben would make bad decisions and wasn't too reliable, he was also never violent. Or psychotic. We've definitely met our fair share of sociopaths in this life-after-death scenario. But I came to appreciate Ben's benevolence, even if he did constantly drag the group down (albeit accidentally). Even Kenny, who I've grown to love as a brother, can't be completely trusted in tense situations. We've supported each other this entire time, but I wouldn't put it past him to strike me in a rage or confusion. Ben would certainly never do something like that. He'd bitch and whine, but he wouldn't put his fists up to me.

Episode five is a disaster, and I mean that as a compliment to the game. Lee clings on to a sliver of hope, pushing forward in the worst of conditions. He's haggard, he's at the end of his rope. But, like Clementine, he never wavers. He pushes forward for the few things left that are worth saving in this post-apocalyptic world. Lee's every breath is spent for Clementine. Without her, I'm not sure he could survive the zombie apocalypse.

Episode five is also more intense than ever. You have to make tougher decisions on tighter deadlines. I've never felt as much pressure in the Walking Dead series than I did in this finale. I began to resent my responsibilities and longed for a "let's just wait it out for now" speech option. But this is the homestretch. It all comes down to this, and nothing—not even everything I've experienced up until this point—can prepare me for it.

These aren't just the toughest decisions I've had to make, they're also the most important. Nothing in my journey has mattered as much as the next few steps I take, and how I decide to take them. It's more vital now than ever that I choose the right dialogue options. I'm no stranger to this harsh life. I'm just tired of it. I'm tired of no reprieve.

And secretly I love it.

Because who hasn't daydreamed about the zombie apocalypse before? Who hasn't theorized their strategies and argued tactics? Telltale's The Walking Dead lets you live the zombie apocalypse in the most realistic way possible.

Sure, the animations may be janky and the actual game component of the series is limited to QTEs (that are at least meant to replicate the amount of force you're trying to use when opening a door or pushing a walker off of you) and point-and-click exploration to discover the world around you. But the zombie apocalypse is about so much more than fighting zombies. It's about meeting all sorts of people, and facing all sorts of threats. Threats that rival your most horrifying nightmares. You don't need traditional strength to survive (though a good swinging arm and a sharp eye could definitely help). You need strength of character.

The Walking Dead makes me feel like I've been through the harsh realities of a world where everything is working against me. And by the end of the episode, sitting back in the comfort of my apartment, I (only slightly ashamedly) cried. Because I actually felt all the things that Lee was supposed to feel in this made-up world. And that's perhaps the best thing about Telltale's masterpiece: it's a made-up world that manages to evoke real-life emotions. And those emotions—those thoughts of "what if" and "holy shit"—those have stayed with me even now.

The Walking Dead's final episode is where it all ends. And where it all begins anew again. I cannot wait for the next season to resolve all my unanswered questions and fears, and hopefully gain some closure. Until then, those haunting memories will follow me.

If you, like me, are an episode or two behind in Telltale's remarkable Walking Dead series, don't watch this video. If you, unlike me, have caught up on episodes three and four of the five-part series, then by all means, go to town.

In addition to releasing the player stats video for episode four, Telltale has announced that the fifth and final episode of the series, "No Time Left," will be coming out on November 21, for nearly all platforms. The one exception is on PlayStation Network, where the episode will be released on November 20.

Until this point, release dates for the series have been staggered, with mobile editions coming many weeks after their console and computer brethren. Now, though, there are no excuses. And with next Thursday as a day off for a huge number of us here in the US, Thanksgiving might just have more zombies in it than it usually does.

Or, since next week will also signal the start of the holiday shopping frenzy, you might just put the fancy retail version on your wishlist.

The Walking Dead Season Finale Release Dates Confirmed! [Telltale Games Blog]

Whether you want to imagine the first days of Life After People, the next instalment of The Walking Dead or a sequel to Tokyo Jungle (Seattle Jungle?), you should check out these stunning images of what an American city looks like without a single person to be seen.

Rather than be shot at dawn in out-of-the-way places, filmmaker Ross Ching actually edited the people out from regular footage then runs it all as a timelapse, letting us see the busier parts of Seattle completely devoid of life.

It's as beautiful as it is unsettling.

<a href="thethrashlab">Seattle Time Lapse (Empty America)

Maybe your bandwidth sucks or memory storage space in your device of choice is at a premium. But if you haven't played Telltale's excellent Walking Dead games yet for the above reasons, the developer will be going to make it a bit easier for PS3 and Xbox 360 owners this winter.

The episodic adventure experience based off of Robert Kirkman's award-winning comics will be coming to retail in two flavors, Telltale announced today. The disc will offer all four of the currently released episodes, along with the yet-to-debut Episode Five finale. The standard version will cost $29.99. The $69.99 collector's edition—exclusive to GameStop—will come with a giant Walking Dead Compendium collection, which assembles the first 48 issues of the comics series. That's more than 1,000 pages, in case you were wondering. Great comics and great gameplay all in one very attractive package.

When last we left the Facebook game based on The Walking Dead television show it was pretty horrible. Shane, Lori and Carl were in a hellish limbo somewhere on the highway to Atlanta, walking endlessly but never getting even a step closer. Chapter 2 is here, allowing them to move on to even more horrible situations.

Glenn, Daryl and a host of familiar faces from the show await players patient enough to keep playing, along with a host of improvements meant to address many of the common complaints about the game. The energy requirement for moving and fighting has been dropped, as have the intel and moral requirement for going on missions. They've upgraded weapons and added full and wide-screen support.

AMC is really trying here. It's kinda cute. Pat their little heads and give The Walking Dead Social Game another go?

It's no accident that Telltale's The Walking Dead game refers to its five-episode run as a "season." The whole thing is structured quite a bit like a season of television, with the accompanying peaks and valleys. And so it's perhaps not a huge surprise after the operatic highs of the spectacular third episode, episode four, "Around Every Corner," might feel like a bit of a letdown.

By design, episode four occupies a precarious place in the season as a whole. Not only did it need to bring together all of the disparate threads of the previous three episodes, it needed to then re-focus everything and set the table for the finale. I thought it accomplished the second part better than the first part, but I'm entirely on board to see how this all shakes out.

Spoilers: For this article, I'm just going to go ahead and assume you've played through the fourth episode. I won't tease around spoilers—I'm interested in talking about it like we would talk about an episode of television. So, if you haven't seen the episode, consider yourself warned.

As it turned out, episode four didn't have the same kind of megaton spoilers as there were in episode three. A lot of that was by design—the fates of the cast, including Lee and Clem, will be decided in the finale, and too much resolution in the penultimate episode would've spoiled our appetite for the finale. As a result, we really just got to decide what to do with poor, stupid Ben.

Ben was the weakest link in the episode for me—throughout the season, he's never quite gelled as a character. His continuing betrayals, fuck-ups and cowardice, while interesting in theory, never quite rang true. In particular, the moment in episode four when he removed the axe from the door was just too far beyond the realm of believability. So many moments in The Walking Dead feel real and believable, and so to have a character do something so boneheaded felt jarring and unnecessary.

Surely there could have been another way to let the zombies into the school? For him to remove the axe from the door (which it was obviously holding shut, and where did all the walkers go, and… okay you get it) just felt cartoonish, right down to the beat after "Where did you get that axe?"

Still, a small complaint in the grand scheme of things, particularly in an episode that had so many fine individual moments. It was a well directed episode, too, as Nick Herman made some very smart decisions about when to have the characters talk, and more importantly, when to have them remain silent. The scene in the attic was so rich and layered, and for the most part Herman just allowed Lee and Kenny to occupy the space and let us sit with them. I could only imagine what Kenny was going through in that moment, and I appreciated that the game allowed me to do just that.

As far as the action goes, I've reached the point where I never quite feel taken aback by anything that happens on screen, even while I'm still absorbed by it. It's a bit of a formula: Now it's quiet, now the zombies are attacking, now it's quiet again—whether it's a shortcoming on Telltale's part or just the constraints of the zombie genre, in episode four more than the previous three episodes, I got the sense that Telltale is reaching the bottom of their bag of tricks. There were no moments as jaw-on-the-floor as the salt-lick execution in episode two or the mid-episode shooting in episode three. But then, this episode wasn't about shocks—it was more about coping with what had come before while steeling ourselves for what is still to come.

The script, this time written by Gary Whitta, was strong throughout, though occasionally Whitta overplayed his hand. Some lines, like Vernon's line about always looking for irony when choosing living quarters, made me chuckle, while others, like Ben's "I've got a bad feeling about this," felt too on-the-nose. I loved Molly's backstory, but wished that a bit more had been left to the imagination—I didn't need to see that final video of her with the doctor. I'd put together enough that a little bit of ambiguity would have made the story more effective. (Granted, I could've just not opened the doctor's locker or not watched that tape, but I can't really imagine that was Whitta's intent when writing the script.)

As for the choices—I let Ben die, and Kenny decided to stick around and help me out. I could see when he made the decision, and it seemed like he very well could have told me to go screw myself and left. If that had happened, it would've been a big change for the finale, assuming he stayed gone and doesn't just return regardless.

Telltale had a difficult task with this episode, and for the most part rose to the occasion. As I noted before, this episode occupies a tricky spot in the overall season—it needed to pull together all of the past choices, conflicts and character arcs while simultaneously setting everything up for the finale. Whitta, Herman and the rest of the team at Telltale achieved that goal, and did so with some artful moments, a couple of fun scares (That jump-scare near the end nearly did me in, even though I should've seen it coming), and a solid cliffhanger leading into the big finale.

What did you guys think? Which party did you end up with, in the end? Did you let Ben die, or spare him? And most importantly, what do you think is going to happen in the end? I have my theories, but I'll share them in the comments.

Quick. Name your favourite video game voice-over artist. If it's not Nolan North, it's most likely...that guy who played..that guy. Or that lady who was that woman in that one series I really like.

It's sad that so few of these talented artists are recognised for their work, so I figured today I'd shine the spotlight on a man who is not only one of the most accomplished veterans of the trade, he's a man who, with his incredible work on Telltale's The Walking Dead, is so hot right now.

Dave Fennoy began his career in voice-over work over twenty years ago, and has appeared as prominent characters in everything from the Metal Gear Solid series to World of Warcraft to Bayonetta.

Some of his more recent (and prominent) roles include Valve's DOTA 2, where he voices six heroes, and perhaps best of all his turn as StarCraft 2's Gabriel Tosh, who even looked like Fennoy, courtesy of his long dreads.

He's outdone pretty much all of that this year, though, with his performance as Lee Everett, the star of the first season of The Walking Dead. Helped out by some great writing from guys like Sean Vanaman and Gary Whitta, Fennoy has given Lee a depth of character that embarrasses more big-budget games, and is one of the biggest reasons the episodic series has come out of nowhere to be one of the best experiences of the year.

My favourite role of his, though, might be the time he had to step into the shoes of Billy Dee Williams, and play Lando Calrissian in Lucasarts' 1999 X-Wing Alliance. He of course couldn't quite nail Williams' perpetual state of surprise, but I remember even at the time thinking he still did one hell of a job.

Games aren't all he's done, though. Far from it. If you've ever used Hulu, for example, you may recognise Fennoy as the "voice" of the service. He's also done commercial voice-over work for clients like Toyota, KFC and McDonalds, while Ben 10 fans may recognise him as the badass alien Tetrax Shard.

If you're interested in checking out more of Dave's work, head to his personal site, where he's got clips from interviews he's done explaining the art of his craft. You should also check out the reels put together by his fellow voice-over artist Adam Harrington (like the Walking Dead one just above).

Spoilers for previous episodes follow, as well as minor episode four spoilers.

For all my positivity and knack for comforting others, for all my efforts to preserve any sense of morality in a dark, dim world full of death, nothing I do seems to help for more than a moment.

Last night I played as Lee for a fourth episode of Telltale's wonderful adventure story, The Walking Dead. Episode four—Around Every Corner—takes the remaining survivors of your zombie adventure on a train ride to Savannah, Georgia. It seems greener pastures, or waters, may lay ahead. The group intends to find an escape boat, but as we've learned through Telltale's first three episodes, none of their plans play out without at least a few hitches. Zombies aren't the only hazards lurking in the shadows in episode four, and paranoia becomes perhaps your group's biggest threat.

I've played as Lee before. I've taken a stray little girl called Clementine under my wing, and grown to love her. I've met many new men and women, and seen those same people die. But Clementine has always remained my one ray of happiness and the one motivating factor to staying alive.

The The Walking Dead adventure game series feels like it was building up to this moment all along. Things were always troublesome, whether that included groups of bandits that had formed as a response to the zombie apocalypse, or tensions rising in our own group of survivors that threatened our already miserable livelihood. Telltale has a way of getting you used to getting stabbed in the back. You almost expect that every person you meet has an ulterior motive or a hidden secret that could bring your small shred of current safety tumbling down around you.

But episode four took everything away from me.

And I kind of love it for that.

Playing as Lee, I try to give everyone a fair shake. Even the seemingly dim witted, scrawny kid named Ben seems like he has a good heart. He tested my trust in him during episode three, revealing that good will and bad decisions sometimes play hand in hand.

But episode four broke me. I was finally ready to just not care anymore. To throw my hands up and admit my patience has waned. Even Lilly—the overbearing wench that stole our RV without any thought to what would become of us after all we did to help her and her psychotic father—wasn't enough to push me over the edge. It was Ben's sniveling self-consumption. His obsession with trying to do well but ignoring every piece of advice I gave him. His little quiver when he doesn't know what to do to or what to say. It was Ben that pushed me over the edge. I stuck my neck out for him, I gave him guidance, and he still learned nothing from it. It was enough to make me think for just a moment that maybe the only thing he'd be good for is an emergency push to the ground to slow down any walkers nearby.

I swear I'm a nice, decent person. But at a point of time you have to wonder if what you think is being nice is actually being naive.

I can understand Kenny's drunken stupor and tendencies toward aggression. He just lost his wife and son. But he's always been there for me as a loyal friend, never even doubting me when he found out about my murky past. We not only experienced together, we grew together.

Then there are the new characters you meet, like a sassy lady named Molly. Her colorful attitude can be a bit off putting, but I respect her thirst for survival, even if that means she often neglects others. It's clear she has trust issues of her own, and you know what? Who can blame her? I can't much blame Christa for her snappy attitude, either. Her main concern is her companion, Omid, and shouldering the responsibility for another person's life is something I can commiserate with her on. Although her steely heart and stubbornness certainly don't put her on my list of favorite people.

Clementine, of course, is still my favorite. She's the sweetest, toughest little girl you'll find. And no matter what we've been through, and no matter how many mistakes a person has made, she finds a way to keep smiling. She can see beyond my misgivings and embraces people's good nature regardless of the evidence on the table. Though her frame may be tiny, she might be the strongest survivor among us. And even though I'm at the brink of abandoning my moral compass—which has been battered by repeated betrayal—one look at her furrowed little eyebrows and teared up eyes sends guilt rattling down my spine. Clementine keeps me grounded. I never want to disappoint Clementine.

What a powerful, emotionally evocative game The Walking Dead is. When I play games I typically like to experience some amount of fun. Sure, a lot of games' stories may be morbid and the enemies rancid, but The Walking Dead takes that to a whole other level. It breaks your heart at every turn. It strips you of hope and leaves you with nothing but the bad taste of dread in your mouth. And yet, I love it. I love being tortured, submitting myself to the whims of this increasingly devastating game. I love having my instinct for survival put to the test with difficult decisions that, no matter what you seem to choose, always result in even more difficult situations that need difficult decisions. By the end of episode four, you'll see just how much your decisions have impacted the group you travel with.

I've taken each episode, and each problem that surfaces in them, one step at a time. I'll deal with my dying group member or the bitter argument going on just as soon as I get everyone into the safe-looking house first. As long as I keep focused on one problem at a time, it's easier not to look ahead at the dreary road in front of us. Especially when it oftens feels like getting a shred of luck takes its taxes in the form of a landslide of problems first.

At the end of episode four a new character made a statement that resonated with me. This character said something like, "I don't feel too much. Not a lot on my mind." This was just after an insanely chaotic, insanely harsh fight for survival. We learned horrific things, and lost people in horrific ways. And that's sort of where my journey through Telltale's The Walking Dead has landed me. I'm accustomed to things going wrong. I expect people will die. I anticipate that my decisions will not always be received favorably. Episode four has me finally looking up to confront the horizon of dead in front of me. I can't face my problems one baby step at a time anymore. These new problems are unlike any I've faced before. I'm in a situation that I know I might not be able to come out of, that I might not be able to solve. You thought episodes one to three were serious? Now I'm really starting to panic.

In the end, all I can do is make judgment calls the best way I see fit. All I can do is protect Clementine to the best of my abilities.

But it's never enough.

The next episode that continues Telltale's intriguing take on The Walking Dead is releasing tomorrow, the developer/publisher announced today.

Well, sort of. PSN users get first dibs with its release tomorrow. Everyone else in NA will have to wait for Wednesday (shucks). From the official release:

The Walking Dead: Episode Four - Around Every Corner will release Tuesday, October 9th on PlayStation Network in North America for $4.99 or as part of the Season Pass option for $19.99 which includes all five episodes. The episode will also be available on Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday, October 10th for 400 MS Points as DLC within the original The Walking Dead XBLA release, and also on PC/MAC as part of a Season Pass on the Telltale Games Store, as well as through our partners on Steam, Origin, Amazon PC Downloads, GameStop, and GameFly. European and international release dates for PlayStation Network are still to be confirmed. The title is in submission with our international partners at SCEE, and as soon as Telltale Games receives a release confirmation, a date will be announced.

We were also sent two new screenshots and one piece of art (featured above) for you to enjoy. As usual, the group of survivors sees themselves in some tricky situations. But most frigthening is Clementine's look of hope as she leads Lee to what I guess she expects will be a reunion with her parents. Poor Clementine. If only it would be that easy. 'Cause you know it won't be.