Monday, October 16, 2017

Let's Talk About Lee: Why is a good character essential to Telltale Games and how does Lee from The Walking Dead fit this profile?


Image result for lee walking dead

Appearances

Lee is the main character for Telltale Games' The Walking Dead: Season One, a story driven, choice based RPG.  The player takes on the role of Lee, guiding along his various decisions he must make throughout the story as he chaperones and protects a young girl, Clementine, from the undead in this post-apocalyptic adventure.  The story of the game adapts itself around the choices you make, with the more difficult choices usually molding the game the most.

Setting up Lee's story

It can be argued that the most interesting thing about Lee is the way that his story unfolds as the game draws out, both in terms of his backstory as well as the one that he lives with the supporting characters around him.

The game begins with Lee riding in the back of a cop car, deep in thought and filled with quiet emotion for some unknown reason.  The particular reason that he was arrested in the first place is unknown to the player until later into the game, where there is an option to confess to Clementine that Lee has killed someone who had slept with his wife.  What's interesting is that even though a player might go a good length of the game thinking that Lee is a decent person (he risks his life multiple times to save his fellow group members and puts his life on the line to watch over a little girl), they keep a suspicion in the back of their mind that Lee has a deeper, darker side to his character, much like how many of the characters in the game might see him.

Characteristics and how they affect the game

Lee's characteristics drastically affect the way tat the game is played, which completely makes sense seeing as the game is story driven and the interactions between the characters is the main driving force of both the plot and the gameplay.

Lee is portrayed as being extremely protective and caring, and as such, the gameplay is structured around his character.  The player is given not only multiple opportunities to express Lee's caring and protective nature (such as saving Clementine or another one in the group from certain death), but also the chance to explore the darker, more revenge driven nature of his character, such as kicking Lily out of the group or quickly killing Lily's father after he begins to turn. 

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