Bilawal Bashir 
A new The Walking Dead game, Destinies, has just been released and it’s being labeled as a bad game by fans and critics alike. But is that true and is there any hope for the game?
The Walking Dead: Destinies was released last week and many have been laughing over the absurdity of the game. The third-person action-adventure game takes on the story of the hit AMC show of the same name, but with a twist. The “Destinies” name comes from players’ ability to influence the story by making decisions regarding some of the show’s pivotal moments. For example, players can decide whether Rick or Shane leads the group early on.
While this has drawn some praise and intrigue, little else about the game has. Fans have labeled the $50 game as a “paid school project” but what’s actually wrong with it? And is it a situation like Payday 3 where the game could potentially be fixed over time?
What’s wrong with The Walking Dead: Destinies?
The Walking Dead: Destinies is a short game that lasts just four hours and the player’s story choices ultimately don’t matter.
Fans of the series will undoubtedly look at the box art and get excited about being able to play something that resembles the series. That’s not the case, though.
The Walking Dead: Destinies has wholly underwhelming graphics. The character models lack detail, and facial expressions are severely limited. The texture work is low-quality, and the environmental detail isn’t strong. The story is told through stills with weird model placements and character expressions, making even the most dire sequences fall flat. The Walking Dead: Destinies does not feature any cast members from the show reprising their roles, so the game neither looks nor sounds like the source material.
There is meant to be replayability, but player choices only alter the enemies they face. There are no consequences for player actions and choices, so while multiple playthroughs should be a layup with this style of narrative-focused game, that’s not actually the case.
Combat is also stiff. The game is a third-person shooter with aiming that feels laggy and imprecise, making combat a slog. On top of everything, there are a lot of bugs at launch, something that makes the experience unwieldy even before wading in too deeply.
Is The Walking Dead: Destinies worth getting?
The Walking Dead: Destinies isn’t worth getting, and likely won’t be unless it becomes available for a few dollars.
The game is developed by the little-known Flux Games and is published by GameMill, a publisher infamous for bad tie-in games. Last month, GameMill released Skull Island: Rise of Kong, which was brutally criticized. Bad visuals, simplistic gameplay, and apparently unfinished cutscenes flooded social media after Kong’s release, transforming the game into a meme for a short time. In Skull Island’s case, GameMill reportedly provided few resources and little time to the studio, which had to complete the game in just a year.
GameMill and Flux Games haven’t responded to any queries about the game’s shabby state yet. There’s essentially no hope of the game being fleshed out in a way that would make it worth getting for anything other than a bare minimum price.
Zombie fans are having a tough year. Call of Duty: Zombies is an open-world affair, while Dying Light 2 has introduced an in-game microtransaction currency, something that fans have vented frustration over.
