It forever changed: How a focus away from action can sell. 2013 was a bumper-year for narrative-focussed games. Not only was Gone Home and Papers, Please flying the indie-flag on a mast big enough to make everyone take notice, but The Last of Us weaved a story with characters and final revelations so strong and unique, it would become something completely original. In between the two was Telltale's Walking Dead series, an episodic take on the comic book material that managed to deliver the whole 'mankind is worse than the undead'-angle in a far more frank and impactful way than any of the swords n' shotguns tales that the latter seasons of the TV show turned into. Comprised almost entirely of your interactions with a certain set of survivors making up your group, the unrepentant intensity doesn't come from a Left 4 Dead-style onus on how many bodies can you take down in a short amount of time, instead it's how will you divvy out supplies, who's secrets will you keep for the good of everyone's morale, and who will you defend when two people with equally valid points come to blows? Whichever you choose the options will stay with you forever, and it's precisely because every heart-wrenching decision you'll make is so affecting that this remains Telltale's finest work to date.
