For years the Walking Dead was the premier comic for all things zombie. It was an immediate underground hit and eventually became a commercial success. Yet it wasn’t until the television show of the same name that the zombie genre evolved from an obscure and overdone cliché to a respect medium of storytelling.
The Walking Dead has always been more about the people attempting to survive and navigate through a world of death and destruction than the zombies. Now, with The Walking Dead: Survival Instincts on shelves, you get to use the same tactics shown in the TV show to survive the infection.
Keep Moving
In the world of the Walking Dead, we are all infected with a virus that will reanimate our corpse and cause us to feast on the living once we die. With seemingly the entire planet infected with this voracious disease, the walkers outnumber the humans. With this in mind, the focus on continuous movement is the key to survival. You must keep moving if you want to live to survive another day. Characters in the Walking Dead like Glenn showcase this ideal.
In Surviving Instincts, the ideal of constantly moving through the environment will keep you alive. Zombies are not very powerful alone, but it is when you are cornered in a group that your life is truly on the line. Take a tip form the show, and keep moving. Surviving is in the title, and it is constant moving that will allow you to live to survive another day.
Stronger in Groups
Every character in the Walking Dead has their own set of strengths and weaknesses. Andrea and his a accurate marksman, Glen is great at traveling through herds almost unnoticed, and Rick is a natural leader. While all these strengths are great, neither of them could survive on their own. It is only when they combine their talents and resources that survival actually seems plausible. Alone, they may survive for a few days but together they have a stronger chance of surviving the world and avoiding the infection.
Survival Instincts puts you into the shoes of Daryl Dixon with your brother Merle. Once you and your brother are together, you attempt to fight your way through the crowed and infested streets in order to survive. While the two of you often split-up during gameplay, forcing you into uncomfortable and deadly environments, it is when the brothers are together that a sense of safety shrouds you from the dangers around, even if only for a moment.
Don’t Trust Everyone
In a world where every home, street, and building has the potential to be infested with flesh craving monsters, trust is both a luxury and a necessity. In the Walking Dead television series, those they decided to trust and infiltrate their group constantly betray the main characters. In a world where humanity should rise up and band together, we truly become our own greatest enemy.
Re-Usable Weapons
Weapons during an apocalypse of any magnitude are of grave importance. You must be prepared and outfit yourself with a way to defend yourself when no other tactics work. It does not matter how big your group is, you will eventually find yourself alone with your back against the wall and you will have to defend yourself. With ammo being scarce and dangerous to search for, reusable weapons are a important part of survival.
In the Walking Dead television series, many chracters showcase have reusable weapons. Tyrese harnesses his strength and brutality into his hammer that he swings with ferocity similar to that of the God of Thunder. Michonne uses her speed and agility to her advantage with he katana blade allowing for silent ninja like kills. In Survival Instincts, Daryl has his crossbow to take out the zombies. Daryl’s crossbow is great in theory due to its ability for both short range and long-range attacks and reusable ammo. While other weapons may be an option, it is the crossbow that will prove most effective.
Travel Light
One of the most important components of surviving a zombie apocalypse, even if you are in a group, is to travel light. Characters form the television show like Glen and Carl prove that carrying only a few items at a time allows you quickly move through the environment. Traveling light can also mean the amount of members in the group, as too many people can slow you down. A large group can also leave you vulnerable to attack.
Survival Instincts showcases the relationship between the Dixon brothers and their travels together before they met up with Shane and the group in the television show. The brothers epitomize the ideal of traveling light as their group normally consists of just the two of them. Supplies or people never bog them down. They take what they need and they continue moving. This strategy is crucial to keeping them alive throughout the game.
Silent & Deadly
One of the most important tips that you can gain from the Walking Dead television series is the idea of remaining silent and deadly. Michonne is the living example of this mantra. She travels quickly through her environment and uses her blade to silently take out any walker that comes in her way. Sound attracts walkers. The louder the sound, the more zombies you will eventually have to deal with.
The same is true in Survival Instincts. Daryl’s crossbow is silent and deadly. He also carries a sharp hunting knife for close kills. Both weapons allow him to continue moving through his environment while eliminating the zombies in the area. The crossbow also hardly makes a sound, allowing him to take out numerous zombies without ever being detected. You must avoid loud sounds and noises while playing, or will be forced to deal with the strength of a zombie horde.
