As one of the more popular pop culture brands of the past 20 years, The Walking Dead franchise has given audiences a vast number of ways to experience the post-apocalypse. But somehow, none of the video games to date have offered up a straightforward zombie adventure on consoles letting fans step into the shoes of all the TV show’s most popular characters, from Rick to Daryl to Michonne. Regardless of how long it took to get here, The Walking Dead: Destinies will soon arrive with its own unique spin on AMC’s live-action universe, although before all that happens, we really need to talk about some of these character designs.
For you see, even though The Walking Dead: Destinies will give players the opportunity to play Jon Bernthal’s morally questionable Shane and reverse the moment in the show when he gets killed, allowing for a TWD timeline where the former cop remained the group’s leader over time, it doesn’t appear as if the actors themselves were involved in any motion-capture for the character designs. Which allows for an amusingly jarring array of familiar faces that just don’t look quite right, as if TWD took place in the same universe as Polar Express.
Let’s look at all of the characters’ digital makeovers below, while keeping in mind that this is all in good-hearted jest, and not an attack on everyone busy busting their humps at developer Flux Games to get this game into fans’ hands. Regardless of any jokes cracked, I’m gonna play the shit out of this game when it comes out, because I want to make a Rick Grimes walker happen. Now without further ado…
Rick And Shane
I can't lie, if I was on a horse and being chased by walkers, and we galloped past a group of uninfected humans, and my eye quickly glazed past two dudes in the back that looked like the duo above, I might after a few beers tell a stranger whom I know I'd never cross paths with again that I definitely saw Rick and Shane. But if I'm looking directly at them, with or without beer and horses, I'd think I was looking at the cover band version of both.
I kinda feel like both of their heads are the exact same size --- dudes gotta have equal-sized heads to be true protectors --- and that they're both too uniformly round and potato-esque to be real people. Which they're not, so it's okay. It's also a little strange seeing Shane with a half-staff afro after mostly picturing him with his shaved head. All in all, both are B-level and not too shabby.
Lori And Carl
I can't really say too much about Lori, since that's a pretty good and mostly natural look for a human being, even if it doesn't entirely mirror former star Sarah Wayne Callies. She's almost a mix between Lori and Maggie, with the latter character not included in the line-up of playable characters.
Carl, however, is something else entirely. I don't think that his true lineage ties back to Lori, Rick or Shane in this universe. Maybe this is the actual Coral Grimes in the flesh, in reference to Andrew Lincoln's wavering pronunciations. There's a little bit of Chandler Riggs' youthful look in this version, but if given a choice, I would guess that this was actually from test footage of I, Robot where they were going to use a de-aged Jason Marsden instead of Haley Joel Osment.
Michonne And Carol
I think Michonne may be the best looking character in this bunch, both in general terms and in halfway looking like Danai Gurira in the role. It's not quite there, but should be considered a masterpiece in comparison to...well....Carol.
Heaven help me, I cannot look at this version of Carol without blinking myself away from the image. While many of The Walking Dead: Destinies' other designs went heavy on the characters' foreheads and hairlines, Carol appears as if her face forgot to keep rising up all the way. Really, she looks like the subject of one of those "This person died in the year 1, and here's what we think they would have looked like" pictures. That poor woman cannot catch a break, but maybe players will be able to give her a life of good times and luxury, relatively speaking.
Glenn And T-Dog
Admittedly, nothing about Glenn or T-Dog's video game looks really sticks out as being overtly weird, disturbing or flat out wrong. I think T-Dog has the most impressive angered brow out of anyone.
Glenn looks a little too plain, maybe, like a create-a-character default before the details are added. His lips are possibly a bit too perfect, so maybe those were also unused Maggie lips that got combined with his look. At least we won't have to see his eyeball dangling down on purdy those lips, since the game will only go up to Season 4.
Daryl And Merle
I have to imagine that playing as Norman Reedus' Daryl is one of the first things that comes to any fan's mind when the topic of a Walking Dead game comes up, and the new release offers up both of the Dixon brothers to play with, although you might want to silently sidle past them without saying anything, given how they look above.
Daryl's eyes make it seem like he's taking a troublesome shit in his sleep, or having an orgasm in church, which has never been my first thought upon looking at any other video game character in my history with the medium. (Although it'd make for some interesting scenes in AMC's The Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon spinoff.) And Merle looks less like actor Michael Rooker, and more like the actor's third cousin who's got a side gig playing Merle at birthdays and bachelorette parties.
The Governor
Last but not least, we have TWD's first iconic villain, The Governor, as portrayed in the TV show by David Morrissey. This is probably second to Michonne in my eyes, even if it's also not an exact duplication. Although with the understanding that he might lose a few points if that eyepatch wasn't there. Hopefully players get to jab that eye out during gameplay.
Though no specific release date has been locked down just yet, The Walking Dead: Destinies is now available to pre-order now for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Steam. And stay tuned for more info on playable characters, as more are set to join the 11 above.
While waiting for TWD: Destinies to arrive, don’t sleep on one of the best gaming experiences of 2022 for horror TV fans, The Walking Dead: Saints and Sinners - Chapter 2: Retribution. And then check out all the upcoming Walking Dead live-action shows that we’re waiting patiently for.
