History VideoGame / TheWalkingDeadSeasonOne

** [[spoiler: Subverted with [[TheUnfettered Lilly]]. Whereas Kenny '''WILL''' follow you to hell and back provided you have his back, Lilly [[UngratefulBitch will still sell you out as a murderer to the group and try to bring you down with her]], [[UngratefulBitch even if you sided with her and Larry 100% of the time]]]].

* DownerEnding: Episode 5 ends with [[spoiler: almost all of Lee's group dead, with the only members left with a possibility of being alive preparing to go through a city filled with thousands of Walkers. Lee slowly dies from either blood loss, the zombie infection, or a mix of both, all while he guides a tearful Clementine through how to survive without him. Afterwards, Clementine [[SadisticChoice either has to let her surrogate father and mentor turn into a Walker]], [[SadisticChoice or kill him herself]]. The only thing that saves it from being horrifically depressing is the post-credits scene that shows Clementine made it out of Savannah safely, and the last scene of the game hints [[BittersweetEnding that she might have found Omid and Christa]]. Luckily, as revealed in Episode 2, it was them]].

* DaylightHorror: The game's general encounters with zombies and bandits happen during broad daylight, but the darkest moments happen as night is setting, often leading to a BattleInTheRain or AStormIsComing.

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: The sewer you see in ''Around Every Corner''. It leads to [[spoiler: a hospital morgue housing a group of cancer survivors who are important characters in the episode]].

* BearTrap: In Episode 2, Lee comes upon Ben and Travis trying to free their teacher Mr. Parker from one that's been modified to trap humans, and later in the episode Lee and Kenny find another one in [[spoiler: the St. John family's abattoir]].

** [[TheCameo Glenn]] at the end of Episode 1. This is so he can find his friends in Atlanta.

* DownerEnding: Episode 5 ends with [[spoiler: almost all of Lee's group dead, with the only members left with a possibility of being alive preparing to go through a city filled with thousands of Walkers. Lee slowly dies from either blood loss, the zombie infection, or a mix of both, all while he guides a tearful Clementine through how to survive without him. Afterwards, Clementine [[SadisticChoice either has to let her surrogate father and mentor turn into a Walker]], [[SadisticChoice or kill him herself]]. The only thing that saves it from being horrifically depressing is the post-credits scene that shows Clementine made it out of Savannah safely, and the last scene of the game hints [[BittersweetEnding that she might have found Omid and Christa]]]].

* AluminumChristmasTrees: A lot of players don't believe that the ceramic found inside a spark plug can easily break car windows. This can be done in RealLife.

* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler: Vernon's group steals Lee's boat and escape, and while they did go off to save Clementine, and would not end [[KillEmAll up needing the boat anyway]], Vernon still knew they were trapped in a walker horde with a little girl and a heavily injured man]]. However, it's implied that [[spoiler: the boat had only a small amount of fuel, plus the group consists of elderly cancer survivors with no weapons except for one gun, so their chances of survival are pretty slim even if they make it to land]]. [[note]] Subverted expectations in ''400 Days''. You find what remains of the cancer survivors group, and it's strongly implied that Vernon's decision to steal the boat from Lee's group caused the group to fracture over the decision... with Vernon noticeably missing. [[/note]]

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler: Clementine is the only confirmed survivor. The fates of Omid and Christa are left ambiguous (they are implied to be the two people Clementine sees off in the distance in TheStinger). Vernon's group made it out, but in ''400 Days'', it's all but confirmed that he died. It is unknown what happened to Molly and Lilly, but Lilly's odds in particular are not good. Every other named character dies onscreen, including [[TheHeroDies Lee]].]] Season Two mitigates it a bit by revealing that [[spoiler: Kenny survived his presumed death, and that Clementine did meet up with Omid and Christa.]]

* AmbiguousDisorder: Doug with the severely handicapped social skills and the savant-like working knowledge of electronics.
-->'''Doug''': Man, I miss my robots.
-->'''Lee''': You're a strange guy, Doug.
-->'''Doug''': I know.

* TheKlutz: Lee spends the first half of Episode 1 slipping, tripping, and falling over everything he touches because of his injured leg. Thankfully he gets over it in the other half onwards, quickly showing he knows how to handle himself (including getting his WeaponOfChoice in an axe, and using it to great efficiency).

** His daughter Lilly, as well. [[spoiler: And she only aworsens]].

* MadeOfIron: Lee is this through several of the times he gets injured repeatedly from things that would usually knock out an average man or even kill him. [[UpToEleven Taken to the max]] in Episode 5, where he [[spoiler: suts through a zombie horde while suffering from zombie infection or blood loss from cutting his arm off]]. His optional injuries show this too, as by the end he can be [[spoiler: suffering from a gunshot wound to the stomach from the Stranger, and having been bitten up to three more times while going through the horde]].

** A player can do this to Clementine, as they can be extremely cruel to her. Taken UpToEleven as [[spoiler: they can let Clementine and the group [[IAmAHumanitarian eat human meat]] by not racing downstairs or failing to shout out what it is]].
** [[UpToEleven Bonus monster points]] if [[spoiler: the player doesn't shout out that it's human meat; when Larry berates Lee for being rude, there's the option of saying "''Fuck you. Eat up, Larry''", prompting Larry to state he'd love to ''before eating a slice of human meat'']].

* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: The game begins at the onset of the apocalypse, which coincides with the beginning of the comic series, which was October 2003. At the beginning of Episode 2, then, it is January 2004. The gas prices (around $2.00) may clue some players in.

* NiceHat: Clementine, Kenny, and Glenn all wear baseball caps.

* AmbiguousDisorder: HollywoodNerd Doug with the severely handicapped social skills and the savant-like working knowledge of electronics.

** [[HollywoodNerd Doug]] is powder blue.

* AdultFear:
** In Episode 3, when [[spoiler: Duck is bitten, Kenny refuses to believe his son will die, Katjaa realizes that her medical knowledge cannot save their son and Lee has a nightmare about the same thing happening to Clementine]].
** When surveying the mansion in Savannah, Lee and Kenny find [[spoiler:a reanimated little boy in the attic, apparently having been left behind to starve/dehydrate. Lee is very shaken to find him, and wonders if the same thing may have happened to Clem if he hadn't found her.]]
** Episode 4 ends with [[spoiler: Clementine kidnapped and Lee bitten (which can be considered a terminal disease)]].
** It's quickly apparent in ''No Time Left'' that losing [[spoiler: his]] wife and children has driven [[spoiler: the Stranger]] mad.

** Episode 4 is based around this. Kenny is driven to find a boat in Savannah they can use to escape and live a peaceful life on. [[spoiler: After a short exploration of the docks shows this to the pointless, Clementine finds an intact boat in the shed behind the house they're hiding out in]]. The look on Kenny's face when he comes out and sees it almost makes one think he's starting to come back from his HeroicBSOD. [[spoiler: [[DoomedProtagonist Then Lee gets bitten]], [[AdultFear and Clementine is kidnapped]]]].

** Kenny does this to himself [[spoiler: on a few occasions, such as avoiding the "''What if it was your family?''" arguments by insisting that Duck and Katjaa would never come to harm or be in that position. [[AdultFear Cue Episode 3 where Duck is infected and Katjaa kills herself]]]].

** [[spoiler: The zombie boy in the attic]] in Episode 4.

** Episode 4 does its best to top this. And with [[spoiler: [[DoomedProtagonist Lee getting bitten]], [[AdultFear and Clementine getting kidnapped]]]] being at the top of the list of things that happen, they succeeded.

* ActionGirl: This seems to be a prerequisite for survival in the zombie apocalypse for most of the female characters in this game:
** [[HotScoop Carley]], who manages to be the second most badass survivor in the group next to the playable character, thanks to her crack shooting skills. She's also the most likely and consistent candidate to pull a BigDamnHeroes moment and save Lee whenever he's in trouble.
** [[TheUglyGuysHotDaughter Lilly]], who routinely fought for the leadership role of the group with Kenny, who was explicitly stated to have served in the Air Force before things went to hell. She can potentially save Lee a good couple of times depending on your choices.
** [[IWorkAlone Molly]] seems like she'd be more at home in some zombie spin off of ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted}}'' or ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' rather than a point and click, the way she traverses the city by roof top and elegantly dances around the Walkers to bury her ice-climbing axe in their craniums.