New game announced the new Walking Dead game earlier this year, calling the game a massively interactive live event - MILE for short - where players will be able to continually shape the story of this new extension of the Walking Dead canon and attend story overview livestreams hosted by Yvette Nicole Brown and Felicia Day. Screen Rant attended a special preview event hosted by publisher Genvid Entertainment's CEO Jacob Navok and Skybound's Creative Vice President Shawn Kittelsen.
The Walking Dead: Last Mile is a free game available through Facebook Gaming where players will create and play as their own survivors in a remote Alaskan community. TWD: Last Mile introduces several new characters into the Walking Dead universe, whose fates will be determined by the choices players vote for. s can daily to complete different activities, through which they will earn experience points which can in turn be used to influence the story of the interactive experience. Publisher Genvid Entertainment has previously produced other MILEs such as Rival Peak and Pac-Man Community.
In an effort to not have large effects on the existing Walking Dead canon, Last Mile takes place in a completely new Alaskan environment. The event will take place over a 4 month period as the currently-undetermined story unfolds, which will be built via both fan input and guidance from Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman throughout. Kittelsen promises fans will engage in the sort of story they expect from the Walking Dead series, including "characters who face morally complex decisions and emotionally charged stories that are grounded."
The Walking Dead: Last Mile is set in a small coastal town called Prosper Landing, home to a handful of survivors who are now facing new hordes of walkers and the harshest Alaskan winter in years. There are two main factions with players can choose to help in-game: The Village, a group who are focused more on traditional survival techniques, and The Plant, a more technologically advanced group determined to bring a rundown gas stabilization plant back online. Each faction is fighting for survival, and lacks different supplies - The Plant is rich in fuel but lacking food, while the opposite is true for The Village. Both sides have a leader as well as a handful of followers with varying levels of loyalty that will surely be tested over time.
When players create their survivor in The Walking Dead: Last Mile, they will align themselves with a faction and be able to choose between 12 different skills for their character. Once in the game, s will participate in a myriad of different activities to help their faction and earn Influence Points for doing so. Each activity has its own minigame - for example, a Bejeweled-style game with ammunition lets players generate bullets, and a Stardew Valley-esque fishing game allows players to gather food for their faction. Players can also send their survivor on missions while they are not actively playing the game, although riskier missions can potentially kill a 's character.
Players will use their Influence Points in The Walking Dead: Last Mile to vote for story choices both big and small that will have a lasting impact on the overall world, creating a sort of large-scale version of a Telltale-style game. Each week, the most voted for decisions will win out and be incorporated into the game's story, and Kittelsen teased that some decisions may even affect episodes weeks in the future. Players can also make "cameo decisions," which give their characters the chance to be featured in cinematic cutscenes. Developers gave an interesting look into how possible story branches have been outlined, and have stated there's much more that's yet to be written as it's dependent on what players do in the initial weeks of the event.
Navok outlined how The Walking Dead: Last Mile will offer players about 15 minutes of new content a day across multiple forms of media. Players can complete tasks as well as view new story clips, bid on in-game decisions, and connect with other s during interactive live streams. Yvette Nicole Brown and Felicia Day will host frequent Last Mile livestreams through Facebook Watch, which will give summaries of how the story is unfolding, show new cinematic cutscenes based on key decisions, and feature special guests who will discuss the events with the hosts. Felicia Day will also hold interactive TWD: Last Mile streams at select times.
The game will have a consistent schedule, with new Walking Dead: Last Mile livestreams happening every Monday as well as occasional Fridays. The MILE will begin today, July 11, in beta and begin a four week long prologue phase. After the prologue has concluded, there will be a two week hiatus in which developers will work on fixing bugs and incorporating into the experience. Following the hiatus, The Walking Dead: Last Mile will have a set of 3 Acts, each lasting four weeks and running through mid-November 2022.
Developers of The Walking Dead: Last Mile greatly emphasized how this unique experience is designed with fans in mind, while also pointing out that players won't need a "PhD in The Walking Dead" to enjoy the MILE. The game will feature absolutely no microtransactions of any kind, undoubtedly to the relief of many fans. The Walking Dead: Last Mile is the first communal, hybrid gaming experience that the franchise has ever been a part of, and will give players the opportunity to permanently impact the canonical story of the world.
The Walking Dead: Last Mile is available now through Facebook Gaming and livestreams will be available through Facebook Watch on both the Facebook app and website. Screen Rant attended a preview opportunity for the purpose of this article.
