Social deception games are great. Add in some elements of survival and you have the makings for hours of lying to your friends and getting them eaten by zombies. Jumping from the comics and television screens into another game, the world of The Walking Dead is placing you in a group of survivors racing against a 30-minute timer to repair a cart after scavenging supplies in order to make your escape in The Walking Dead Betrayal. But as the herd crashes toward your location at any slight sound, you have to hope that the two traitors in your midst don’t end your survival game first. Developed by Other Ocean and published by Skybound Games, The Walking Dead Betrayal offers easter eggs for long TWD fans via world elements and clothing items (I definitely rocked Juanita’s pink party jacket) and a lot of fun in this social deception survival hybrid.
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In a full 8-player game, there will be six survivors working to repair the objective and escape and two traitors trying to stop them. The interesting part? Each survivor is assigned a secondary role that makes the game all the more interesting.
For the survivors, you get to be a Tailor, Confidant, or Daredevil. The Tailor allows players to harvest skin suits from piles of walkers, ala the Whisperers. However, this is also a default skill of a traitor, so is that person offering a skin suit a Tailor or a Traitor? You have to find out. Next, you have the Confidant, which after five minutes of play, the Confidant gets two names, one of which is definitely the traitor and one of which is definitely not.
And finally, the Daredevil gains health by placing traps, but this also gives a cover for traitors who place traps out in the open to harm other players. That said, some matches may also have a neutral role called the Bereaved. The Bereaved must poison every living player in the match so they can pick a new role. The Bereaved is a threat to survivors and traitors alike which allows the asymmetrical competition more balanced.
During our playthroughs of a couple of matches, I got the Confidant both times. The top right corner holds both names, which allowed me to keep my guard around players. This led me to keep mostly to my own, away from the larger group, keeping them just in earshot but not getting hit by a traitor’s Molotov. I was trying to stay away from the two names I saw, which always wound up in the middle of the remaining group as we ran around to find supplies to fix the cart. However, this knowledge is only power if you know how to use it.
While I didn’t want to guess which one was the Traitor openly, I did rely on the red dropboxes to put my vote in on the one I thought was the traitor. That said, the voting box is also the box that has supplies for the traitors to get an advantage in the game. For traitors, the red drop box gives you vital weapons and resources, and for survivors, it’s a way to launch a push to get the suspected traitor exiled from the community.
That said, exiling a traitor doesn’t end the player’s turn. Instead, they can work from the outside to sabotage the Safe Zone, letting zombies in or leading a horde to your doorstep. While a Traitor can do this while alive, hitting cars and shooting, if the traitor gets bit and turns, they have the ability to jump between any zombie and lead them directly to where they want to attack. Now, this isn’t limited only to Traitors who become a meal for the zombies, but instead, they’re for every character. This element allows players to keep engaged instead of waiting for the game to end.
The Walking Dead Betrayal does a fantastic job of keeping every player engaged even when they’re knocked out. And part of that connection comes from methods of communication. The most basic form of communicating is the proximity voice chat. Each character can hear the person next to them within a certain residence. This voice chat also doesn’t alert zombies like the clanging of gunshots which allows for full discussions. Additionally, you can collect elements and craft a radio in order to connect over long distances allowing you to strategize when not in an immediate group. While I didn’t get the chance to use it myself, the other communication method that makes The Walking Dead Betrayal a deeper game of strategy is the Traitor-only radios, allowing you to work with the other traitor over voice away from the rest of the group.
While the social deception element is pretty clear based on player composition and communication, the survival element of The Walking Dead Betrayal is also something to rave about. Not only did I find myself worried about being taken out by a traitor or having our mission sabotaged, but I also had to manage my food, health, and very limited inventory slots.
The Walking Dead Betrayal has a cooking system that allows you to craft tonics for health and food to keep your food level up. You can scavenge berries and mushrooms to create meals for help when you’re stuck in the field. Additionally, food is vital when you find yourself stuck outside the safe zone thanks to a weather event. Instead of allowing you to hide wherever you want, each building comes with its own risks. You can get trapped by a horde if someone leads them to the door or you can get stuck for so long away from your group as you wait out a storm that you lose all insight into what has happened within the camp. Who has been accused, who is the leader, or any deaths that have happened.
Additionally, you have five limited inventory slots that you have to use to carry your resources to fix an objective, your combat item, your food, and more. Managing all of that in just five slots is difficult, especially when you never know what you will need as you loot storage containers with weapons that range from bats to crossbows and shotguns. On the zombie fighting element of the game, you can deal with most from a distance, but it’s easy to be overwhelmed. If you do find yourself overwhelmed, you’re fine just being scratched as your health is above the red line on your gauge. That said, once it drops below, you can get bit, change, and be out for the count.
Managing the mechanics of the game with the social dynamics of the players is difficult in some parts, but done in a way that is always engaging and an absolute blast. I mean, I had fun in a group of people I don’t know. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like with my actual friends who have tells that I know. A perfect balance between survival, action, and social deception, The Walking Dead Betrayal is one to play for those who love the franchise but also just love lying to their friends or killing zombies. The social deception genre of game has been a crowded one since Among Us’ success. The Walking Dead Betrayal carves out its own space by leaning on the elements of its IP that make it great while also making sure the exploits involved for players to backstab, lie, and cheat their way through feel fresh, dynamic, and a true part of the world that Other Ocean has adapted with faithfulness and ingenuity.
The Walking Dead Betrayal releases on PC August 10, 2023 via Steam.
