The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct

Overview

The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is a 2013 first-person shooter developed by Terminal Reality and published by Activision. It is based on The Walking Dead television series and acts as a prequel to it. The game is set in the Georgia countryside and follows Daryl and Merle Dixon as they make their way to Atlanta in the early days of the walker apocalypse.

The player controls Daryl Dixon from a first person view and can fight walkers or sneak past them. Along the way he meets other survivors, who can help or leave, and he has to watch his fuel, ammo and food and decide who to take into his group. Travelling by highway saves fuel but means more breakdowns, while small roads offer more places to scavenge. Vehicles can be swapped, and running out of fuel means stopping to search for jerry cans.

The story starts shortly after the death of Daryl's father Will. Daryl and his half-uncle Jess Collins leave their mountain shelter at Cabot Ridge to gather supplies in the town of Sedalia, and the group grows as they move through towns such as Pemberton and Fontana. Daryl later finds his brother Merle, and the pair push on toward Atlanta.

Norman Reedus and Michael Rooker reprise their television roles as Daryl and Merle Dixon. During the first eight episodes of the show's third season, code words shown during commercial breaks could be entered on a website for a sweepstakes. Each weekly winner had a headshot used for a character in one of eight death scenes in the game.

The game was released for PlayStation 3, Wii U, Windows and Xbox 360 in March 2013. Critics panned it, citing broken gameplay, poor graphics, bland environments and a thin story, and it holds a Metacritic score of 34 out of 100 on PS3, which is in the generally unfavorable range.

The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman distanced himself from the game after its reception, pointing out that he was far more directly involved in the Telltale series, though he said that being able to play as Daryl was at least cool.

Official trailer

The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct Launch Trailer, PlayStation. Watch on YouTube

Gameplay

The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct: Gameplay (PS3), GamePlayStation. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

First-person shooter

Developer

Terminal Reality

Publisher

Activision

Series

The Walking Dead

Engine

Infernal Engine

Composers

Gordy Haab

Designers

Glenn Gamble

Writers

Drew Haworth, Morley Nelson

Producers

Chris Harvey, Dino Verano, Matt Hohl

Directors

Angel Gonzalez Jr.

Artists

Glenn Gamble, Michael Paskar, Austin Cline, Grant Gosler

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

No

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Disc IDs

The serial printed on the disc and the case. It tells you which region a copy is from.

Trophies

Trophies51

Platinum possibleYes

Platinum

1

Gold

3

Silver

5

Bronze

42

Total

51

Points

1350

Platinum time

20 hours

100% time

20 hours

Difficulty

4 out of 10

Playthroughs for platinum

2

Playthroughs for 100%

2

Platinum without online

Yes

Online trophies

0

Boosting needed

No

DLC has trophies

No

Platinum includes DLC

No

100% includes DLC

No

Missable trophies

3

Separate trophy lists by region

No

Only in a language other than English

No

Online-only version

No

Digital-only

No

Disc-only

No

Trophy list shared with other versions

No

Players with the platinum

6.29%

Missable trophies

• Every Man, Woman and Child
• Guys Night Out
• I Can Handle This Myself

Grind

• Many trophies carry over between playthroughs, so a missed one can be picked up on the next run

• PLATINUM Get all other trophies. Platinum 6.29% of players
• Oedipal Complex Complete the First Location Bronze 92.28% of players
• Sorry, Brother Complete the First Act Bronze 53.32% of players
• Nobody Can Kill Merle but Merle Complete the Second Act Bronze 39.41% of players
• Moving to the 'Burbs Complete the Third Act Bronze 34.35% of players
• Get Out of Dodge Complete the Final Marked Destination on the Map Bronze 32.95% of players
• Been Everywhere Complete All Marked Destinations on the Map Gold 12.4% of players
• On the Road Again Explore an Unmarked Travel Location Bronze 63.72% of players
• Zig-Zagging All Over the Road Explore 25 Unmarked Travel Locations Bronze 11.88% of players
• That's a Nice Swing You've Got Kill Walkers Using Every Melee Weapon Bronze 13.96% of players
• They Know Me at the Range Kill Walkers Using Every Ranged Weapon Bronze 15.49% of players
• Crash Course in Brain Surgery Kill 100 Walkers while Grappling Bronze 32.87% of players
• Need More Spots Up Front Dismember 250 Limbs Silver 11.95% of players
• Now Don't You Get Bit! Prevent 50 Walkers from Grabbing You Bronze 10.29% of players
• We Survive by Pulling Together Recruit 1 Optional Survivor Bronze 77.15% of players
• Every Man, Woman and Child Choose to Travel at Least Once with Every Optional Survivor Silver 6.58% of players
• No Down Payments Find Every Useable Vehicle Silver 9.93% of players
• The Missing 8 Find Every Poster Gold 8% of players
• No Stone Left Unturned Collect Every Stuffed Squirrel Gold 7.89% of players
• You Go Your Way, I'll Go Mine Dismiss a Survivor Bronze 56.11% of players
• Stay Together, Stay Safe 5 Survivors Killed while Scavenging Bronze 8.91% of players
• Good Samaritan Complete 25 Optional Objectives Bronze 16.31% of players
• Not a Scratch Complete a Marked Destination on the Map without Taking Any Damage Bronze 9.53% of players
• They're People, Too! Complete a Marked Destination on the Map without Killing a Walker Bronze 9.44% of players
• You're Just Not My Type Complete a Marked Destination on the Map without Being Grabbed by a Walker Bronze 70.5% of players
• I Can Handle This Myself Enter Sherwood Without Any Survivors Bronze 10.3% of players
• The Hunted Becomes the Hunter Kill 5 Walkers in the Cabot Ridge Creek Bed Bronze 22.82% of players
• Say Hello to My Little Friend Complete a Marked Map Destination Using Only Firearms Bronze 13.15% of players
• True Dixon Complete a Marked Destination on the Map Using Only the Crossbow Bronze 9.33% of players
• Sneak Attack Perform Execution Kills on 50 Walkers Bronze 51.64% of players
• This Is How Hot Dogs Are Made 10 Walkers Killed with Saw Blades in the Logging Camp Bronze 23.05% of players
• It's Gotta Be the Brain Dismember All Limbs of 5 Walkers Silver 9.19% of players
• BOOM! Who Needs a Headshot? Kill 5 Walkers with One Explosion Bronze 40.03% of players
• Two Heads Are Better Than One Kill Multiple Walkers with One Bullet Bronze 73.99% of players
• Group Hug Kill 4 Walkers in a Single Grapple Sequence Bronze 70.84% of players
• Have a Nice Trip! Kill a Walker That Is Falling Due to Dismemberment Bronze 16.28% of players
• Mind if I Borrow This? Pull a Bolt From a Walker Then Kill Them With It Bronze 32.96% of players
• Need a Hand? Prevent a Walker from Damaging You by Severing Its Attacking Limb Bronze 45.15% of players
• Ooh, Shiny! Distract 50 Walkers with Items Bronze 38.48% of players
• That Looks Like It Hurt Restore Survivors 25 Times Silver 10.4% of players
• Extreme Conditioning Sprint Until You're Exhausted 10 Times in One Level Bronze 32.6% of players
• It's Not Venison, but It'll Do Consume 50 MREs Bronze 11.54% of players
• Still Not Buying a Hybrid Consume 250 Fuel Bronze 28.49% of players
• Duct Tape Can Fix Anything Survive 5 Breakdowns Bronze 12.35% of players
• Next Step: Bullet Belt Fire 300 Bullets Bronze 34.02% of players
• Down to My Last Complete the Game with Only 1 Firearm and 1 Bullet Left in Your Inventory Bronze 8.38% of players
• Porcupine Shoot a Walker with 10 Bolts without Killing It Bronze 11.29% of players
• I Used to Be a Human Like You Shoot a Walker in the Knee with a Bolt Bronze 16.91% of players
• You're Doing It Wrong Perish 13 Times Bronze 43.51% of players
• Guys Night Out Arrive at Final Destination with Only Male Survivors Bronze 15.36% of players
• Rosie the Rampager Arrive at Final Destination with Only Female Survivors Bronze 15.18% of players

Space and patches

Space neededAbout 4.8 GB

Update patchNo patch

DLC

The game had no DLC.

Playable today

Playable offline todayYes

Single-player only, with no online features.

Online

Plays offlineYes

Survival Instinct is single player only and has no online services.

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale
Metacritic	PS3	34	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
Game Informer	5	10
IGN	4.5	10
GameSpot	4	10
Official PlayStation Magazine UK	3	10
Polygon	3	10
Giant Bomb	1	5
Digital Spy	2	5

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Director	Angel Gonzalez Jr.
Designer	Glenn Gamble
Producer	Chris Harvey
Producer	Dino Verano
Producer	Matt Hohl
Writer	Drew Haworth
Writer	Morley Nelson
Composer	Gordy Haab

Cast

Character	Actor
Daryl Dixon	Norman Reedus
Merle Dixon	Michael Rooker

Notes for collectors

• This is the Activision shooter based on the television series, not the Telltale game. The two have different disc IDs and trophy lists.
• Eight sweepstakes winners from the show's third season had their headshots used on characters in the game's death scenes.
• On PS3 the disc IDs are BLUS31065 for North America and BLES01779 for Europe, and Sony lists no patch for either.
• Every Man, Woman and Child, The Missing 8 and No Stone Left Unturned are among the rarest of the 51 trophies.
• The game also came out on Xbox 360, Windows and Wii U.

Credits

Publisher

Activision

Developer

Terminal Reality

Director

Angel Gonzalez Jr.

Released

2013-03-19

Age rating

ESRB M

Disc ID

BLUS31065

Region

US

Time to beat

about 5.5 hours

Copies in the shop

• The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct (PS3) CA$16.99