Summary
AMC’sThe Walking Deadran for 11 seasons, and for much of that, it was one of the best and most popular TV shows on the planet. However, like many long-running series', towards the latter seasons, the hard-hitting post-apocalyptic drama fell short with much of its fandom, especially its finale, which has often been cited as a letdown.The Walking Dead’s quality seeminglydeclined after the loss of key characterslike Rick, leaving its ending feeling somewhat anticlimactic and unrewarding for its dedicated and loyal viewers.
However, that didn’t stop a slew of spin-offs from existing that have done really well for the franchise. FromFear the Walking Dead, Tales of the Walking Dead,andThe Walking Dead: World BeyondtoThe Walking Dead: Dead City, The Walking Dead: The Ones Who Live, andThe Walking Dead: Daryl Dixon,many characters became so beloved that they earned their own place in the series.Although some are more successful than others, with Rick and Michonne’sThe Ones Who Livebeing the highest rated, when it came to branching out into the video game genre, one particular title didn’t go down too well withThe Walking Deadcreator, who felt that it did not meet the high standards set by the rest of the franchise.
Highlighted byScreenRant,The Walking Dead’s Robert Kirkman felt thatSurvival Instinct, a 2013 first-person shooter game developed by Terminal Reality and published by Activision, didn’t make the most out of its true potential.In a fan letter featured inThe Walking Dead Deluxe #111comic book, a reader questioned the game’s quality, with Kirkman replying that even though he felt it had promise, he was ultimately disappointed by its outcome.
“I think survival instinct had merits as a cool way of getting more Daryl, who is a popular character from the TV show, but in the end, I will admit that it fell short of hitting the mark.”
Kirkman did think that fans of Daryl would be happy about getting more stories out of the hardened survivor, but he believed that the game lacked substance, as well as finesse, and was not something that fans would have really wanted in the end from a video game. Another fan ofThe Walking Deadasked Kirkman the reason behindSurvival Instinct’s release, since it wasn’t great from the get-go, with Kirkman saying that AMC had overseen the game’s production and it was rushed, since they didn’t have a lot of experience with video games. He also stated that Skybound was busy at the time withtheTelltale Walking Deadseries, which was a great success, so he wasn’t the one behind the steering wheel.
It’s not just Kirkman who feltSurvival Instinctwas a flop. Critics cited broken gameplay mechanics, poor graphics, and “bland” environments as a contributing factor to its demise, as well as a lack of a meaningful storyline. The game also received “generally unfavorable” reviews from critics, according to review aggregator websiteMetacritic, with many sayingSurvival Instincthad “horrible visuals” and “dull mechanics.” It only goes to show that, no matter how successful a franchise is, if you don’t have the right team behind its spin-offs with the best intentions, don’t be surprised when it doesn’t come out smelling of roses.
As for the rest of the franchise spin-offs,The Walking Dead: Dead Cityseason 2 will be released on Jun 19, 2025, withDaryl Dixonseason 3 arriving sometime in the autumn of this year.
