The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series

Bugs

Version Differences#

Among some notable changes made with the release of the Definitive Edition:

General Changes#

• Some scenes and gameplay sequences feature different camera angles than the original.
• The player has the option of enabling "graphic black" art styles at the respective menus for the first three seasons, though its use in the first two seasons can lead to some lighting-related bugs. This art style was not introduced in the series until the final season.
• In the Definitive Edition, the player has the ability to "walk faster" during free roam sequences in all episodes, a feature that was originally only available in A New Frontier.
  • This feature does not come with any new animations; it merely speeds up the animations used normally during those sequences, which can lead to some unrealistic movements by the player-controlled character.
• Disco Broccoli toys made appearances in a few episodes prior to its original debut appearance in the final season.
  • In "A New Day", Disco Broccoli can be seen by Lee in one of the bottom cabinets in the kitchen of Clementine's house, though can be missed if one of the cabinets above are opened first.
  • In "All That Remains", Disco Broccoli can be found and picked up by Clementine as part of a box of items found at an abandoned campground. In this case, Disco Broccoli's model replaces the doll seen in the original version.
  • In "Ties That Bind - Part 1", Disco Broccoli can be seen by Javier on the control panel of the abandoned bus in the junkyard.
• The achievements in 400 Days and Season 4 that were unrelated to completing the episodes are removed from this collection.
  • For the PlayStation version of the game, the platinum trophy awarded for unlocking all other trophies reuses the same graphic as the first trophy awarded for completing the first chapter of "A New Day".

Season One#

• The developers replaced the original game's very popular real-time reflection technique. Originally, the reflection was achieved by rendering a cloned police officer outside the car through a masked layer.¹
  In the remaster, this was replaced with a camera that projects the scene onto the rearview mirror. This is the same technique used in Season 2 when Clementine washes her face in the restroom.

Original Release	Definitive Edition

• Duck now has light blue eyes, whereas in the original game, his eyes were brown.

Original Release	Definitive Edition

• The episode diorama for "Long Road Ahead" no longer includes Duck in the train window. Although it's unclear, this is most likely a bug. (See Oddities for more)

Original Release	Definitive Edition

• Lilly's reactions when she kills Carley or Doug are different than in the original game. It's unclear whether these changes were intentional or yet another byproduct of the remaster's troubled development, but they're noteworthy either way:
  • In the original game, when Carley snaps at Lilly, Lilly gets angrier as the camera zooms on her. In the Definitive Series, Lilly appears much more apathetic during Carley's words.

Original Release

:*In the original game, when Lilly shoots Doug she appears visibly shocked and shakes her head implying it was an accident. In the Definitive Series, while she still shakes her head, she holds a much more neutral expression after killing Doug.

Original Release	Definitive Edition

• There was a bug in the Collection edition which prevented the player from interacting with Christa while she was talking to Clementine at the highway overpass in Episode 3. This issue was fixed for this version.

400 Days DLC#

• In "Russell's Story", the song played during the scene where Nate lets Russell almost get eaten is changed. The original version featured "Walk Among the Cobras" by Dan Sartain, while the Definitive Series features "Scannin' for Cheeks" by Unicornicopia.

Season Two#

• Carver's death in "In Harm's Way" is more graphic, with more detailed damage to his face and skull to match his corpse's determinant reappearance in "No Going Back".
• The diorama for "Amid The Ruins" removes the blood from Clementine's face.

A New Frontier#

• In "Above The Law", The New Frontier's Warehouse contains more natural lighting to better fit the night setting.

Final Season#

• In "Done Running", after Marlon strikes Brody with his flashlight, rather than her saying "Uh... what'd you say?", she remains silent before falling to the ground. Marlon's immediate apology to her saying, "Oh shit, Brody. I'm sorry", is removed as well.
  • This seems to be the only instance in the whole collection where a part of a sequence was altered to omit dialogue. It's unclear whether this was an unintentional oversight or a deliberate change.
• The choices recounted in the end credits of "Take Us Back" have been changed to include a dialogue choice before Clementine approaches the bridge.

Diorama Differences#

The graphic fidelity of the menus in the definitive edition are noticeably less refined compared to the original release. They lack features like depth of field, sun rays, and atmospheric lighting; many screens appear overly bright and washed out, with a persistent absence of shadows or darker tones. Additionally, the Graphic Black filter ruins the visibility of many textures and UI elements; and introduces a yellow haze that obscures visibility, effectively hiding important details from the player's view.

Season One#

Main Menu#

• The washed-out sepia filter was significantly toned down for the re-release.
• The trees in the updated version features a different model with noticeably denser foliage than in the original release.
• Originally the grass had a more varied appearance with multiple shades of green. This variation is largely absent in the remaster.
• The depth of field effect and the harsh sun rays shining from behind the barn were either removed or not implemented correctly.

Original Release
No filters	Graphic Black Enabled
Notes:	For some reason, the filter also affects certain interface elements.

Episode One#

• Lacks any semblance of atmospheric lighting. The scene is completely overlit, with no shadows or ambient occlusion present.
• Many of the ceilings and walls now share the same texture, causing the wall bevels and ceiling panels to disappear.
• The transparency of the decals seems to be broken, as they completely obscure the textures beneath them.
• The Graphic Black filter causes the back of the store and the texture representing the exterior of the shop to appear completely pitch black.
  • The texture of the buildings in the exterior no longer has transparency, causing the backdrop to appear as a rectangular plane.
• Lee's axe uses a different model

Original Release
No filters	Graphic Black Enabled

Episode Two#

• Also lacks any atmospheric lighting, as per usual.
• The grime in the top-right corner was removed.
• The bevel in the corner of the room was removed.

Original Release
No filters	Graphic Black Enabled

Episode Three#

• Lacks any atmospheric lighting. The haze was also removed or not implemented.
• Duck was removed from the window, and the glass is no longer broken.
• The walker's shirt was changed from red to green.
• Much of the vegetation is missing. All of the trees are clumped together behind the train, clipping through the ground. (See Oddities for more)
• The train no longer has any lineart, is missing much of its grime and stains, and many parts of it are completely untextured, appearing pitch black.
• Originally, the train tracks on the left side of the screen were missing their wooden boards, which was fixed in the remaster.

Original Release
No filters	Graphic Black Enabled

Episode Four#

• Lacks any atmospheric lighting.
• Christa is now using her higher-poly model from Episode 4, while the original game used the lower-poly model seen in the "In the Next Episode" preview for Episode 3.

Original Release
No filters	Graphic Black Enabled
Notes:	The Graphic Black filter breaks Lee's beard lol

Episode Five#

• Lacks any atmospheric lighting.
• Many of the grass patches were removed, and the texture was slightly rotated.

Original Release
No filters	Graphic Black Enabled

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Season Two#

Outside of the main menu, there is no noticeable visual difference when enabling the Graphic Black filter, aside from causing some graphical glitches with the UI.

Main Menu#

• Lacks any atmospheric lighting. The haze and sun rays were either removed or not properly implemented.
• The rocks are fully lit and don't react correctly to the ambient light.
• The water in the river no longer has any highlights.

Original Release
No filters	Graphic Black Enabled

Episode One#

• Lacks any atmospheric lighting.
• The flashlight beam is missing.

Original Release	Definitive Edition

Episode Two#

• Lacks any atmospheric lighting.
• The background is slightly darker.

Original Release	Definitive Edition

Episode Three#

• Lacks any atmospheric lighting.

Original Release	Definitive Edition

Episode Four#

• Lacks any atmospheric lighting.
• The blood on Clementine's face has been removed. This is the same censorship present in the mobile and PlayStation 3 versions of the game.

Original Release	Definitive Edition

Episode Five#

• Lacks any atmospheric lighting.
• The layer of snow covering the corpse is missing.

Original Release	Definitive Edition

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Unseen Details#

The Stranger#

For the Definitive Edition, the developers decided to add the Stranger from Episode Five to the opening of "A New Day".
However, for some reason, they didn't just add him to a single car; instead, he appears in nearly every vehicle that drives by, meaning he can be spotted multiple times during the opening. He can appear in his own car, a pizza delivery car, and a pickup truck.

Oddities#

Train Window Duck#

In the original release, Duck can be seen hanging from the train window. In the Definitive Edition, however, he is no longer present. It's unclear whether this was an intentional change or simply one of the many bugs and oversights introduced with this version.

The main menu works by loading and unloading assets when switching between episodes. The main cast is kept loaded below the ground in their respective positions throughout these transitions. Duck, however, is the only exception. Unlike the others, he is not kept loaded in the scene and only appears briefly when transitioning between Episode 1 and Episode 2, after which he is immediately unloaded.

Episode's 3 Diorama#

The original Episode 3 diorama features a lot of vegetation, with a mix of fully modeled trees and 2D sprites.

In the Definitive Series, however, most of the trees were not placed in their correct locations. Aside from a few dead trees on the left side of the train, nearly all of them are clumped together behind the train, with some even clipping through the ground.

It is *highly* unlikely that this was an oversight that went unnoticed, as this issue immediately stands out during gameplay, let alone to someone actually working on the game. Given the remaster's troubled development, it's likely the developers just didn't have enough time to fix it.

References#