At one point, it seemed unlikely that Telltale’s The Walking Dead would even come to its conclusion, but after the property was picked back up by Skybound Games, we did in fact get to follow Clementine’s story through to the end. Since then, questions about whether Skybound have plans for more games in the series have popped up often, to the extent that recently, rumours about a fifth season started spreading like wildfire. However, Skybound Games have quashed those rumours.

Taking recently to Twitter, Skybound thanked fans for their enthusiasm for the series, but confirmed that they currently have no plans in the works for a fifth season of The Walking Dead. They also took to Reddit to clear the air, where Skybound VP of Online Content Brian Huntingdon confirmed that the leaks were fake – to no one’s surprise, before adding in a response in the thread that chances of a fifth season, especially right now, are extremely low.

“I never say never in these parts, but how close can you get to zero?” he wrote. “Especially in these crazy times, very unlikely. Taking over development to finish Season 4 was crazy, especially for us since we’re not a development house.”

Not too long ago, Skybound asked fans if they’d be interested in more The Walking Dead games from them, and what they would prefer those games to be like- so we can safely say that they’re at least thinking of doing more things with the series. However, it’s also pretty clear that for now, they don’t seem to be working on a major continuation of any sort.

Thank you to the fans who have reached out in recent days! While we wholeheartedly appreciate your enthusiasm for Telltale's TWD, we currently have no plans for a Season 5.

— Skybound Games (@skyboundgames) May 18, 2020

We’ve already spoken about a number of franchises that would be better off with other developers, and now, we’re going to take a look at ten more.  We’re going to talk about who we think that developer should be, and also about why we think they would do a better job than the people who’re currently working on the franchise in question.

Just like last time, we would like to remind you that this list is purely hypothetical- entries you see in this feature are not predictions, theories or speculation. They’re simply hypotheses of why these franchises could possibly be better off in the hands of these other developers.

With that out of the way, let’s get right into it. If you disagree with any of our picks, or have suggestions of your own, sound off in the comments section below.

MEGA MAN 

Why It Isn’t Working So Well

Mega Man was once one of the most popular franchises in the industry, and to be fair, it retains much of that popularity to this day. But that is in spite of Capcom, rather than because of them. The series has been on a hiatus for a number of years, despite fervent demands by the fans for a new game. Capcom have announced and cancelled several new Mega Man projects since, and the series remains inexplicably absent from the market. It’s not as if Capcom are no longer capable of making Mega Man anymore – after all, remember Mega Man 9 and 10, the last games in the franchise we got? Those were pretty good – it’s just that they are unwilling. And frankly, after seeing how they’ve handled some of their other classic franchises over the last few years, such as Street Fighter, we’re having serious doubts about their capability to make a good new one too..

How It Could Be Better

WITH NINTENDO

Mega Man and Nintendo almost seems like a match made in heaven. Nintendo have shown throughout the years that they know how to respect and evolve classic franchises while retaining what made them beloved in the first place, and that is exactly what Mega Man needs right now. Looking at action-platformers such as the 2D Metroid games, it becomes exceedingly clear that Nintendo would be more than comfortable with handling the kind of game design and moment-to-moment gameplay that a typical Mega Man experience aspires to. Seeing how Nintendo handled Mega Man in Super Smash Bros. on the Wii U and the 3DS is also very encouraging, and shows that they do respect the franchise the way it needs to be respected.

Though there’s been some troubling news lately about The Walking Dead games following the news that Overkill’s The Walking Dead has been delayed on consoles yet again, on the license’s much better regarded and loved graphic adventure games side of things, things have been looking up. With Skybound Games picking up the series following Telltalte’s closure, the final season is underway once again, with Episode 3 having been released recently. And it looks like they may keep on going with the license once the season is done as well.

Recently, Skybound Games’ official The Walking Dead Twitter account put up an update, asking a “hypothetical” question about what sort of game based on the license fans would like to see get made next, following it up with a cheeky “asking for a friend”. Skybound Games’ own Twitter account followed up on that, mentioning that they’re looking for suggestions for new games, rather than continuing a game that is currently ongoing as it is- so no Season 5, then.

It isn’t surprising, of course, to see that a license as big as The Walking Dead isn’t just going to fizzle out once the final season is done and dusted, but following the tumultuous few months it has seen recently, it’s good to see nonetheless that it still does have a future for fans to look forward to. In the meantime, Clementine’s story will be coming to an end when the final episode of The Walking Dead: The Final Season launches in March.

https://twitter.com/TheWalkingDead/status/1088585556148158466

https://twitter.com/skyboundgames/status/1088601487024914432

Until Dawn

Wonky frame rate aside, there’s a whole lot to like about Supermassive Games’ Until Dawn. It has all the odes to a teenage horror slasher except the overall direction is influenced by your decision making. The backstory and lore is fairly well done, even if some of the characters can be grating (looking at you, Emily). Most importantly of all, it’s scary especially when making all the wrong decisions and potentially getting everyone killed because, well, they die in horrible, horrible ways.

In keeping with the glut of great game announcements for the Nintendo Switch over the last few days, Telltale has now finally confirmed that all the legacy Walking Dead games will be coming to Nintendo’s Switch this year, too (Season 4, the final season, was already confirmed for Switch, and the first episode has launched simultaneously on the platform with all the other versions).

The Walking Dead: Season 1 launches on the Switch next week, with all five episodes, plus 400 Days included for a price of $25 (they use last year’s enhanced The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series Collection as a base). To be more precise, it will be available on August 29. Season 2 and the third season, A New Frontier should be available before the end of the year as well. As of right now, Michonne, the miniseries that bridged the second and third seasons, has not been confirmed.

It’s a shame that these weren’t released ahead of Season 4’s launch, but that is what it is. At least Switch owners get to play these now.

In Overkill’s The Walking Dead, each of the four characters will be completely unique with their own skill trees, abilities, and backstories. The first of these characters, Aidan was revealed with a trailer back in December and now, a new trailer has revealed the second character known as Maya.

From what is shown in the trailer, it’s clear that Maya had an unpleasant past involving zombies. We even see her having to kill her colleague and/or friend as he’s slowly turning into a zombie. Presumably, Maya will have some healing and support abilities that will make her invaluable in any team. We’ll have to wait and see what Maya’s offensive capabilities are like. Additionally, two characters are yet to be revealed so we’ll hopefully get to see trailers for the characters soon enough.

You can check out the character trailer for Maya below. Overkill’s The Walking Dead is set to release for the PC, Xbox One, and PS4 in late 2018.

PT- Seeing Lisa for the first time

Nobody was even quite sure what PT was or what was going on at first, so the creepy atmosphere, abandoned house, radio spouting strange stories about murders and some really disturbing imagery in the sink was creepy enough, but the single moment that would put the Playable Teaser over the top and on this list would be the first time we encountered Lisa, the horrid spectre that stalks the player and restarts the game if they make the wrong move.

Telltale is not the only company that works on The Walking Dead games- so does Overkill. However, while Telltale’s games are graphic adventures, Overkill makes action games set in the same universe. That’s what this new game will be- a co-op first person action game set in the same universe as the Robert Kirkman graphic novels. You can check out the new trailer for yourself below to see what you think of it.

This new trailer is interesting because it marks the debut of a brand new playable character, Aidan. Each character in Overkill’s The Walking Dead is unique, with distinct abilities, and a further differentiated skill tree. Aidan, who brandishes a baseball bat like Negan, specializes in melee.

You can see the new trailer for the game for yourself below. Overkill’s The Walking Dead, which was originally announced all the way back in 2014, is going to be releasing now in Fall 2018 (a full four years after announcement!) on PS4, Xbox One, and PC.

Telltale Games told us yesterday that a second season of The Wolf Among Us would not be coming. They lied to us. Today, they announced that a second season of The Wolf Among Us will be releasing early next year, with a fresh story arc and a fresh cast of characters (meaning that no, the cliffhanger at the end of the first season will not be resolved).

This apart, they also announced the next season of The Walking Dead, which will also be the final season- it’s titled The Walking Dead: The Final Season and everything. Finally, Batman: The Enemy Within is the next season of the Telltale Batman series, and will actually be launching later this year, on August 8, for PS4, Xbox One, iOS, Android, PC, and Mac.

As for the other two- they have been announced for 2018 releases, and while PC, Mac, iOS, Android, PS4, and Xbox One releases have been confirmed, Telltale has also said that ‘additional platforms’ are to be announced- does this indicate a Switch release for them?

Overkill’s The Walking Dead, a co-op shooter created with Skybound Entertainment, has been delayed again. The developer, known for Payday 2, announced that production has been extended to allow the game to “reach its full potential.” The game is based off of Robert Kirkman’s original comic book series rather than the television show.

Starbreeze CEO Bo Andersson Klint said that, “Together with Skybound Entertainment we are fully dedicated to releasing an unforgettable experience for fans throughout world and then continue to support it with high quality content in the coming years.”

Announced in 2014, Overkill’s The Walking Dead was originally supposed to release in 2016 before being delayed to the second half of 2017. A livestream is now being promoted for May 10th to offer more information into the development process.

What are your thoughts on the delay? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned for more information in the coming days.