I really don't understand the complaints that Walking Dead isn't 'gamey' enough.

To me, it's just an extension of the classic Lucas Arts adventure game, where the choice of what to say or do constitutes a more modern take on the puzzles than combining random objects.

Nobody complained that those classic adventure games weren't interactive enough, it was understood that the player agency in moving the story, however pre-scripted, forward and the thought that went into reasoning your way through the experience was interaction enough.

Likewise with The Walking Dead. The choices put before me in that game with that insufferable countdown bar were infinitely more brain-racking and satisfying than any of the fit this widget on that whatsit that we got in Grim Fandango, Sam & Max Hit the Road, Day of the Tentacle, etc. Not that those games weren't awesome - they're some of my favorites - they just relied on a slightly different gameplay hook than TWD.