I’ve always enjoyed Doug Walsh‘s strategy guides. The first one I remember distinctly as his was the Crisis Core strategy guide. It’s only partially because I loved that game oh-so-very much. Then he kind of dropped off the strategy guide planet (if I followed him on other social media venues, I would have known where he went) for a couple of years and returned right before Prima Games announced their closure. I’ve been in a period of mourning ever since, so you can imagine my delight when Doug Walsh reached out to me out of the blue.
He wanted to give me a few of his strategy guides he never opened, and he wanted me to be aware of his upcoming books. One in particular, he said, was sure to get my attention. Lo and behold, he announced The Walkthrough: Insider Tales From a Life in Strategy Guides. I couldn’t type SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY fast enough. He did me one better and offered a review copy. I thought I was excited when he randomly emailed me, but no, this one topped it.
I have all this secret, insider information about what really goes on behind the strategy guide. I learned some in my various conversations with Dan Birlew over the years, not to mention my wonderful BradyGames contact that I will not name. But here it was. I put down a Warhammer 40,000 novel for this. You know how hard that is for me?
Mr. Walsh held nothing back in his memoir. And it’s DELIGHTFUL.
The More You Know…
I read the book in about three days. It was incredibly hard to put down, especially when he wound down to the end of his career. After reading it, I almost regret some of the harsh things I’ve said about some strategy guides, because I had zero clue just how much work went into these books. (Almost only because some of them had really bad information. I may never forgive Piggyback in full for their Final Fantasy XIII strategy guide.)
Walsh explained exactly what they were responsible for, which was almost literally everything. I had no idea they made the maps themselves. I wrongly assumed they received the map layouts or the map design from the developer or publisher. Of course they were responsible for marking the maps with collectibles, strategy footnotes, boss fights, etc., but drawing up the maps themselves? Did the game developers support the guide writers at all in this process?
You learn that no, they really didn’t. Walsh is sure to mention the outliers, the companies that welcomed them with open arms and provided almost any info they needed. He also mentioned the worst of the worst, the companies that gave the writers bad copies of games, restricted what they were allowed to include, and generally did anything and everything to not be helpful.
Basically, writing a strategy guide was an absolute beating. They were paid well to be sure, but they often had to write an entire book in a matter of a few weeks. That includes playing the game in full and leaving no stone unturned. It makes my deadlines to review games seem like a walk in the park.
No Holds Barred
When I said above that Walsh held nothing back, I mean he held NOTHING back. Want to know what REALLY happened during the Brady/Prima merger? It’s all here. Want to know what he really thought of Prima Games’ books? He doesn’t mince words.
I think I DM’d him on Twitter at least 10 times when I read about the merger and why he believes Prima died in the end, and all of them said, “HOLY SHIT.” I’m not exaggerating about what an eye-opener this all was, and these epiphanies hit me personally. Suddenly so many things were lining up in regards to my interactions with Prima Games after the merger. It makes sense why all of the contacts I adored at BOTH publishers magically found new jobs all at the same time.
Even more importantly, it hit why so many of the strategy guides post-merger dipped in quality. Chris and I discussed on the podcast that we hated the merger simply because we dislike a lack of competition. Without competition, what drives a company to produce the best possible work? Not much. Sure, they want books to sell, but no one is vying for the same licenses anymore, so why put in that extra effort?
If you’ve been a fan of this site at all, you need Doug Walsh’s book in your life. I’ve already reached out to my former BradyGames contacts and pushed them to preorder it. I urge everyone here to do the same. You don’t have to want all the seedy scoops inside to appreciate it either. I would have loved it just as much if he just talked about his experience writing strategy guides. That’s fascinating in of itself.
The Walkthrough is available in eBook format (for Kindle) and paperback.
(By the way, be sure to read ALL of his footnotes! They’re humorous, provide unique tidbits, and I’m mentioned in one of them in a very roundabout way. Yes, it’s in regard to Crisis Core!)
SGR Rating: 5/5
Strategy Guide Reviews received a digital The Walkthrough review copy of this book from the author.
