It’s not hard to see what Telltale have done with the title; “The Final Season” – It’s a good way to get fans of the initial season that have since dropped off at certain points back. When the first season dropped back in 2012 fans fell in love with Clementine, a young girl who was forced to grow up real quick in a newly infested zombie world.
The season was met with almost universal praise. Sure the gameplay was rough around the edges, but the story and the illusion of choice really resonated with fans. In the months and years that past the game has been ported to everything but a toaster and many people I know who have never even owned a games console have played it.
Season two was judged a little more harshly in part due to what came before and season three felt more like a spin-off than anything else with Clementine becoming a side character for large chunks of it. While the review scores dropped season by season, so did the audience. This is why “The Final Season” was an important choice by Telltale. Gamers became so attached to Clem throughout season one and even if they have dropped off at various stages since then I can see them being coaxed back in for the finale.
Episode one picks up with Clementine and AJ out on the open road. The plan seems to be to keep moving, but food supplies are getting low so they decide to stop at a train station and scope the area out. Very quickly we are treated to a closer look at the relationship Clem and AJ have built since we last saw them. There are definite parallels to the dynamic we saw back in episode one with Lee and Clementine which makes me wonder if we are building up to a full circle style finale.
I don’t want to break down the full story beat for beat, but the new characters we get introduced to at the school all seem interesting and dynamic in their own way. It’s a nice change of pace that they are kids and not adults, allowing Clem to interact with them as equals instead of a new group expecting her to play the subservient child role. This change helps drive home that our Clementine is growing up fast and is now a force to be reckoned with.
Graphics for the most part are as you would expect, albeit maybe with slightly more detail in the background and the new closer, over the shoulder camera brings you closer to the brutality. Gameplay while roaming around is much the same as in previous seasons but while combat is still based around quick time events you can often still control Clem at the same time which makes it all a little more awkward than it needs to be.
One bone of contention with fans even before release was the trophy list. In previous seasons you got all the trophies/achievements by simply completing the chapters but this time Telltale have decided to mix it up. Collectables are now a thing which is cool, but what most certainly isn’t cool is the trophies tied to A or B choices in the game. This means if you are a completionist you then have to go back and make the opposite choices in a second run. While some will argue it encourages players to see the different ways things can play out, I like to make my choices and feel like I am driving the narrative.
Overall Walking Dead The Final Season – Episode 1 is a good launching off point to what will become the end of Clementine’s journey. She feels like a bad ass young woman at this point and is giving me Michonne vibes the longer it goes on. The relationship between AJ and Clem really feels genuine and I am very intrigued to see where things go next. For the first time ever Telltale have mapped out the release schedule for the season, so we can look forward to episode 2 dropping on September 25th.
