The Walking Dead: The Final Season – Episode 1: Done Running

 

Review by · October 3, 2018

The Walking Dead’s first season was met with critical acclaim and is believed to be the inspiration behind present episodic adventure titles outside of Telltale, like Life is Strange. Since that time, we’ve witnessed several new series and licensed properties with mixed reception. Included in that mixed reception were seasons two and three of The Walking Dead. All the while, fans and critics alike have laid into these games for their lack of meaningful choices and consequences, though Telltale still boasts choice as a hallmark to this day. While one episode is too early to deny or support these claims, my stance has always been that meaning in choices lies in the journey — dialogue and small quips — rather than wide-branching story arcs.

What I will say, though, is that, love it or leave it, the final season is a familiar return for the long-running series. By my estimate, the pacing of the story, new characters introduced, and ensuing conflicts are predictable. Now, that doesn’t necessarily make it bad, but fans and critics of the series should know what to expect. The key here is the quality of those predictable elements. Contrary to popular criticism, I have enjoyed the various casts, choices, and delivery of prior seasons. The final season is no different.

Clementine takes center stage again, this time with AJ, a young but mature kid I’d estimate to be around 5 or 6 years old. The two are on the road, trying to get by, when, of course, conflict arises and new friends (?) reveal themselves. What ensues are choices like who Clementine spends her time with, how she resolves conflicts, and if she wants to play nice or choose a rugged, pragmatic life. Unlike other adventure series with dialogue choices, the ones here are simply compartmentalized into friendly, mean, avoidant, or stoic. Shades of gray don’t exist, which is a sorry state for Episode 1, making interactions far less interesting than they could be. That being said, while the dialogue choices are lackluster, the dialogue itself and voice acting are still engaging.

Over the course of the game, the developers frequently remind us at the top corner of the screen that “AJ will remember that,” and so on. How AJ develops seems like it’ll be heavily influenced by Clementine’s choices, but that hasn’t come to fruition just yet. I like AJ as a character, and I want him to grow up well, but based on how Telltale has decided to judge my shaping of his behavior by episode’s end, I can’t help but feel a tinge of frustration, as their interpretation of my choices are discordant with mine.

Most of the gameplay takes place in dialogue choices, but players will be tripping and braining zombies with Q and E throughout. While not intended to be challenging, these sequences do pull me into the game more than just watching Clementine do it all on her own. I feel like I have to be vigilant and aware of what’s going on, lest Clementine die.

The voice acting’s good, the music’s okay, the controls are just fine, but the visuals are a step up from previous seasons. While I’ve always enjoyed The Walking Dead’s art style, they have certainly upped their graphics game with better textures, more colors, better shading, and smoother animations. The game simply “pops” more.

Episode 1 is a good indication of where the season and series are headed, and while I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it, when titles like Life is Strange and Before the Storm are released and compete with the franchise, one has to expect Telltale to up their game. What was great back in 2012 is no longer great in 2018, and maybe that’s why Telltale is putting the cap on the series with The Final Season.


Pros

AJ, voice acting, likable new characters.

Cons

Unimaginative dialogue choices, developer logic vs. player logic, simple gameplay.

Bottom Line

A worthy flagbearer.

Graphics
92
Sound
90
Gameplay
75
Control
100
Story
80
Overall Score 80
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Jerry Williams

Jerry Williams

Jerry has been reviewing games at RPGFan since 2009. Over that period, he has grown in his understanding that games, their stories and characters, and the people we meet through them can enrich our lives and make us better people. He enjoys keeping up with budding scholarly research surrounding games and their benefits.