First and foremost, even though I try my upmost best to keep my reviews as spoiler free as possible, if you are yet to finish season one, then I would recommend for you not to read on.
Now that the generic spoiler warning is out of the way, let’s get down to the nitty gritty of the highly anticipated season two, episode one of Telltales The Walking Dead entitled ‘All That Remains’. All That Remains follows almost exactly where the final episode of season one had left off and this time you assume the role of our beloved Clementine. For obviously reasons the events of the previous episodes have changed our Clem, she may be young, but she’s far from naive. She’s had to learn to adapt to this cruel world, almost living each day as it comes as it’s survive or die.
Somewhat fortunately for Clem, she is not alone in this world as she is accompanied by Christa and Omid from season one, and with all the troubles that this harsh world brings, events are made even more precautious courtesy of a special package belonging to Christa and Omid, that needs their upmost attention. In typical Walking Dead fashion all hell breaks loose and Clem has to do what she’s always had to do and that’s survive. Clem, Christa and Omid have come a long way since we last left them and they are on their way to the safe haven of Wellington (or so they believe), but all does not go according to plan and the group has now split due to unfortunate circumstances and Clem is left to fend on her own.
Clem is a tough girl, but even for her it will be tough to survive alone in this world and the walkers may be the least of her worries. So she has to learn a new lesson and quickly, she must learn who to trust if she wants to survive, but in this world it’s hard to believe who people really say that they are. But Clementine has no choice, for now it’s a simple logic of do or die, but who can she really trust?
One of my many favourite aspects of season one was that when I started a new chapter you were greeted with the “previously on” feature which would recap all the key moments that you had previously played. This was not only important to help keep you up to speed, but it also gave it that authentic TV series experience. So I was glad to see the same happen when I fired up All That Remains, though the only difference here is that all your key actions were remembered from the entire episodes of season one. This feature is perhaps even more important considering so much happened throughout season one and there was bound to be some events that may have slipped your mind. Even though I have not yet experienced what role my actions will play from 400 Days into season two, everything was remembered from season one and those actions will surely have a consequence as this current season comes to an end.
As you would expect from a Telltales game and even more so with The Walking Dead, the story telling is arguably the best and key feature of their games. Aside from the great script writing and great voice cast, it was all about how you evolved the story, your decisions will impact the road that you take and effect other characters that you are involved with. Some decisions are easy and some are tough, perhaps the toughest decisions that you had to make are the ones that seemed an easy choice based on that one split second and then after that decision was made, you’d think “why did I do that?” All That Remains has those moments and its clear from the offset that season two is going to be every bit emotionally challenging as they were in season one.
It was also great comparing the decisions that you made in those key moments to the choices that other gamers made from across the globe, especially with those hard choices. The vast majority of decisions that I had made, echoed the decisions made by The Walking Dead community, but the one decision that I made, which made me think “why did I do that?”, only a minor 10% made the same choice that I had made. Which just tells you how much of a unique experience that this game can be to that individual gamer.
As a side note, after I was presented with the ‘My Choices’ screen at the end of the episode (which you can also view via the main menu once the episode is complete) and the credits started rolling there was an emotional song being played that perfectly summed up the episode that I had just played. The song in question is called “In The Water” from Anadel, its really worth a listen.
Fans of Telltale Games, namely The Walking Dead and more recently The Wolf Among Us as the gameplay is pretty much exactly the same will feel instantly at home. This is great, because it didn’t really need much of a change and I’m sure if for whatever reason Telltale decided to overhaul the gameplay, it wouldn’t have gone down well. The gameplay is pretty much as you left it, with a few very minor adjustments that were taken from The Wolf Among Us.
For example you can now use the trigger buttons for certain actions and especially during combat, as well as the traditional buttons on the control pad. There are also certain sections of the game in which you must perform an action by using the analogue stick and action button simultaneously. If I was to pick out a minor fault with this game, it would be that it does suffer from the occasional lag, but by no means does this lesson your enjoyment of this great game.
The visuals are also pretty much more of the same and again this is another area that didn’t need changing all that much, as it represents Robert Kirkman’s comic books almost perfectly. But it is fair to say that season two’s visuals do look a little more crisp and to the standard of The Wolf Among Us. To be honest in the visual style that these games represent, it’s difficult for them to enhance better than they already are on the current gen console.
The Telltale games are all about the choices you make and how they impact your game, it’s about as a unique experience that you can get outside the great RPG games of Bethesda and BioWare. Almost every choice that you make, almost instantly makes you think “could I have done that differently?” by which time its often too late to go back. This is when you’ll get even more life out of this game, especially when you’ve played out all of the episodes and you start back again from scratch.
It’s perhaps more exciting to play a Telltale games for the second time round just to see how differently your original playthrough could have been. It’s even more exciting to think that when season two is finished, you can not only playthrough from the beginning of season two, but also season one. This is one of the many reasons that I love BiosWare’s Mass Effect series so much.
The chances are that you won’t be playing Telltales The Walking Dead for the first time from season two and why would you? That would be sheer madness! So you’ll already know what to expect from this game and I’m sure you’ve been excited as I have prior to its big release. I don’t really need to be telling you how great this series of game is nor do I have to tell you how great season two is going to be, because you already know that. Telltales The Walking Dead is all about your experience and then sharing your experience with your friends and fellow gamers alike to hear what their story entailed. This aspect is a rarity in the modern day game, so many games try to replicate a gripping story to get gamers talking, but often they fail.
Very few developers can replicate the quality of storytelling that Telltale has so easily achieved. Season two is not only about the story of Clementine; this is your story and your story alone. This is The Walking Dead season two and I cannot wait to share my experience with my fellow gamer, so what are we waiting for? Let’s get creating our story and let’s get talking!
Click here for Episode 2: A House Divided.