SPOILER WARNING – In part one, Javier and his family found themselves mixed-up with an unfriendly group known as the New Frontier, thankfully Javier had the folk at Prescott to back him up and to offer refuge, however, as we know with this series by now, being safe doesn’t last long and everything in this world comes at a cost. Javier had to deal with a sudden and untimely death in Part One and that death toll continues to pile-up as the New Frontier wage war against the folk at Prescott.
No matter what choice you made during these heated moments when up against the New Frontier, it seems that the bad karma will get to you one way or another, and no matter your intentions, some at Prescott will not look at you to favourably. Before long, Javier, Clem and some of those at Prescott are forced to flee their homes with the New Frontier hot on their heels. It’s here that were soon to be introduced to a character that is much loved within The Walking Dead universe, though I won’t spoil that for you here, but it’s likely that you may know who it is already courtesy of the trailers and screenshots that have been released. So it would have been nice in my opinion if Telltale had kept that character reveal under-wraps for the player to discover themselves while playing through this story.
Sticking with the formula from part one (and this looks to be the way of things for the foreseeable future), we play as Javier during the present day and as Clem during flashbacks, as we piece together her story in-between the end of season two, up until present day. Again, I won’t spoil anything for you here, but our Clem may have gotten mixed up with some unsavoury people in those lost years and some in her new group might find those secrets difficult to understand. Though in Clem’s fairness, she is young, she’s been through more than most and considering her vulnerability, she might be easy to manipulate by those more astute with bad intentions. With Clem becoming such a mature youngster, it’s easy to forget that she is still a child (something that she often uses to her advantage).
Part Two of Ties that Bind literally picks up where Part One left off, not only in story, but also with its tension and suspense, and going forward, this could be the most dark and moral questioning season yet from Telltale. But again trying not to sound like a broken record, although it seemed to have improved in Part One, the constant framerate issues that plague Telltale outings has once again become evident as they have done before. Will Telltale Games ever fix this issue? That said, in terms of storytelling, I’m excited to where we’ll be taken in Episode Two and beyond, as Telltale continue to keep me gripped and intrigued throughout. The future is looking dark for our Clem, but Javier may just be guiding star that she needs since the tragic loss of Lee Everett from season one.
You can read Part One of ‘Ties that Bind’ here.
You can read Episode Three ‘Above the Law‘ here.