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I knew that this wasn’t going to be a happy ending, but I always secretly hoped. Hoped that somehow, some way, everything was going to be okay. That I could walk away from The Walking Dead: The Game with a smile on my face and a wholesome feeling in my heart and maybe just a skip in my step. That everyone was going to get onto a boat and sail into the wild blue yonder. That hope kept us all strong, it kept us going in our weakest moments. That hope, that spirit…as Charles would say, that’s some kind of something.
Extra caution – this is the last review in a series of five. Due to the heavy emphasis on plot and the nature of the game, this review will contain spoilers from previous episodes. If you haven’t decided whether or not you’d like to play The Walking Dead: The Game, take a look back at our other reviews. If you’ve been holding off because the staggered release schedule, now is definitely the time to jump in, as every episode is finally available for download. If you’re not a fan of digital downloads, a retail version of the game will be available in the coming weeks (on December 4th).
Never has a series made me feel such real emotions for fictional characters. Walking in Lee’s shoes, I got to know these people, to listen to their squabbles and to hear their stories. To confide in them and to be a major part of their lives. I felt like I was part of the group, right there with them in the middle of it all. So when they get hurt, when they get sick, it hurts me too. I’ve played through Episode 3 four times, and it still gets me every single time. So with the finale of the first season of The Walking Dead: The Game, it felt like Telltale Games ripped out my heart and shoved it back down my throat, but I’ve never had so much fun being so sad.
When we last left Lee and Co., they had just escaped the Crawford neighbourhood in Savannah, which had fallen to the dead. Tensions between Kenny and Ben had come to a head, for obvious reasons (read: he’s kind of a screw-up), while Omid got the medicine he needed and was treated by the doctor, Vernon. Vernon then turned to Lee to make a rather insulting offer, suggesting that Clementine may just be better off with him and his people, instead of being with Lee. In what I’m sure was Lee’s most restrained voice, he told Vernon to, um, get out.
Speaking with Clementine after the conversation with Vernon was heartbreaking in itself. Regardless of what you chose, there was no right answer to the question about Clementine’s parents. You could lie, you could tell her the truth, or you could just remain silent. Either way she knew that you, her best friend, weren’t going to help her find the two people who meant the most to her. This felt especially cruel due to the fact that she was more hopeful than ever that they were alive, having been fed lies by the stranger over the radio. You knew in your heart that they weren’t, but how do you tell that to an 8 year old?
When Lee wakes up after the conversation with Clementine, she’s gone. So is the radio that you’d been holding. Lee searches for her, and finds her hat in the backyard. Panicking, he rushes out into the alleyway behind the mansion. Clementine’s radio is on the ground next to some garbage cans, going off. Reaching down to grab it, Lee is attacked by a walker. It feels cheap, it feels wrong, like there must be some sort of mistake, but it is what it is. Lee looks down at his wrist and is bitten. With the help of his friends, he sets out to do the only thing that matters anymore.
Find Clementine.
No Time Left suffers from some of the same issues as other episodes. Graphical hiccups and the occasional audio stutter feel like they’re minor enough that unless you were looking for them specifically, you’d be hard-pressed to notice them at all. The episode still keeps in the same visual style as the previous episodes, which can best be described as a graphic novel come to life. It’s just as charming and effective now as it was when I first saw it. The soundtrack is remarkably well done, as strong as ever, with an amazing piece unexpectedly coming in for the end credits. I was already in tears at this point, so what’s a few more?
Gameplay wise, Episode 5 is the same The Walking Dead game you’ve come to know and expect. There are puzzles to be solved, although not many of them and the puzzles that are there are still not overly difficult. Although I had visual cues turned off (and have since the end of Episode 1), I still solved these puzzles pretty easily. It was one thing that I do wish would have been a bit more challenging, but it’s not exactly a hindrance to the overall quality of the game. There are a few more walkers to be slaughtered, but most of all, there’s a lot of dialogue. Storylines are wrapped up cleanly, even if not in the sunshine and roses kind of way. As for those of you who felt that your choices from previous episodes were all water under the bridge? Get ready to atone for your sins. The larger decisions you’ve made in the past, such as leaving Lilly at the side of the road or bashing Larry’s head in (still no regrets) are all brought back to the surface.
Even though you feel like you’ve done the right things, you’re made to feel as if they’re the wrong things. In retrospect and out of context, your actions make you sound like a monster. But well, it seemed like a good idea at the time, didn’t it? You did it for Clementine, for Kenny, for Katjaa and Duck, for Carly and Doug, Omid and Christa, for Ben – hell, you even did it for Larry and Lilly. You tried as hard as you could, but sometimes it just isn’t enough.
That’s what The Walking Dead universe is like. In the graphic novels, the television series all of it. Nobody really, truly wins here. You can die immediately, or you can fight to live just long enough to see people that you’ve come to know as your friends, your family perish. You can only hope that those you do leave behind when you do go are better off because of your actions. And that? Well that’s some kind of something.
(9.5 / 10)
Amazing
(9.5 / 10)
