Spoilers
The year was 2016, it was a sunny day with just the right temperature outside. 16 year old me was sitting in my room playing the first free episode of the first season on the 4 inch screen of my smartphone thinking it was the best thing ever. It was just my type of game, narrative focused with great voice acting, great writing and a world brimming with stories to tell. Everything was perfect, but unfortunately 16 year of me didn’t have money to buy the rest of the episodes, so my wish of seeing the story to completion was something I held on to for many years, 6 to be exact. And it was only now, after my good friend Xena gifted me the Definitive Edition that I got to continue my journey.
The first game got over 100+ game of the year awards and that says something. Right of the bat you are put into the shoes of Lee Everett, a convicted criminal on his way to jail. Things happen and you are left with the young Clementine, who is so innocent that you want to protect her at all cost. I don’t think there is a single person who wouldn’t give their life to protect her. Along the way you meet new survivors while you try to make sense of what is happening all around you. The game’s dialogue system was revolutionary at the time and still holds amazingly well to this day. Not to mention the writing, music, character design, art-style, all of which work so well together that it’s impossible not to feel immersed in the story. The game is amazing, and probably my favorite one among all the others. It touches on a lot of dark themes but still provides you with a little hope to hold on to. The crazy thing in my opinion is even if this game came out this year, it’ll still be the game of the year because the game doesn’t depend on any fancy gameplay gimmick, the whole game and every Telltale game for that matter is about the characters and story, which only deepens as the lore continues.
The second one was heartbreaking to say the least. After the tear jerking ending of the first one, you’re thrown into Clementines shoe who is desperately trying to survive not knowing who to trust. Weirdly enough, even though I was controlling Clementine I still felt like I was Lee looking after and making the best choices for her. As she tries to get by, she makes new friends and meet some old ones. Interestingly the whole game revolves around the dilemma of who you choose to trust, your old friends or new ones. I definitely had to pause the game several times and ponder on my next decision as the game gets really tense at times and most of the things always seems to be out of your control. Unlike the first one, this has a whooping 7 different endings and its amazing how they even pulled it off.
The third one was weird. The first striking aspect is that you don’t play as Clementine, but instead Javier, a washed off baseball player who is a disappointment in his brothers eyes. The game isn’t flat out bad, it might be even good if it wasn’t one of the main line entries and a separate one-shot like TWD Michonne. For what its worth, the visuals are definitely better, certain sections of shooting feels great and voice acting as always is amazing. Unfortunately coming to this after the second entry you have a hard time caring for the new characters as you barely know them. One of my biggest gripe I have, which I don’t see mentioned often is the camera work. This whole game is shot like a freaking Michael bay movie and I don’t know why. They tried making everything cinematic, by using different aspect ratios for cut scenes, depth of field and camera shake, all of which I despise. Clementine is still in this but for not long enough and from the last time you played as Clem in the previous game, she has drastically changed. She is bolder, stronger and more sure of herself. In a way, I like to believe she became more independent on her own, figuratively by us not controlling her and this third game was the necessary evil to facilitate that.
The fourth and final one in the series is definitely the most innovative in terms of gameplay and visuals among all the others. You might have noticed, I’ve said little about the gameplay in these games, its because there’s only a little of it. You play a Telltale game for its story, not its gameplay. The two biggest improvement is, you can move the camera to look around, and secondly the combat is in real time which I really, really love. Throughout this game, I felt a sense of pride and déjà vu as we become a guardian of sort, first with Clementine and now Clementine with AJ. With such a huge series, you can never make everyone happy, but it is what Telltale has successfully done. It is the best conclusion that I or anyone could have asked for. Not to mention the internal situation at telltale at the time. For those unaware, Telltale was shut down mid way through the final season and it was set to be cancelled. Hundreds of employees laid off overnight with no where else to go, it was a nightmare and I sincerely hope all those people got back on their feet and are making great games. Fortunately for us gamer, Skybound the company owned by the original creator of The Walking Dead came to the rescue and stoke a deal with Telltale to finish the final season. For that thank you Skybound, thank you for allowing all us to see Clementines journey to the end.
TWD Michonne is probable the best game in the series in terms of gameplay and story telling. The first game is my favorite but objectively I think Michonne takes the cake. The combat is still the best in the series, the story telling keeps you on your toes and it has some great cinematic shots. Not to mention, Michonne might just be one of the most badass female protagonist I’ve seen in gaming and I love it. Like really, everything about this is amazing and I really think it deserves more praise.
Final note: I highly recommend watching the Dev playthrough of all the games with the voice actors, which was supposed to be viewable in-game but isn’t available now as they took it down from their server. Fortunately there are a few heroes on YouTube who have recorded the entire thing, so check it out there. Finally, finishing this game series has reignited my love the zombie genre and I can’t wait to go back into this world by reading the original comic.
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