After the absolute nightmare that was A New Frontier, it makes me very happy to say that this game corrects all of the mistakes that the prequel makes, giving us a much more well-written story that does a great job of emotionally connecting to the player. We get to play as Clementine once again, who has now come full circle, and who's journey is now mimicking that of her father, Lee. Much like the first season, we come back to the theme of raising a child during the apocalypse, but we get to examine this from an entirely new perspective, as Clementine and AJ have really only known the Apocalypse for their entire lives. Pair that up with throwing them in a setting with the majority of the other characters being kids who ALSO have only known the Apocalypse, and we get an amazing foundation to tell a thoughtful and emotional story.
Clementine and AJ's relationship is obviously the highlight, and the main focus of the game, just as it was in the first season. With Clementine back in our control, we get to right a lot of the wrongs that New Frontier makes. This Clementine is much closer to the version we were watching grow up through all of these games, and she shines through as an amazing character once again. This game also has probably the best side characters out of all the games, all of the kids at the boarding school. They help to create tension by having various clashing ideals that Clementine has to balance with her own in terms of raising AJ. AJ provides a stark contrast to how Clementine is portrayed in the first season. Since living in this world is all he's known, he is much more cynical, and has no problem with having to do gruesome things to survive. Watching him evolve all the way until the end of the game is very satisfying.
Another thing this game does better than the others is actually BEING a game. While it still has the core foundation of a Telltale game, and the choices and story are the main focus, having sections where you can actually take control of Clementine and explore on your own, find collectibles, do optional tasks, and engage in combat, make the game feel much more complete as a package. Those sections are short, and not at all complex, but they provide a nice change of pace and do a good job of keeping the player actively engaged in the story. Also, because this is the last season of the game, the writers were allowed to be more drastic with the choices, and actually have them create pretty substantial deviations in the story, more so than the previous seasons.
It's very clear that this was the culmination of all the hard work the previous seasons put into crafting this beautiful story. The thematic parallels to the first game are wonderful, the story is engaging once again, all of the characters are great, and the conclusion is extremely satisfying. After all these years, The Final Season sticks the landing, and cements Telltale's Walking Dead as one of the best narrative-driven series of all time.
Clementine and AJ's relationship is obviously the highlight, and the main focus of the game, just as it was in the first season. With Clementine back in our control, we get to right a lot of the wrongs that New Frontier makes. This Clementine is much closer to the version we were watching grow up through all of these games, and she shines through as an amazing character once again. This game also has probably the best side characters out of all the games, all of the kids at the boarding school. They help to create tension by having various clashing ideals that Clementine has to balance with her own in terms of raising AJ. AJ provides a stark contrast to how Clementine is portrayed in the first season. Since living in this world is all he's known, he is much more cynical, and has no problem with having to do gruesome things to survive. Watching him evolve all the way until the end of the game is very satisfying.
Another thing this game does better than the others is actually BEING a game. While it still has the core foundation of a Telltale game, and the choices and story are the main focus, having sections where you can actually take control of Clementine and explore on your own, find collectibles, do optional tasks, and engage in combat, make the game feel much more complete as a package. Those sections are short, and not at all complex, but they provide a nice change of pace and do a good job of keeping the player actively engaged in the story. Also, because this is the last season of the game, the writers were allowed to be more drastic with the choices, and actually have them create pretty substantial deviations in the story, more so than the previous seasons.
It's very clear that this was the culmination of all the hard work the previous seasons put into crafting this beautiful story. The thematic parallels to the first game are wonderful, the story is engaging once again, all of the characters are great, and the conclusion is extremely satisfying. After all these years, The Final Season sticks the landing, and cements Telltale's Walking Dead as one of the best narrative-driven series of all time.