Review: The Walking Dead Season 2

Well, here we are again. At the end of a Walking Dead game. And once again, there are stupid emotions churning in my stomach and tears welling up in my eyes as I watch the fate of poor Clementine, who has, let’s face it, had the absolute worst luck in the world, play out.

Doubtless I am not the only one with these feelings. Telltale’s Walking Dead franchise has become known as one of the more gut wrenching game experiences of recent years. They introduce compelling and likeable characters, only to then either kill them off entirely or send them through a gauntlet of emotional pain as their loved ones disappear around them.

With the extreme success of Season 1, it only made sense to do a Season 2. I’ll admit, I did have some small reservations. Would the success of the first overshadow everything else? Would Telltale rest on their laurels? Would they ruin one of my favourite characters of all time, Clementine (aka: the most useful girl in an apocalypse.)

Thankfully, Telltale delivered. Where Season 1 focused on the initial shock of the zombie apocalypse and the crumbling of society, Season 2 focuses on the aftermath. The world has been turned topsy turvy, the dust has settled, and now the survivors must deal with their new way of life.

It involves more stabbing

It’s a grim world, even moreso in Season 1. In Season 1, the optomistic and the caring still had a place in the world. They represented hope that things could return to the way they were. Not so much in this current season, where it’s immediately apparent that sharing, seeing the best in people, and clinging to the past might very quickly get you killed.

At the center of it is our dear Clementine. I say “our”, because I have yet to meet anyone who hasn’t adored the short haired kid from the first game who helped protagonist Lee out more than any adult ever could. This game picks up about sixteen months after the events of the first game, and Clem has been doing some serious growing up, in more ways than one.

Seriously, look at that difference!

She sews her own wounds, she carries a gun at all times, she gets kicked and punched but still doesn’t back down. She is probably the most badass character of this year. The change is made even more obvious when you actually meet another child in the game who has so far been sheltered from the Walker craziness.

I present you the most delusional character of the whole franchise.

It’s almost heartbreaking to watch Clem begin to grow harder and harder to the grim realities of a zombie apocalypse. But she meets each challenge with determination and skill, becoming more of a leader as the game progresses. It’s a wonderful character arc and certainly makes sense to the world of the game. This is both a blessing and a curse for the game though. On the one hand, it’s a wonderful character arc and makes complete sense to the world of the game.

And yet…and yet at the same time the decision to make Clementine the protagonist of the game seems to be both a blessing and a curse. In a game setting, the protagonist has to be the most competent character. It only makes sense since you will be the one to solve the challenges the narrative provides.

But because of that, it requires the developers to make the rest of the characters less capable than you. And while that might make sense for a group of adults, the thing is Clementine is still a child. Having a kid suddenly be the only one with any emotional or survival sense suddenly made the incompetence of these adults more apparent. Even stranger to watch was to see them constantly defer to Clementine for major decisions. After a while, I was questioning why Clementine was even with this group of people who seemed to do nothing but bicker and ask a young girl to do things like fix a freaking transformer.

Clem holding court.

But that’s besides the point. You want to know whether Season 2 is worth playing. And the answer is yes, yes it is. If you enjoyed Season 1, you will probably enjoy Season 2. The change of locale to include the impending doom of winter provides some interesting narrative challenges (ie do you take the chance that Walkers can’t survive the cold, or do you stay south in the warmth). The gameplay is very much the same as the first, relying mostly on Quicktime Events for the action beats. And the style, as per usual, is beautiful.

Kudos to all of the voice actors as well, especially Melissa Hutchieson as Clementine. She manages to balance the growing maturity of Clementine while keeping enough innocence about her to remind us that even with all of the killing and fighting, Clem is still a kid.

Erm…yes?

And believe it or not, your final choice is a difficult one to make. I’m currently in a Let’s Play series that is being released every other day and if you manage to get to the end, you will hear the agony in our voices as we make that final brutal decision. In Season 1, the endgame would always be the same with some slight variations. In Season 2 however, there are multiple branching paths that have some very different outcomes depending on what you choose.

In the end, Walking Dead Season 2 is a fine sequel. It grows the character of Clementine more, it introduces new complex characters who you grow to both love and hate. And it grows the universe more. At the same time…I wasn’t quite as emotionally invested at the end as I had been in Season 1. Let’s face it, the pairing of Lee and Clementine is a very high bar to leap over, and while Telltale didn’t quite get there this time around, Season 2 is more than worth a playthrough. Just…don’t expect to leave it with entirely happy feelings. And I mean that as  a big compliment.