The Walking Dead: Season 2
Telltale Games
Telltale Games
iOS, Kindle Fire HDX, Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Ouya, PS Vita, Xbox 360, Android
[Spoiler alert: the following article contains minor details from S2]
It wasn’t too long ago that the hearts and minds of gamers around the world were stolen by the tragic tale of a little girl in a baseball cap and her protector. With the release now of two episodes in the next season of the series, The Walking Dead once again pulls no punches, though they’re much less of a surprise this time.
The second season starts with Clementine rejoined by her friends Omid and Christa as they stop to rest at an abandoned gas station. It isn’t too long though before things go to hell and once again young Clementine is on her own. It’s here that we begin to see the new yet still changing Clementine. While still the little girl you love, it’s a much more jaded and skeptical person than the playful Clementine from S1.
Early in the game Clementine stops at an abandoned camp to search for food. In a box she finds a doll which she momentarily picks up—only to move aside and keep searching for necessities. She’s also a lot less trusting when it comes to people, questioning newcomers and even lying to them—things you wouldn’t expect from a sweet little girl.
This brings me to one interesting mechanic this time around—playing as a child. In season one I always felt like I needed to solve all the problems and was expected to. In this episode it’s (almost) entirely up to you whether you want to break up a fight or watch it happen. After all, you’re a child. There are some situations though when the characters do force you to enter into situations which feel wildly irresponsible. After hearing that a man had food in his cabin, one of the characters asks Clementine to enter said cabin alone in what could easily be a trap of any sort. Apart from moments like these though, your character plays a much more secondary role in the decision making process, often making you feel helpless or a bystander in the situation.
While the new season brings different characters and story elements to the fray, I couldn’t help but feel like I’ve done it all before. The Walking Dead S1 was a new and engaging take on the adventure genre, though it really wasn’t much of a game, and season 2 seems like even less of one. There aren’t any puzzles to solve, and the gameplay still consists of moving the joystick in a directions and pressing buttons to make choices. For fans this might not be a problem now, but if this is only the start of a long series, I hope that new gameplay elements will be added in the future.
So far The Walking Dead: Season 2 is an enjoyable story which fans of the series will love. However if you didn’t enjoy the first season, expect more of the same in terms of gameplay, story stereotypes and the usual character tropes.
Matt Nowatzke