The Walking Dead: The Final Season
PlayStation 4
Nostalgia Factor:
It's been a long ride. I first played a brief demo of Telltale's original Walking Dead game back in 2012, nearly TEN freaking years ago. Believe it or not, I actually wasn't very impressed by the game and didn't bother checking out the rest of the first season. A year or so passed before I finally came back to the game, mainly at the urging of one of my close friends, who sang its praises.
I don't know what changed, but this time around I absolutely loved the game. I ate up all of its episodes, its DLC, and its second season. After that, the series kind of lost me for a little bit. Back then I only had a PlayStation 3, and the third season (A New Frontier) was only available on the PS4. A few years passed, but eventually I purchased a PS4 and was able to play the third game. By then the fourth season was already in development, but then Telltale Games shut down, putting season four (and the fate of Clementine) in limbo.
I never bothered to check out what had been released of season four, as I didn't want to play a game that possibly may not ever be finished. Luckily, they did indeed find a way to finish this game and release it to the public. The final episode of season four would be released in 2019, seven years after the release of the first entry in the series. Still, for whatever reason, I never played season four. I think I kept waiting for it to go on sale on the PlayStation Store, and it never did. So in 2021 I did what any sensible person would do: I ordered the title from GameFly.
This was it. My journey with Clementine began back in 2012. In 2021, it would come to an end. Read on for my final thoughts on the last season of what I consider to be a pretty darn epic game series.
Story:
As always, I don't shy away from spoilers. Consider this fair warning.
Some time has passed since the end of season three. Clementine and AJ are out in the wild - fighting off walkers, scrounging for food and supplies, and looking for a potential group to join up with. The last time we had seen AJ, he was just a little baby. Clementine had been on her way to rescue him from the people who had taken him away from her. So how are they together now? What happened in that gap between the third and fourth game? All is revealed through flashbacks as you play.
After nearly being killed by walkers in a train station, Clementine and AJ are rescued by a group of angsty teens who have been holing up in their old school. They are distrusting of Clem and AJ at first, for reasons that become apparent later. I don't know how exactly the choices you make change things, but in my playthrough AJ ends up killing the leader of these kids when he finds out that he's been double crossing the group. AJ in general is just a giant brat, and his actions get both himself and Clementine exiled from the school. AJ and Clem are attacked by a hostile group after their banishment, and come running back to the school for help.
Turns out, the kids have been at odds with this hostile group all along. Clementine uses her survival skills to help the group fight off these attackers, and even brings the battle to their base (a large ship off the coast). It is revealed that the leader of this group is Lilly, who you may remember as the woman with the asshole father in the first Walking Dead season. The battle gets ugly and causes some interesting moral dilemmas, as Lilly's group had kidnapped kids from the school in the past and have now trained them to fight on her side. Clementine's side reigns victorious, but at great cost.
Clementine is bit. Both her and AJ are separated from the group. It looks like the end is nigh for our dear Clementine. Her face has gone pale, she can barely walk. Clearly she is very close to turning. You have two choices: let AJ leave while you turn into a walker or have him kill you. I chose to have him kill me. The parallels of Clem's situation with Lee in the first game were undeniable. Now Clementine was acting as the Lee figure and AJ was acting as young Clem. Tears were freely flowing from the eyes of yours truly as AJ raised the axe in the air. The axe drops, and the screen goes blank.
After a short flashback sequence that shows Clementine killing innocent people to rescue AJ as a baby several years ago, we return to the present time. The community at the school is prospering. AJ is working and pulling his weight. Clementine's noble sacrifice seems to have paid off.... until we find out SHE'S STILL ALIVE!!!
AJ had simply chopped her leg off when she'd asked him to kill her. He chopped her leg off, Coral!
Things end on a high note for our characters as they all build a life together at the school. The end. But damn. Damn. Did I feel manipulated or what? I was glad Clementine was alive. I know this sounds silly, but I had come to care for her well-being over the course of the last 9 years. Her apparent death had completely wrecked me as I played this game. But at the same time I was not happy she was alive either. A tragic ending like that almost seemed inevitable for Clementine - and the way she went out had so much symmetry with what had happened between her and Lee. It was poetic, gutsy, and perfect. The game should have ended there. Clementine should have died.
Sigh.
Aside from that, I really enjoyed this game's story. I barely scratched the surface of the character dynamics, but Clem, AJ, and their relationships with the kids at the school were very well-written. You can romance some of these kids, you can squabble with them, you can have deep conversations with them, you can make bad personal relationship choices and you can make good ones too. The things you say to AJ and the lessons you teach him play a giant factor in how the game unfolds as well.
Gameplay:
For the most part this game acts as any other Telltale Walking Dead game, but there are some welcome changes this time around. When you are walking about and checking out your environment, it actually feels like you are playing a "real" video game this time around. You can walk slowly, you can run, you can pick up collectibles, there are even real battle sequences that involve more than just pointing a cursor and hitting a button. It is like they tried to make this game more of a mainstream experience and less of the same old same old. And it is appreciated!
At its heart though, this is a Telltale game through and through. You have conversations, you make choices. You're playing for the story and not the gameplay itself. And I am totally okay with that. The game doesn't drag. It doesn't ever get boring. I was fairly hooked the whole way through.
Graphics:
This game looks so much better than A New Frontier. Colorful graphics, detailed environments, varied and distinct character models. The whole thing has a decidedly more cinematic feel to it as well. It's no graphical masterpiece, but it does a great job at embracing the "graphic novel" look and bringing it to life.
Really though, no one plays these Walking Dead games for their graphics.
Sound:
The music is fantastic. The characters are well-voiced. I don't know what else I can say that I haven't said in my previous Walking Dead reviews. Telltale (or whoever the heck finished this game) has done it again.
Overall:
I had a good time with this game. I only use the word good because although I liked the game, I can't say for sure that I loved it.
The story is good. The game has a good cast with some good twists. I like how your choices matter. There are some good, heart-wrenching scenes to be found in this game. There's some good action too. The word good can describe just about everything that has to do with this game. Good good good. It's a good game.
I think what keeps this game from being more than just good is the ending. I hate to come back to that again, but I can't tell you enough how much it rubbed me the wrong way. They could have given us a memorable gut punch of an ending but took the easy way out. And it was totally unnecessary too. They could have made a way for everyone to live happily ever after that didn't involve the most ridiculous fake out in video game history. It just felt cheap and manipulative, and honestly it soured the whole game for me.
I still like the game. I'm still going to give it a B, which to me is a pretty decent score. Although I wasn't a fan of the ending, I had a solid time with this game the whole way through. But still; it could have been so much better. Clementine deserved a more memorable ending than this.
Even though this game is officially titled The Final Season, I hope that someday we are able to revisit with our good pal Clementine (or maybe have her character cross over with one of the TV shows. Wouldn't that be awesome?). Until then, I guess we'll have to settle for just a "good" ending to the series. I guess it could have been worse. If you've played the previous games in the series, you still have to check this one out.
Final Score:
B
Every Walking Dead Game reviewed (twice!)
Re-Reviews:
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