It’s been an awfully bumpy road for Telltale Games since its legendary first season of The Walking Dead. Since we said goodbye to Lee Everett, it has put out games like Tales From The Borderlands and The Wolf Among Us that prove that the studio can do more than just make us sad. On the other hand, with titles like Minecraft and Guardians of The Galaxy, they’re also capable of being decidedly subpar.
Present in all its games – that are still powered by an engine that’s been in use since 2004 – are a bevy of performance and visual issues, all made worse by pressure to crank episodes out as fast as possible. Anecdotally, as someone who’s made an effort to play all these games as they come out, the clear rush in some episodes has led to the formula becoming way more visible. Many of the games fail to conceal how railroaded the experience is, as simplistic visuals caused anything less powerful than a PS4 Pro to chug. Meanwhile Square Enix’s Life is Strange franchise is muscling in on Telltale’s turf at the same time, firing a powerful shot across its bow this past summer with the innovative The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit demo.
So what was Telltale to do but steal what Life is Strange does? The Final Season lifts its shoulder camera, slower pacing, collectibles and even the structure of achievements, and adds them to the usual staples you’ve come to expect from Telltale. Timed dialogue, invisible approval meters, binary choices and incredibly overwrought QTE sequences all make their return.
New to this game, however, are sequences of unscripted melee combat against walkers, which might throw some more gung-ho players with its methodical nature, and an Okami-esque visual effect applied to make the game as a whole look more like the original comic series. The end result being that the load is being taken off the 1971 Ford Pinto of engines in its final outing, and the game is allowed to look much prettier than is the norm.
With regards to the narrative: Clementine and Alvin Jr. find themselves at the end of their rope following her Mad Max-esque diversion into the story of The New Frontier. Pre-packaged supplies are running low in this world now, and the pair are taken in by the former students of a boarding school. Clementine, now a hardened survivor, must do for AJ. what Lee did for her, while trying to ensure their new home doesn’t collapse around them.
Now that the pacing isn’t frantic to fit every possible plot and character beat into a 90-minute runtime, the story and characters have more time to breathe. More cogently, there’s time for the players’ choices to pay off more meaningfully within the confines of the first episode.
Overall, it feels as if the creative spark evident in the studio’s best work has come back in force. But then again, this is only the first episode out of four.
Logan Graham is a senior studying media arts with a focus in games and animation at Ohio University. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Have you played? Let Logan know by emailing him at lg261813@ohio.edu.
