Score: 10/10 | EPISODIC ADVENTURE | VIOLENT | STRONG LANGUAGE
“Skybound Games has done a tremendous job at completing The Walking Dead: The Final Season so perfectly for fans that have been playing since the beginning. A very fitting way to round out a perfect season finale.”
The first episode of The Walking Dead: The Final Season was released on August 15, 2018 on PC, Xbox, Playstation and for the first time on Nintendo Switch. The second episode was released in September, however we were then hit with the tragic news at the end of that month that Telltale Games was closing. Thankfully the legends at Skybound Games took on the reigns and promised fans to complete the series, and they have excelled at giving us an emotional episode three and an amazing finale. If you want a recap of the previous seasons, head to my B4UPlay article.
I was apprehensive about jumping into this last episode. It means that this epic journey across four major seasons of this Walking Dead episode game would be ending for good. Having played every entry in the series dating all the way back to April 2012 and playing the first episode in the series in August of last year, I dearly wanted to see how Clementine’s story would conclude. Finally, that moment was upon us. I’m going to keep this as spoiler free as I possibly can so it may seem vague if you haven’t played the series before. Do yourself a favour – go buy it!
I was a little fuzzy on how the third episode concluded, but it all came flooding back with the prologue sequence and the events of episode three flashed through my mind. I was reminded of how shocking some events were and the consequences of some of my actions. I snapped out of this quickly given a lot of quick-time key presses were required to get Clem and AJ out of a sticky situation. My wife kept asking me what was going on as I was gasping or crying out “OMG!” as I died a couple of times and reacted to what happened.
After that first sequence, I was reminded how much I absolutely love the music in the intro with the artistic colours and the scenes they chose have extra meaning now that I’m at the end of the series. For those like me interested in the actual song, it’s Waiting Around to Die by The be Good Tanyas – brilliant!
There are quiet moments in the game that throw back to the first season, and it was fitting to reminisce about those times when we first met Clementine and the road she has travelled since. In these quest scenes, there’s always the thought in the back of my mind that some bad sh*t is about to go down. Sometimes it doesn’t, but I have been shocked in past seasons so I’m always a little on edge. This helped me react to the next few scenes and I had to make quick conversation choices and actions that reflected on decisions I had made across the other three episodes.
Throughout this season, we question our decisions around how Clementine has raised AJ over the years through such hard times surviving day to day on their own, trying to find a place to call home. They’ve seen and done things that no one their age should have had to do, but they acted the only way they knew how – to survive above all else. Certainly, the choices I had made across this season were reflective of how I think I would have handled those situations, and its heart wrenching to have watched AJ change over the course of this season as he realises what his actions mean. You’re wrestling with the need to survive but also to teach AJ right from wrong.
I’m not going to say how the episode concludes other than to say it hit me right in the feels, as has happened in most seasons, but more because this is the end of the road. It’s definitely one you need to play through and experience yourself without spoilers. It was sad but beautiful and I’m so glad to have been able to play through it. I will miss playing Clementine in the Walking Dead universe, but all good things must come to an end. There is a great sequence at the end of the game that walks through a corridor listing the #StillNotBitten developers of the game. A nice touch to honour those amazing men and women that put their hearts into this series for more than 6 years.
Overall, I gave this final season a 10/10. Skybound Games has done a tremendous job at completing The Walking Dead: The Final Season so perfectly for fans that have been playing since the beginning. A very fitting way to round out a perfect series finale.
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