I first played Tell Tale’s The Walking Dead two years ago, probably almost to the day at this point, while on a staycation from work. I don’t know what exactly made me pick it up – maybe that it was October and it held the promise of zombies, or maybe it was a PS Plus game at some point that was now just sitting around in my games library? – but I somehow picked it up knowing next to nothing about the game. The extent of my knowledge was that there was a character named Clementine that you played as and that it was a game where your choices influenced the story. Y’all, in those six days that I was off work, I played through season 1 (including the DLC), season 2, and A New Frontier (I skipped Michone because I was really just super invested in Clem’s story).
Season 1 gripped me and gripped me hard. I enjoyed Lee, I enjoyed raising Clem, I enjoyed getting to know these characters, and when that final episode hit? Hoo boy, I was definitely not okay. The ending to that game is something I still think about randomly from time to time, and I get emotional over it every single time.
Season 2 left me emotional in different ways. I felt so angry at everyone all the time for their treatment of and dependence on this poor little girl. I ended that game with the only proper choice – fuck everyone and their shenanigans, I’m leaving!
I even enjoyed A New Frontier. I liked Javier and his story, and when Clem made her entrance it was exciting. I don’t believe I had the same visceral emotional responses to that season as I had the first two, but that isn’t a complaint. I enjoyed it thoroughly.
When The Final Season was announced, I was pretty excited. I had no intention of playing it episode by episode as they came out, as that isn’t how I typically play games (Life is Strange 2 being about the only exception to this so far, and even then I’ve let some episodes build up). That turned out to be wise after all the trouble Telltale went through earlier this year, and while I was bummed that The Final Season wouldn’t be completed, at least I hadn’t only played half of it. Then the game was saved, and I was pretty damn excited.
I then proceed to still not play the game.
I finally picked up The Final Season a couple of weeks ago and finished it this past weekend. I cried. A lot. Multiple times. I also spent the entire game in constant fear – would I screw up AJ, how closely would this season parallel the first, would my new friends die or hate me, and when was the next scene with Lee so that I could be sure to have a box of tissues on hand?
This isn’t a traditional review, because there isn’t much to say without going into massive, potential spoiler territory. After all, there’s not much of anything that can be said about gameplay – it’s a Tell Tale game, they all play the same. I also never looked up if it was possible to save certain characters that died in my game because as I was playing, I didn’t want potential spoilers, and after, well, it just didn’t seem to matter. The story I wound up with was my story. I didn’t (and still don’t) feel like I need to know what could have happened.
This last season wasn’t perfect; I could honestly sit here and nitpick so many things if I wanted to, but that isn’t the idea behind this. Despite its flaws, perhaps even sometimes because of them, the final season was a satisfying conclusion to Clem’s story for me. I loved, I laughed, I cried (oh god, I did so much crying). I do think it’s required if you’ve ever liked one of The Walking Dead games before.
The Final Season told a beautiful and simultaneously heart-wrenching and heart-warming story about a girl trying to make her father-figure proud, raise her own child to be a good person in a world full of both literal and figurative monsters, and trying to also find her own place in said world.
A final note before spoiler talk – I adore the way they start the final credits. It is a very cool looking effect, and I just had to take a screenshot and a few moments (yes, a few!) to appreciate it.
Now a cut for spoilers, because there are a few moments I simply have to talk about. If you have not played and do not want massive spoilers, do not read beyond this point!
Allyssa | Slice of Nerd 