I have been following the story of Clementine and her horrifying adventures among The Walking Dead since the beginning several seasons ago. It has been one a few different platforms too making it so that when it comes to my decisions throughout the game’s seasons I couldn’t accumulate them like all Telltale games do where certain decisions you make have long term last repercussions. As a result I just decided I would play it cold then and whatever happened before was done and past, I figured especially since I hadn’t played any of the parts on the Xbox One it was just all I could do.
Luckily for me and others who find themselves in the same situation Telltale Games was prepared for this by making a Story Builder that gives you a chance to make all the really important decisions that needed to be made through the story while giving a recap of events as they happened after the decision. In the end you find yourself in the same place starting the game out but your decisions and your opinions on things are based off of the Story Builder choices. After you make the 34 possible decisions you can get a downloadable poster that reflects all of them, neat!
Clem starts out the final season looking for food with two mouths to feed since she is still has AJ as a surrogate son, a hard thing to be going through with both the living and the dead to fear and is little more than a child herself. To make it harder AJ is at the age where he is like a sponge, he soaks in information from all over, especially from Clem. There are some very serious decisions and consequences that start almost immediately. And trust me without a spoiler, your choices made at the beginning will effect you before Episode Two, though the game definitely makes me want to come back for more.
Something that has to be mentioned, if you haven’t seen the art style that Telltale games uses on this game and others, you really owe it to yourself to check it out. If you like comic books you definitely need to check it out, it almost feels like what motion comics could have been. You feel more immersed than a comic because you make choices, you lead the fighting, but otherwise it is giving you a story in comic form. This was also downloaded in 4K HD onto one of the newer Xbox Ones that can play the game in 4K HD onto a 4K HD 65″ television and I have to say it was amazing. I was afraid the game might not translate to that size and quality but I was completely wrong. Visually and voice wise this game was mind boggling cool.
Telltale’s The Walking Dead Final Season: Episode One was Telltale’s commitment to quality by making the sensory aspects of the game look great if you like stylized game art and I appreciate it and a good quality story at it’s heart. The only drawback I have is I now have to wait for Episode Two!
