The Walking Dead Episode 5

Note: this blog has been migrated to Medium, with the articles here available to preserve permalinks Please see this post at https://medium.com/@ianrbuck/the-walking-dead-episode-5-ba4eb7921307



If you missed my reviews of the previous episodes, check them out here and here.

Wow. Just wow. I've experienced quite a few season finales in my time, and this one certainly ranks up there in epicness and emotional intensity.
In comparison to the previous episodes of The Walking Dead, this one felt more linear; it had way fewer puzzles than the previous episodes, and the ones that were present were much less complicated (I was perfectly fine with this changeup); the decisions I had to make also felt like they carried less weight, but that was mostly because they had less than two hours to make any difference to the story.

The decisions you made earlier in the series mostly affected who was with you during this final adventure, and I am sorely tempted to play through the series again to see how this would play out with different people.

I think that it was a plus to focus entirely on wrapping up the plot during this episode. After each chapter I found myself thinking come on, just one more even though it was 4 in the morning and I was really tired.

The quicktime events also felt more meaningful because it was possible to fail them and not have a game-over on your hands. After a couple of them I wondered what would have happened if I had succeeded; would the outcome have been better? Was it even possible to succeed? I love it when the game makes me uncertain about the internal mechanics of the game.

 There were LOTS of memorable  moments in this episode, more than any other episode in the series. Many characters including Lee and Clementine had badass moments that elevated my respect for them even more.

Telltale did a really good job of keeping the atmosphere consistently tense; I found myself hyperventilating during portions of the game where I was in no danger whatsoever.

That's about all I can say without spoiling it for you, so here are a few more screenshots:

If you want to see all of my screenshots from this game, check them out on Steam. Some of them will give away plot points though.

EDIT: You can now read my review of the 400 Days DLC.