Now Playing: The Walking Dead (Season 2)

There were a lot of ‘big’ decisions in Season 1 of The Walking Dead, decisions that could result in the death of a character, perhaps even choosing between the life of one character or another. Some decisions were purely cosmetic, but they changed the way scenes played out in quite a dramatic fashion – the choice of what to do with Lee’s arm, for example. There were certainly times in Season 1 when it didn’t feel as if our choices were all that important, where a seemingly important choice made little difference either way. But overall, Season 1 took a good stab at building a branching narrative, one tailored by the decisions of the player as they navigated Lee through some tense, emotionally charged situations.

I was hoping Season 2 would improve upon this core element to the series, with far more impact to choices and more branching paths building between each episode. Obviously, there will always be a limit to how far a narrative framework can diverge. There are times when those threads must be pulled back together, or the overarching story will lose focus. But I still expected more from Season 2 of The Walking Dead. As it is, Season 2 is more about smaller choices, and what you believe to be the ‘key’ decisions, ones that will create a new narrative path, are all generally worthless.

Upon completing the game I read through a wiki detailing how each episode plays out according to the choices you make. Disappointingly, I discovered that many of those ‘key’ choices were not so important after all. There are moments when you think you’re choosing who will live or who will die but in truth, you’re only choosing how the scene will play out and the same character will live or die regardless of your actions. There are moments when you think you’re saving someone’s life, only to discover that their life will be saved no matter what you say or do.

I came to suspect this was the case in only the second episode. I thought I’d saved a character’s life through my own choices, and that if I’d made a different decision, that character wouldn’t be there. However, as the episode went on it was clear that it was designed with that character’s presence as a requirement. And so, as I discovered, my choice to ‘save’ that character was irrelevant. He’d survive regardless, in order to play his part within the story. There’s another moment later in the game where you can save another characters life, but this choice, like a few others in the game, proves to be only a temporary measure. The plot demands their death and, like it or not, they’ll be killed off anyway.

Now, I can’t say this bothered me that much as I played, because I really didn’t know for sure. It certainly didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the game or the way the story played out. But after, when all was done and I wanted to see how differently the game could play out if I’d made different decisions, it was rather disheartening to see that nothing I’d done had actually changed much at all. And for a game that is supposed to be tailoring its narrative to my individual choices, that’s a bit disappointing. I played through Season 1 prior to the sequel, and although there are limits to the choices, I still had quite a different experience compared to my first time through. I’m not sure I’ll be able to say the same about Season 2.

But like I said, Season 2 is more focused on smaller choices. It’s really about Clementine, and the choices you make are the ones which will determine what sort of person she grows into. This is certainly interesting to see and to play, but with those key ‘choices’ meaning very little, it does result in the game lacking in the replay value of the original. The game reminds you that it features a branching narrative ‘tailored by your choices’. But that’s not really true. Even many of the smaller decisions mean very little or nothing at all, making you wonder what the point of them was. It’s even more restricted than in the first game, not expanded in the way I was hoping for.

One issue I had with Season 1 though that has been addressed is the issue of gameplay diversity. Season 1 was mostly just clicking on a target or hammering a couple of keys. Season 2 expands the mechanics with quick-time style events, as the player guides Clementine through a dangerous scene combining movement keys, mouse aiming and button mashing, often offering a couple of different routes or choices within the scene which will then play out slightly differently.

What’s lacking compared to Season 1, however, is the exploration and puzzle elements. Okay, so these weren’t handled brilliantly in the first game, but they allowed the player a degree of freedom to explore a limited environment and put pieces of a puzzle together, perhaps combining different items. The motel scene towards the end of episode 1 is a great example. Season 2 has hardly anything like this at all. In fact, most of the ‘play’ time is watching cut-scenes and selecting (what turn out to be pretty redundant) dialogue choices. The action sequences are more interactive and engaging than in Season 1, but the non-action stuff is rather limited. And I would have preferred if these elements were improved upon in Season 2, rather than cut almost entirely.

So as you can probably tell, I have my issues with Season 2, just as I did with Season 1. There are aspects that I feel are far improved in Season 2, but also aspects which are not. But did I enjoy it? Did I like the story and characters? Yes! The development of Clementine is the real highlight of Season 2, and the additional characters are all very good. It’s an expanded cast compared to Season 1 and as a result, some characters aren’t as well developed, but as we saw with 400 Days (which as I predicted, turned out to be mostly pointless in terms of its influence on Season 2), the writers can build some intriguing and memorable characters even with a limited amount of screen time.

I really can’t fault the story or character aspects (well, I have a few specific criticisms, but nothing that bothered me too much). I liked it a hell of a lot. It doesn’t quite have the same level of emotional punch as certain key moments of Season 1 did, but I think it has a much more consistent quality and tone across every episode.

Overall, I enjoyed playing Season 2 a lot. It’s shorter than the first game (not surprising given the limited exploration elements) but it’s very well paced and it has many excellent moments where you really are totally engaged by what’s happening, completely lost within the story. The ending is very well done, offering some very different paths to choose between. It will be interesting to see how the developers handle this aspect, although I get the feeling it may turn out to be a bit cheap, sort of like how characters carried over from Season 1 are rapidly disposed of in the first episode.

If you liked the first game, you definitely want to play this. I just hope that in Season 3, they really do start delivering on that ‘tailored to your choices’ promise. They can tell a great story with great characters, that’s for damn sure, but the interactive nature of this medium offers far more possibility to engage the player if we are presented with meaningful choices, which is something Season 2 sadly lacks.

7/10