![]() Partly because she’s with such a revolving carousel of companions this time. If you think back to the moment with Larry in the second episode of Season One, that decision pretty much shapes the Lee-Kenny relationship (and has obvious long-term effects with Lily too.) I’m struggling to think of major decisions I’ve made in this second season that influence and inform the relationships Clem has with the other characters to this degree. There’s actually been some regression to the consequences of your choices. This looks like it could be a pretty in-tents situation. This isn’t entirely Telltale’s fault, and genre familiarity is a problem for other games too, but it’s a sign they need to start subverting their formula or adding new choice mechanics sooner rather than later. There’s a scene in episode 4 where you’re given the choice to steal something (or not,) but after so many other Telltale episodes where this has been the case, you know that whatever you choose to do will come back later to bite you. Those who’ve played Season One and perhaps The Wolf Among Us will be finding it easier and easier to predict what will happen as a result of “big choice” moments. It’s an issue compounded by what, for most players, will probably be an over-familiarity with how Telltale’s mechanics operate. I think that’s in danger of happening here. Episode 4 even offers a glimpse of a possible future where that occurs in the form of Jane.īut the problem with trying to explore that kind of question in a game that relies almost entirely on dialogue and character interaction is that if the player does truly check out and stop caring, then you’ve lost them as an interested audience. Maybe the question here is supposed to be “look, you can rarely rely on people now, so should you even bother getting attached?” and making the player question what kind of person that would turn Clementine into. Since characters come and go so easily, it can be simple to dismiss them and not make any kind of emotional attachment. At this point, it must be intentional on Telltale’s part. It’s a group of survivors that we’ve seen being continually reshuffled throughout the season, and you can expect the same to happen again in episode 4. In Amid the Ruins, this progression of character manifests itself in the specific question of whether she’s better off as a capable loner or as part of a flawed group of survivors.Ĭlementine is unlucky to run into a convention of zombified door-to-door salesmen. “What type of person will Clementine turn out to be?” is still the main (and only, really) hook for the narrative. Telltale has even addressed this in a couple of in-game scenes (and the adult’s over-reliance on her small size is chastised in this episode too,) so they’re well aware of the contrivances needed to always place Clementine in the center of things. The criticism that Clem’s status as protagonist means she gets a bit shoe-horned into doing almost everything is a fair one, but difficult to avoid without removing player agency. ![]() It would’ve been incredibly easy to make a horrible mess of Clementine’s character, but instead she’s been written with believable dialogue and an intriguing narrative arc. So, looking back through my thoughts on episodes one to three, I’ve been pretty consistent in praising how Telltale has managed to make playing a twelve (I think?) year old girl in a zombie apocalypse seem perfectly natural. It’s been out a short while now, but it still seems a bit soon to be tossing out references to character deaths or other important events from episode 4. This review will have spoilers for prior episodes in this season, but will try to steer clear of any overly specific plot details for Amid the Ruins. ![]() ![]() I may be a little down on this Season, but Telltale still does the best expressions.
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