The Walking Dead: Season Two Episode 1 - All That Remains Reviews
In a way, the game, too, is a shell of what it once was. Season one was a slow build and a horrible pull. There was a lot of humanity to it, focusing on its characters above anything else. The sequel has a lot of that pull, but none of that subtlety or ease. So far, it's just a list of tragic events. This is, of course, just the first episode. As we've learned from the first game, it only gets worse from here. Maybe it'll also get better.
While there's an intriguing setup here, 'All That Remains' starts the new season off slowly and fails to deliver a sensible and concrete outlook at the future. There are notably fewer meaningful choices to be found and the action scenes are without much suspense as Clementine is far too susceptible to be grabbed by a walker.
Letting go of the past can be hard, especially if it's a past you have great fondness for, but sometimes letting go is necessary in order to move on. Perhaps that is a lesson both Clementine and the players controlling her will learn together during the course of The Walking Dead: Season Two.
The second season of 2012 game of the year builds a strong basis for success, but there are fears it may have lost sight of what made The Walking Dead so good to begin with
All That Remains establishes characters and conflicts that may pay off in forthcoming episodes, but it doesn't stand up well on its own.
Not a bad start to the second season but not a great one either, with a formless plot and unusually weak characterisation.
'All That Remains' is either the start to a great second season or the beginning of the end for a once great series. I simply don't know, and I won't know until getting into the rest of the season. The potential and the set-up is there, which is the baseline for a jumping off point. It could just be so-so, but then that would be a disappointment.
Whilst not quite in the same league as the previous season's episodes, All That Remains offers a potentially intriguing character arc for Clem, which helps paper over shortcomings in the overall storyline.
It was perhaps too much to ask of Telltale that they blow our minds in the very first episode, but I still feel a little let-down with how "setty-uppy" All That Remains felt, with a mostly predictable storyline and few really significant or interesting choices to make. It's also short of course, taking me a straight 98 minutes to finish. Nevertheless there were surprises, plenty of tragic moments and at least one section that nearly made me pass out, so overall I consider this first episode of The Walking Dead's second season a success. Now that the setting up is done however I demand nothing less than excellence from the next episode, A House Divided. No pressure, guys.
The focus on action for the first half of the episode takes away from what makes this series great, but the exceptional tone, and excellent storytelling still deliver. Clementine promises to be a unique and compelling protagonist, and Telltale has the potential here to make the most important game in the zombie sub-genre. [THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS]
It's far too early to crown this season as a successful follow-up to Telltale's first foray with The Walking Dead, but there are enough threads of character intrigue to suggest that Clementine and her new crew have a promising (that is to say, heartbreaking and terrible) future.
The Walking Dead Season 2 may be better as a whole but it falters in the first episode
As great as the characters are, as absorbing as the choices and moral directions continue to be, the series is in danger of becoming formulaic.
It may not be the best episode of The Walking Dead, but it still has some good moments in it. Hopefully the glitches will be worked on and the setups established will have some payoffs. If you're a fan of The Walking Dead and enjoyed what you played of the first season, chances are you need to pick this episode up. Just keep in mind; it may not be as polished as the previous outings.
"All That Remains" sets the stage for some great character development for Clementine, but there's not much payoff in this 90 minute episode.
Overall, the game is a solid example of the genre, and fans of the series certainly won't be disappointed.
First episodes are always going to be hard to evaluate to see where the season is going to go, but as an opening episode for Season Two of The Walking Dead, I feel that it gives a strong first impression.
In the end, Episode One: All That Remains does a decent job of setting up the season. . . . The future remains unwritten for Clementine in Season Two, but it's certainly off to a strong start.
Upon reflection of what transpired in All That Remains, I'm feeling equal parts eagerness and dread with the continuation of Clementine's journey. The dread comes from knowing that things have started off pretty rough for her, and I don't anticipate them getting any better.
All That Remains is a fine way to kick off the second season of The Walking Dead. Telltale made some interesting design decisions putting players in the role of Clementine, and most of their choices—but not all—work out nicely.