The Walking Dead: A New Frontier - Episode 4 - Thicker Than Water Reviews

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier - Episode 4 - Thicker Than Water is ranked in the 37th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
Apr 24, 2017

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier - Episode 4 is a bit of a mistep for this promising series. It's not a bad episode, but it does feel like just a small stepping stone to the finale. It also has some story and technical problems that make the whole thing feel a bit rushed compared to the previous episodes. The finale could be great, but this episode does little to enhance the excitement.

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8.5 / 10.0
Apr 24, 2017

Thicker Than Water has tough choices, great relationship building, and shocking twists. It's the best episode this season

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6 / 10
Apr 25, 2017

The weakest episode in The Walking Dead: A New Frontier thus far, Thicker Than Water is paced awkwardly and doesn't spend enough time exploring the relationships that really matter. A good conclusion sets up the finale well, and there are some standout scenes over the course of the instalment. But an underdeveloped villain and some hard to believe exchanges make this a forgettable episode overall.

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7 / 10
Apr 25, 2017

This fourth episode succeeds by taking its time to tell us more about characters we didn't know much about and by litterally exploding at its end, letting us in great need for what's next.

Review in French | Read full review

5 / 10.0
Apr 25, 2017

What should have been an ramp up in excitement for the finale descends into dull, familiar tropes with bizarre characterisation.

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GameSpew
Top Critic
8 / 10
Apr 25, 2017

Telltale has seriously upped the ante with more action and tougher decisions to make, and Thicker Than Water has definitely been my favourite of the series so far.

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Apr 25, 2017

A lot of this outing of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier feels like treading water, as Telltale takes their time building to episode 5. Ending on a cliffhanger, the instalment does its job of upping the stakes for next time. Whether or not the developer can deliver a satisfying finale, however, is still up in the air.

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6.5 / 10.0
Apr 25, 2017

"Thicker Than Water," other than its satisfying ending, is the season's weakest episode yet. Little that precedes the action-packed conclusion feels like it has much, if any, weight to the ongoing story I'm invested in — namely Javi's life and his relationships with Kate, Clem, and David. I'm absolutely on the hook for the season finale after that strong start and thrilling ending — I just wish everything before it hadn't felt so thin.

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8.5 / 10.0
Apr 25, 2017

There's no denying Episode Four does the series justice, and the finale has been set up brilliantly.

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3.5 / 5.0
Apr 25, 2017

“Thicker Than Water” has its moments of enjoyment and incredulity, but the slow build-up and the meandering nature of the episode as a whole turns it into a frustrating chunk of a mostly consistent season. Players who stick through it will be well-rewarded with an intriguing finale setup that will hopefully pay off, but individually, the episode feels more like an obstacle than a continuation.

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5.4 / 10.0
Apr 25, 2017

This was a light and weak episode that should have been a strong penultimate for a revolt within the city.

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5.5 / 10.0
Apr 26, 2017

The more I write about this episode, the less I like it. I actually went back and replayed it to see if the ending could be influenced by the player in any way (it can't), which certainly did Thicker than Water no favors. One disappointing episode isn't enough to write off the whole season quite yet, but I'm certainly less excited for the finale than I was this time last month.

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3 / 5.0
Apr 26, 2017

I find myself waiting for the finale with mixed feelings. Episode four's finale has me eager to jump into the finale and face what comes Javi and the group's way, but I really hope Telltale nails down the pacing for episode five.

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70 / 100
Apr 26, 2017

The fourth episode of Telltale's The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is pretty uneventful and borderline monotonous until its climax, which somehow channels the pure evil of a villain like Negan, and finishes the episode off with a bang. Literally.

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6 / 10.0
Apr 26, 2017

Much like the preceding episode of Season Three, ‘Thicker Than Water' is roughly an hour and a half. Although I would always prefer if each episode was slightly longer, it felt as though there was too much filler in this one. The opening episodes of Season Three felt like Telltale had set a great pace to the story, however now it feels as though the developers are slipping back into their old ways. With only one episode left, there's still plenty to cover in this story. I'm looking forward to seeing how the story concludes, but I can't help but feel somewhat disappointed by the predictability of the season so far. Hopefully, we won't have to wait too long for the final episode.

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60 / 100
Apr 26, 2017

Thicker Than Water is the weakest episode so far. It has a major focus on relationships between characters but it lacks logic.

Review in Persian | Read full review

8.6 / 10.0
Apr 26, 2017

This fourth episode of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is, probably, the best so far. Very fast paced and with an outstanding ending that prepares the player for an epic ending of the season.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

GameSpot
Top Critic
7 / 10
Apr 27, 2017

Storylines finally converge satisfyingly in Thicker Than Water, the penultimate chapter of the New Frontier.

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Apr 27, 2017

To say Thicker Than Water is the season's worst episode is both true and deeply misleading. It does take a step back from the extreme highs of the first three episodes, but this is still a story well worth seeing through to the end. Hopefully enough of the Garcia clan survive this season because they're worth another of their own. Some gripes with dialogue aside, the thematic elements remain strong, the characters are some of the best the studio has born, and this episode contributes to the still very high expectations for the season finale.

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4 / 10.0
Apr 27, 2017

With each new episode, we can see more and more clearly, that the developer doesn't know anymore, how to do original and engaging story. New season of The Walking Dead is huge disappointment.

Review in Polish | Read full review