The Walking Dead: The Final Season - Episode 1 Reviews

The Walking Dead: The Final Season - Episode 1 is ranked in the 75th percentile of games scored on OpenCritic.
IGN
Top Critic
6.5 / 10.0
Aug 13, 2018

Clementine's arc is setting up for a spectacular finish in this final season of Telltale's The Walking Dead. Even as we've watched her grow and evolve over the course of three seasons, her interactions with other characters and continued development in this nightmare world consistently allows us to learn new things about her in every new installment. Her relationship with AJ works on multiple levels, both as a callback to her relationship to her original father figure and a mirror image of her own struggle to adapt to her violent world. While some of the exposition-heavy conversations drone on longer than they should, it ends on a powerful note foreshadowing some difficult lessons Clementine has yet to learn about what it means to grow up and lead in a post-society world.

Read full review

Metro GameCentral
GameCentral
Top Critic
6 / 10
Aug 14, 2018

An uninspiring beginning to Clementine's final story but there's enough potential in the plot, and the more cinematic visuals, to leave hope that it'll end better than it started.

Read full review

7 / 10.0
Aug 13, 2018

With predictable moments and repetitive storylines, the season premiere isn't all that exciting. Hopefully, future episodes have more surprises and intriguing developments in store

Read full review

8 / 10
Aug 14, 2018

Telltale begins the final verse of Clementine's ballad on a high note.

Read full review

USgamer
Top Critic
Aug 13, 2018

If this is a return to form for Telltale's The Walking Dead, it's ironically come at the beginning of the end. Combat is still a drag in this game, even with the improved freedom of movement. We've got precious little time left with both Clementine and A.J., but this opening episode of the final season of The Walking Dead neatly gives our characters hope, motivation, and some true friends, all in merely a few hours.

Read full review

6 / 10.0
Aug 13, 2018

Now a young woman, wise and self-sufficient beyond her years, Clementine has reached the end of her story where, alongside AJ - a young boy she rescued during previous seasons - she will finally face her fate.

Read full review

Aug 13, 2018

The Walking Dead: The Final Season Episode One's endearing characters and lovely cliffhanger ending have me eagerly anticipating what's coming next, like any good Telltale game of old. But its better camera, updated presentation, and deeper gameplay mechanics have me interested in whatever new things the studio is cooking up after it puts Clementine's story to rest.

Read full review

8 / 10
Aug 22, 2018

The Walking Dead: The Final Season is off to a terrific start. With the best graphics of a Telltale game to date, excellent characters who are all superbly performed and a central mechanic that sees the challenges of being a responsible parent come to the fore, this is the most excited and engaged I've been about The Walking Dead in years. Thanks to a clever character setup that sees Clementine and AJ's relationship echo that of Lee and Clementine from the original series, a palpable sense of foreboding has already been established. Will Clementine meet the same fate as her father figure before her?

Read full review

VG247
Top Critic
Unscored
Aug 13, 2018

The first episode of The Walking Dead's final season is an excellent start, but that's usually the case.

Read full review

6.9 / 10.0
Aug 14, 2018

A slow start, but firm for this last season. The dynamic between AJ and Clem and the new additions are the highlights in an episode that is too narrative and with little gameplay.

Review in Spanish | Read full review

8.2 / 10.0
Aug 30, 2018

The fourth and final season of The Walking Dead starts off on the right foot, with a long-lived and well-written episode that does not renounce to small but important technical-structural innovations.

Review in Italian | Read full review

Aug 13, 2018

The Walking Dead: The Final Season - Episode 1 is a near-perfect opener for this latest series. It lives up to the lofty expectations set by its predecessors, while also evolving the formula that had grown stale as of late.

Read full review

Unscored
Aug 15, 2018

The Walking Dead: The Final Season is off to a cracking start, thanks to the dynamic relationship between Clem and AJ and some of the strongest dialogue in the series to date.

Read full review

85 / 100
Aug 16, 2018

The Walking Dead: The Final Season's opener is a remarkably solid beginning of the end. Done Running's return to the first season's narrative structure is masterfully combined with a fine cast of characters and potential friendships. This is one series that I'll miss, but has the potential to go out with a bang.

Read full review

Aug 24, 2018

Episode 1 of The Walking Dead: The Final Season puts players back in control of Clementine but it builds off past seasons in a way that might not be satisfying to some.

Read full review

7 / 10
Aug 13, 2018

It's practically impossible to make any firm conclusions about The Walking Dead: The Final Season in its first episode, but the engine improvements have really helped step up the storytelling, while the new cast of characters seem interesting at this early stage. While we could take or leave the gameplay tweaks, particularly in the combat department, it's already clear that the stakes are going to be much higher in this concluding season than the series' previous disappointing outing – and for now, that's enough for us.

Read full review

9 / 10.0
Aug 13, 2018

The debut episode of The Walking Dead: The Final Season is one of Telltale Games' best efforts in quite some time. It builds its cast of likeable new characters with uncommon skill, lets you feel a glimmer of hope, and then tears it all down in devastating fashion. I'm afraid of what might come next for Clementine and AJ, but I can't look away…The Final Season has already sunk its teeth into me.

Read full review

88 / 100
Aug 13, 2018

In "Done Running," Telltale gives us the Walking Dead game we fell in love with back in Season One, but with noticeable upgrades in gameplay and visuals.

Read full review

8.5 / 10.0
Aug 14, 2018

Almost completely rediscovering the lightning in a bottle that made the first season so compelling, The Walking Dead: The Final Season is starting out as strongly as we could have hoped.

Read full review

Aug 18, 2018

The Walking Dead: The Final Season kicks off with an up and down premiere.

Read full review