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.
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.

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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.

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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.

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Aug 18, 2018

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

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7 / 10
Aug 13, 2018

That's what we can call a pretty good start for the last season with a lot of promises based on what a grown Clementine is now for Alvin Junior. A few things have changed and we hope what 's coming next will be good enough so that we can leave one of the best video games characters without any regrets.

Review in French | Read full review

Aug 13, 2018

As it turns out, episode one of The Walking Dead: The Final Season is very much a slow burn. While it fails to maintain the pacing of previous seasons, and seemingly ignores much of what took place in A New Frontier, the game is indeed heading towards something special for the finale.

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GameSpew
Top Critic
7 / 10.0
Aug 15, 2018

The Walking Dead: The Final Season – Episode One: Done Running is good. Clichéd or not, Telltale always knows how to tell a great story.

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Digiato
Rasoul Kheradmandi
Top Critic
70 / 100
Aug 15, 2018

The Walking Dead: The Final Season isn’t exactly what you expect. Telltale Games promised to alter gameplay mechanism and even enhance graphics. They did but still story isn’t something we looking for.

Review in Persian | Read full review

Cubed3
Top Critic
7 / 10
Jan 10, 2019

The key takeaway from Episode 1: Done Running is that the murderous zombies themselves are just merely a decoy that is meant to explain the state of the world. However, they are far from being the main threats in the story, as the human survivors themselves prove to be the ultimate threat to each other's survival.

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70 / 100
Aug 22, 2018

This is a very slow episode for most of its main acts, but thanks to the shocking final act, it ends up being a worthy addition to the Telltale Walking Dead franchise.

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7 / 10.0
Sep 5, 2018

Just from the first episode is impossible to know the layout for the final season. Done Running gives players a taste of its new graphical style, collectibles and introduces an array of secondary characters, most of which probably won’t survive to see the finale. Done Running is just a taster of what’s to come, and we’re hungry for more.

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7 / 10.0
Aug 30, 2018

Done Running didn’t give that much of a great impression as a season starter. You’re more focused on many things like making AJ apologize to a lot of people in the group which took a few more minutes and other unnecessary fillers. While I do understand that Telltale Games is trying to build up the characters and their relationship that would eventually be a huge impact in the season finale, knowing that this final season is only up to four episodes, they could have focused more on Clementine and AJ in the first episode like what they did with Javier in Season 3: A New Frontier.

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7 / 10
Aug 20, 2018

'Done Running' is a solid enough opener. While The Final Season is off to a slow start, with only the barest attempt in technical advances, it sets up an intriguing dynamic between Clementine, A.J. and the world around them. The story's scope has yet to be laid out, so it remains to be seen how Clementine will close her journey. Will this series go out swinging, or is it taking one step deeper into the grave?

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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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Unscored
Aug 13, 2018

The Final Season managed to surprise me multiple times already, and if anyone deserves a satisfying finale it's Clementine. Six years of build-up desperately need some sort of catharsis, even if it's a tearjerker.

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