The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series - A New Frontier Episode 2: Ties That Bind Part Two

A New Frontier, despite its name, really is sticking with what’s worked before, and it’s not made to convert. It’s made to continue, and that’s what it does superbly.

The storytelling pacing in these premiere episodes has been perfect. If Telltale manage to maintain this level of quality, this could end up becoming the best season of The Walking Dead yet.

From start to finish, the pacing in Ties That Bind Part II is excellent. You are always given the right amount of time to dwell on the events surrounding you before being snatched away into the next dramatic scene.

New characters are introduced in a way that will make players struggle as they try to balance their allegiance to those with more familiar faces. Whereas, Clementine’s flashbacks will leave players hungry for more information about her movements between Season Two and Three. The Ties That Bind encapsulates everything that I could possibly ask for in The Walking Dead, improving on all the issues that I had with the previous season and adding things that I didn’t even know I wanted.

Perhaps the greatest shortcoming is the game’s stubbornness to shove Javi’s family as the player’s raison d’etre, when it’s clear that Clementine is a much more relatable and less frustrating character. The classic Telltale trap of unavoidable events is still there, but by now you should know what you’re getting into. If judged by what it attempts to do, rather than by what some sceptic players want it to be, A New Frontier’s harrowing first episodes smoothen most rough edges found in other games in the series in terms of storytelling. It just about manages to shake off the notion of being a rehashed concept, and become a beast that can stand on its own two feet, built upon the foundations laid by Lee and Clementine. Hopefully the rest of the season manages to sustain this level of quality.

Ties That Bind does an exceptional job at building a new world for The Walking Dead fans to explore while still integrating the components that made Telltale’s series a breakout hit.

The Ties that Bind Part 2 is an excellent ending to what was already a great premiere to season three. While a little on the short side, the overall experience is memorable and has me anticipating the next episode.

The second chapter of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier follows the great path of the previous one and Telltale Games delivers a brilliant story that will be seen in the next chapters of the game.

Quotation forthcoming.

My favorite story beats in Ties That Bind are unquestionably classified as spoilers, but they all spring from the same place: drama motivated by logical character action. Javi and the gang are proactive and well-defined, which makes their struggle to survive all the more compelling. If the first two episodes are any indication, A New Frontier will be a worthy follow-up to The Walking Dead, even if there's no chance it will be quite as revolutionary.

The Ties That Bind shines with polish and quality but ultimately feels like a retread of familiar territory. Perhaps seven years of television and four years of interactive fiction have been enough for the Walking Dead. A quality work through and through but long-time fans will feel like they are in too familiar territory.

Ties That Bind makes a surprisingly convincing argument for it to keep shuffling onward.

Especially with a little more context for the New Frontier revealed, Telltale is starting to better lay out all the logs it has to build a cabin. I just hope the rest of the structure is as strong as the foundation.

Thus far, the first two episodes of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier set up the intrigue. Javi is a decent character for the player to control, and Clementine is much more complicated than before due to her experiences. The story beats seem to replay some of the events of the TV series and comic, although with different characters and locations, but the ending of the second episode is enough to capture the attention of those who may already be tired of the franchise general. With only three more episodes to go, it'll be interesting to see if Telltale can keep the momentum going.

Classic gameplay and a strong story. A Telltale game.

While both Episode 1 and 2 are rather brief – it took me less than two hours to complete each one, and I probably could have done it more quickly if I hadn’t been enjoying a slow, savoring pace – they are high-quality chapters.

Bugs and shortcomings aside, the last time I found myself this absorbed and invested in a Telltale game was with Tales from the Borderlands. If A New Frontier continues to build upon its characters and story arc with the same momentum of these first two episodes, this season could well turn out to be some of Telltale’s best work yet.

Overall, The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is off to a solid start. Fans of the series will definitely have plenty to enjoy here – and emotionally suffer through – and players who found the game to be too clunky and slow previously may appreciate this entry more.

The second part of Ties that Bind represents the real start of the third season of The Walking Dead, delivering a fast-paced story with interesting twists and characters. The presence of this "new" Clementine is fascinating, but it can create some flaws on the narrative side and in the decision process of the player.

While the third season will be unlikely to re-entice those who fell off after the second season, those who yearn for the emotional scenes and depressing themes of Clementine’s journey will find plenty to appreciate in the first two episodes of A New Frontier thanks to Telltale’s high-quality storytelling skills and presentation.

As a re-introduction into Telltale's Walking Dead world, A New Frontier does just about everything right. The new characters offer some much needed change in perspective, and the narrative is a tight story that lays the groundwork for an exciting and different season.

There are a few key moments of stellar storytelling here, but players will need to wait and see how the rest of the season turns out to decide if this season is worthy of its predecessors in the story department though.

Ties That Bind Part II was exactly what was needed following the chaotic events of the first episode. It established the group, laid the foundations for some interesting character dynamics, and ended on a tense closer that has a number of significant consequences attached to it. Though it felt a little familiar in places, the interesting cast of characters and a number of tough decisions throughout kept me immersed until the credits rolled.

It moves quickly--and in some pretty familiar directions, given how we’ve seen events like the attack on Prescott and the desperate search for a new refuge many times before. But not everything is as expected here, and the dramatic weight tied to unpredictable moments--as well as the amount of action--provides more of the franchise alluring edge-of-your-seat storytelling.

Everything leads up to a hell of a cliffhanger, making me intrigued to see what happens next. I just hope Telltale doesn't disappoint with its result, as in the past some of the cliffhangers have had unsatisfying resolutions, not altering the story as much as I expected. While some things remain predictable, like needing to constantly look for resources or evil people showing up at the worst times, Telltale does a good job with its reveals and twists. As long as they continue to lead to interesting places, I'm on board for the rest of season three.

While it’s not perfect, that extra time has given Telltale room to breathe life into a new and interesting cast of admittedly flawed characters, build new relationships and present them with new and immediate dangers, always with the threat of zombies in the background.

The biggest compliment I can pay the episodes is that during both finales I sat there, mouth agape, throwing my hands in the air yelling expletives at the descent into despair the characters found themselves, and frantically grabbed my phone to search for the release date of episode three.

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is starting to climb my list of favourites from Telltale games, and for fans of this genre I would definitely recommend it. There are a few fantastic “oh crap did that just happen?” moments which I wasn’t expecting and I am eager to find out what happens next. Although it is a little frustrating not knowing the release date of the next episode.

These two short episodes (about three hours for both) did keep me invested and reminded me that Telltale can spin a good story. There were a few effective moments and a few tricky choices. However, the technical and narrative flaws are too glaring to ignore. And, perhaps saddest of all, I am just not as excited to play the next episode as I usually am with Telltale games.

A strong opener and weaker follow-up chapter, but the third season is certainly heading in the right direction, narratively at least.

A New Frontier doesn’t fail completely as a narrative experience — Javier and his makeshift family aren’t unlikeable as far as characters go — but the story that’s being told in these first two episodes just doesn’t command the player’s investment like it used to. The gameplay aspects are superfluous, the story beats are overly familiar, and and not even seeing Clementine again can save the moaning, ambling corpse this series has unfortunately become.