The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series - A New Frontier

Season three is off to a thrilling beginning with a host of questions, answers, dramatic entrances, and believable new characters.

A New Frontier does Telltale’s The Walking Dead series justice, giving the ending that fans have been asking for.

Maybe we can expect wonders from the third season of Walking Dead. The first two episodes have great characters and a very impressive plot. 

It's frustrating to see Telltale simultaneously at its best, and also just repeating itself. [Sept 2017, p.81]

A New Frontier is well written and directed, surprising and touching. Along with Tales from the Borderlands The Walking Dead is still the best series by Telltale. [02/2017, p.44]

Strong characters, thrilling story, but I expected more from the final episode. […] It’s obvious that your previous decisions have no real effect and especially the most emotional storyline lacks a satisfying conclusion.

With A New Frontier, Telltale is stumbling over the age and limitations of its dated engine and game mechanics while also running into the problem of franchise fatigue. There are only so many zombie hordes, self-interested road warriors, and family disputes they can explore before it all starts to feel rote. Javi’s story isn’t a total loss thanks to the development of the core characters, but the studio will have to think of ways to keep this world fresh and interesting if it hopes to continue producing the further adventures of Clementine and other assorted survivors.

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier lacks meaningful gameplay and its episodes needed greater distinction, but it still provides that same appealing Telltale drama about an unconventional family thrust into dangerous situations.

An exciting adventure with interesting characters, but the recipe has been used to death at this point.

A disappointing finale doesn't completely undo the goodwill earned by the rest of the season, but a sour aftertaste is still pretty hard to wash out.

Whilst A New Frontier doesn’t do anything differently with the gameplay, the story has always been The Walking Dead’s strength and, in this area at least, season three may provide the reversal of fortune that Telltale need.

Since Telltale’s games don’t have much to rely on other than the story, a “filler” script like the one A New Frontier has just kills the game. There isn’t anything to get excited about, you can probably spot most of the twists and plot elements coming a mile away, and your control over what happens is minimal at best. Really, instead of buying the game, you could just watch posted videos of the episodes and get the same experience. So it’s safe to skip A New Frontier unless you’re a dedicated fan of the franchise, and even then you should wait for a sale (which seems to happen to Telltale’s games with regularity). Hopefully Telltale can get their act together in time for Season 4, which has already been announced.

Where the season will end up is a question that even developers have no answer for. Media that was shown at E3 has no relation to released product; Clem’s voice actress mentioned that this episode’s story kept being rewritten on the fly, and work on the next one hasn’t even began. What’s even worse is that this special magic which made people fall in love with first season is nowhere to be found in A New Frontier: Telltale no longer delivers unique experiences; every new project seems to be made from the same mold. [Issue#216, p.54]

The Walking Dead A New Frontier has a story worth telling at the heart of it, and Telltale eventually gets there, but the narrative stumbles at almost every turn. Repetitive gameplay, technical glitches, and the constant overshadowing of one character by another significantly blunt the set-up of the season’s cutting finale. The journey must continue in the inevitable fourth season, but I hope Telltale devises a better game plan for when that time comes.

Yes, the pacing was a bit off, some characters got the short shrift, and the technology that underpins all Telltale Games continues to struggle. But I appreciate the studio's desire to do more with The Walking Dead this time around and their storytelling methods are getting better, with some great character writing, voice acting, and camerawork. A New Frontier is an uneven experience, with highs consistently punctuated by various lows across all five episodes.

After a lacklustre start, things began to pick up as focus was put on the Garcia love triangle. But redundant flashbacks and an annoying child make A New Frontier the most topsy-turvy season of The Walking Dead, yet.