The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series - The Final Season Episode 1: Done Running

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.

The first episode of the supposed final season of Telltale's The Walking Dead is a classic slow burn, with well-developed characters and a real shocker of an ending. Telltale experiments with giving the player a bit more input and though this is nice conceptually, it unfortunately also leads to a lot of trial-and-error. Don't let that stop you though; there's a lot of promise here.

So far, The Final Season is pretty much as we’d expected, although there’s a couple of good twists to keep the story fresh and engaging. Woven throughout the tale is a palpable sense of rebirth, of change and starting over; a new beginning not just for the series, but for Clementine herself.

The beginning of the end starts with a promising episode. The change in perspective and the darker tone work very well, although the formula has been milked for so long that you can’t help but feel it needs deeper changes.

Beautiful things are possible in the new world and the new ways to play that Telltale has laid out in Done Running. But something ugly and horrifying is likely to happen first, and it is going to be captivating to watch.

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.

Quotation forthcoming.

While only one episode in, I feel fully invested in where The Walking Dead goes from here. Clementine’s story still holds a lot of intrigue, and her watching her grow makes it easy to overlook how much of this episode is simply setting up the pieces for what is sure to be a devastating sprint to the finish line.

The Walking Dead: The Final Season is a great start, and is hopefully a sign that fans will receive the finale the series deserves.

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.

The premiere sets the season up for an emotionally charged and powerful arc, but heavy exposition and character building make this a slow, gradual build.

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.