REVIEW: The Walking Dead: A New Frontier: Ties That Bind

The Walking Dead franchise has done almost as much for video games as it has for graphic novels. Season 1 of Telltale’s The Walking Dead revitalized the point-and-click genre and brought it to the mainstream. Not only was the game beautiful to look at, but the story was revolutionary. Never before had I experienced the amount of open heartbreak from players. The ending of Season 1 truly cemented Telltale and The Walking Dead as video game powerhouses.

Not too long after, we all took control of the young girl Clementine. Her hair still cut short and only a little more of her innocence lost, Clementine had a very rough go of it in Season 2. After losing almost everyone in her party, she either chose to stay or leave the safety of a walled city at the close of the final episode.

Overall, most people felt that Season 2 was a great game but a little underwhelming. The emotional connection that we felt for Lee in Season 1 was lacking in Season 2. It was not that Clem was a bad character, she was just an undeveloped character as she was still only eleven years old. Too many people died way too quickly to become attached, and some of the choices felt very rushed or forced, basically leaving the player without a choice. Luckily, Season 3 is on course to correct these issues.

Season 3 of The Walking Dead is officially titled “A New Frontier.” This name actually resonates in a few different ways. First, a band of mercenary troopers roaming the land are called the New Frontier. They brand themselves with a hot iron to create a scar in the symbol of their group. They seem to shoot first and ask questions later, although their full motives are completely unknown.

Another important frontier is the city of Richmond. As with every season of the television show, as well as every season of the video game, the characters have a city they want to reach. Some safe haven that is fabled to be walker-free. The characters in A New Frontier are on their way to Richmond, VA; a city we have never been to before in the game. It will expose the player to new surroundings and new threats.

The final frontier is the new playable character, Javier. Javier is a young man with a strong sense of family. He has tried to keep is niece, nephew, and sister-in-law safe throughout this zombie apocalypse. He is very capable, and a good man. His backstory starts out a little week, but I believe it has great opportunity to grow as the game progresses. It has been so much fun getting to know a new character and exploring how he and his family have survived for the five years since the initial outbreak.

The biggest complaint levied towards Telltale’s games is that they are not actually a game. A lot of people think they are more of an interactive movie. While I think that is needlessly reductive, I can see where the detractors are coming from. I can honestly say they will be even more frustrated by A New Frontier.

So far, there have been zero puzzles to solve in the game. In Season 1, I remember being stuck in the pharmacy forever. Trying to find batteries for the radio, finding the TV remote, throwing a brick, breaking the lock, etc. There were so many things that had to happen for me to actually get across the street to get keys from the attendant. In both parts of A New Frontier, I have not had to do anything past click this or click that, then watch what happens. I really wish there were more game elements injected back into The Walking Dead.

Solving puzzles under the pressure of someone dying or a zombie approaching really made the game feel complete. I hope that future episodes have more gameplay that I can take advantage of. I want to feel the agency that comes with choosing a way to solve a problem, and then the pride of successfully completing the action. Just watching every character complete the action I chose tends to lead to lost attention and even boredom.

But this game is in no way boring. Telltale has sunk their hooks into me once again. After finishing Part 1, my jaw was on the floor. I had a literal jaw-dropping moment! No joke. I could not believe what had just happened, and my emotions actually flared. And isn’t that what we want out of a Telltale game? I know that I am looking for a game that makes me feel. I want to care about the characters and worry about how my decisions will affect those characters.

There is also a clear reason why Episode 1 and Episode 2 of A New Frontier are listed as “Ties that Bind Part 1 and 2.” After playing through Part 2, a lot of important questions were answered while introducing more questions that may never get answered. And again, the ending to Episode 2 made me say, “Oh no, out loud.” The game has incredible control on pacing and creates large, explosive scenarios that really helped me zoom in on the intimate, important scenes. For every mega-zombie battle that had me mashing X or A; there was one or two lines of dialogue that made me shiver, smirk, or slowly exhale.

I refuse to spoil anything about the game in this review, so I will have to settle with saying I haven’t even expressed my favorite part of how the story is told. There is a story-telling mechanic that Telltale employs to get across the backstory of a character and it works very well. In a lot of other media properties, this comes off cheesy or uninspired. The way Telltale has chosen to serialize it keeps the piece welcome and interesting.

The biggest compliment I can give the new season of The Walking Dead is that it is gorgeous. The art direction is spot on, every single screenshot could be a painting I would happily display on my wall. Somehow, the developers have figured out how to make the game even prettier than previous games. The coloring and shading had me in awe the entire time.

I know what you are thinking, “What about the engine?” So far, the new Telltale engine is working perfectly within A New Frontier. Loading times are still a little longer than they should be, but I did not have a single missed quick time event due to lost frames. When the loading would complete there was usually a second or two of desync, where the characters’ lips and the words they said did not match up. This usually only happened between chapters and did not affect the gameplay.

I was on continuous watch for dropped frames, and I found quite a few. While the game never becomes the picture show of previous games in Telltale’s portfolio, the game does suffer from stutter. Some moments were far worse than others, but not for any particular reason. The most appreciated change was that it never froze. In previous games, high intensity portions were usually proceeded with five or more seconds of a single frame. This game had none of that, for which I am grateful.

The sound design was also an incredibly high point. Both the returning characters, and the new editions, have excellent voice actors. I am really impressed with Javier’s in particular. The lines are read with true feeling and delivered by a master actor. I cannot wait to see how the rest of this story unfolds.

Summary

While the Telltale engine still has its flaws, I believe this is the best iteration we have seen so far. Episodes 1 and 2 of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier have my expectations incredibly high for the rest of the series. With strong new characters, important storylines, and beautiful artwork; I think Telltale may have another award-winner on their hands. We will have to see how the story ends before I can judge, but for now I am impressed.