The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series Review

I’ve said it before, and no doubt I will say it again; if you haven’t heard of The Walking Dead in one of its many forms, you must surely be living in a nuclear bunker under the vast ice sheets of Antarctica, probably in a frozen state awaiting to be exhumed in an actual zombie apocalypse. As you should already know, in 2012 Telltale began with their own story, told over four seasons based on Robert Kirkman’s hugely popular The Walking Dead series of comics.

The final season of Telltale’s The Walking Dead was almost a pipe dream for fans of the series, after hearing of mass redundancies before the studio’s unfortunate closure over a year ago, in October 2018. Thankfully, their efforts on the episodic series didn’t go to waste, as it was picked up by Skybound Entertainment and completed to the same high standards set in days gone by(e).

The Definitive Series comprises all seasons, including 400 Days and Michonne. It also gets the graphical upgrade to the “Graphic Black” art style, introduced with the fourth season. There’s a couple of other bonuses too, such as behind the scenes from the developers and the various excellent voice-over talents who lent their tones to (predominantly) Clementine’s story.

Season one, I imagine similar to many who have enjoyed the series, sticks out as my personal favourite of the bunch. Yes, it’s not quite as graphically pleasing as the rest of the series, but the narrative twists and turns are often heart-breaking, coupled with difficult choices as you guide Lee through many challenging events alongside Clementine. The following seasons feature a similar amount of tough decisions, instead having you control a girl slowly maturing after the apocalypse.

For those unfamiliar with Telltale’s work, there may be a slight learning curve to master with the controls. On the whole, the point-and-click scheme works well, but there are oftentimes you end up sending your character in circles or into walls as you try and manoeuvre around. It can get more annoying when you’re searching for something between different areas of the location you’re currently in, prompting loading screens to beckon before you. Begone!

The main reason for the success of these games is the narrative, with it the dialogue and the choices you have to make along the way. Every option you choose during your conversations really do matter, with impacts being felt either immediately or in ways you wouldn’t expect later on. Characters can fall out of favour with you, or you have the difficult decision to conclude if someone must be left behind, if they should be killed, or whether you should let the parents have to witness the murder of their only child.

Indeed, the majority of the game is bleak, and if you have ever read any of Robert Kirkman’s comics, you’d know what to expect. Telltale’s The Walking Dead certainly doesn’t shy away from these same moments, with gory graphical details improving fairly substantially as you progress through the seasons.

For those who have already played through each episode and fancy a replay, you’ll notice that unfortunately a lot of the same bugs have wormed their way into this edition. I often found dialogue repeating itself through the all too frequent, and too long, loading screens, and after playing through originally on PC, using a PlayStation 4 controller does not feel as intuitive. (PC master race after all, eh?)

In all, if you haven’t before enjoyed Telltale’s The Walking Dead series, then this is the collection you’ll want to go for. It’s improved, you get everything together, along with a couple of extra bonuses too. For everybody else, if you already own the games, I don’t think there’s quite enough to justify going out and buying it a second time. Maybe only if you’re missing a season and the Definitive Series is on sale.