Telltale Games has done quite well for themselves recently. The Walking Dead: Season One was a huge success in many ways. They seemed to have perfected the pacing and content of storytelling in this episodic format as well as making a damned fine point and click adventure-horror game which we really haven’t seen in a very long time. Most people within the community, journalists, and gamers alike were somewhat skeptical about them being able to pull this kind of development cycle off, but Telltale really managed to surprise a lot of us.
That’s not to say there isn’t room for improvement though. Now it’s time to start looking at what is in store for the second season. Telltale has done a very good job about keeping this game and it’s plot under wraps, even during the height of convention season the developers managed to maintain tight, steel trap-like lips on many aspects of season two, whether it be major or minor, they just weren’t discussing much more of the game that would give up even so much as a main character. Now comes the fun part for us though, what can we expect from seasons two.
"If you haven’t played the first season of The Walking Dead yet and don’t want it spoiled for you, do us all a favor and stop reading now. It’s difficult to discuss what may happen in the second game without providing some context from the first one, which has a tendency to spoil things."
Plenty of us here at Gamingbolt are fans of The Walking Dead. Whether you’re asking us about the show, video games, or the comic book that started this whole zombie craze, you’d be hard pressed to find a member of the staff that didn’t like something about this franchise that’s completely exploded in the last few years. At this point, with Telltale’s release of season two looming right around the corner we can’t help but speculate; sometimes wildly, about what we have to look forward to in the first episodic installment of season two. Now, let’s get this bit of awkwardness out of the way now. If you haven’t played the first season of The Walking Dead yet and don’t want it spoiled for you, do us all a favor and stop reading now. It’s difficult to discuss what may happen in the second game without providing some context from the first one, which has a tendency to spoil things.
Okay, hopefully if you’ve continued to read that means one of two things. You have finished the game, or you just don’t care that the ending of The Walking Dead Season One is spoiled for you. As you may remember our protagonist Lee, spent a lot of time taking care of the adorably shy and naive Clementine. Towards the end of the game he begins teaching her more things to make sure she’s safe, even if he isn’t around to protect her.
He cut her hair, taught her to shoot and how to brain a zombie with something blunt, if necessary. It was no real surprise that at the end of episode four Lee got a chunk taken out of his wrist by a zombie while he was trying to find Clem. As you may remember or can imagine things sort of spiraled out of control from there; ending with a quickly dying Lee and a very confused and scared Clem, who then had a choice to make regarding what to do with our buddy, Lee.
"Telltale even released a screenshot of Clemetine, sitting on a downed tree with another child who, at least appears like they’re a little younger than she is. It would be very interesting to see the game go this route actually. To be in control of not only Clementine but also another child character as they deal with the dangers of not only the undead but people within the world."
This brings us up to the 400 Days DLC that was released recently and has absolutely nothing to do with our friends in the previous episodes. This DLC did a good job with compiling stories of other survivors and what they had to do to survive. Most folks actually really enjoyed it, despite each section of this DLC being pretty disjointed from itself. This DLC isn’t quite stand-alone, it fits into the world and it’s been hinted at that this DLC does have at least a little bit to do with how the story for season two advances. What that is yet, we’re not sure. It may be something as simple, and small as survivors we played as in 400 Days cropping up as their zombified counterparts. It could also be a complicated and in-depth process that’s got Clementine rolling with this new party of folks, since her group all pretty much died at the end of Season One, with a few exceptions of course.
We will be playing as Clementine. I mean, we did spend the entire first season basically training her and preparing her for surviving on her own. She is obviously going to be in the game, at the very least but the fact that Telltale was peddling all sorts of Clementine related paraphernalia at their Con booths suggests that she is going to be playing much more than simple, small and supplemental role in the next season. Also, given the way season one went, it would be pretty strange if the development team took this series in a completely different direction after all that time was spent to essentially “train” her to survive in this new and frightening world.
Some have speculated that The Walking Dead: Seasons Two may take “The Last of Us” route, in that at the end of the game, Joel and Ellie’s story have been resolved. Naughty Dog has no plans to further their story in the form of DLC or a sequel. This sort of ending works well for The Last of Us. It seems unlikely that Telltale will be taking this route however, which might disappoint some people. Half the fun in The Walking Dead games is meeting new characters, and seeing who makes it or who doesn’t. I doubt that at some point in between seasons though, we’ll be seeing an Undead Clem walking around the game, trying to eat other survivors. While it certainly may be realistic, given the world they exist in, many gamers wouldn’t be happy about it.
Telltale even released a screenshot of Clemetine, sitting on a downed tree with another child who, at least appears like they’re a little younger than she is. It would be very interesting to see the game go this route actually. To be in control of not only Clementine but also another child character as they deal with the dangers of not only the undead but people within the world.
"Not only were you saying goodbye to a character you grew attached to, you were essentially sending the child you took care of as Lee out into the world without any real protection, only hoping that she’s able to take care of herself and that what you taught her was enough to survive."
If she is taking care of another child who is roughly her age, but most likely didn’t get the same kind of training and advice Lee gave her then it would be especially interesting to see her develop as a character. To see Clem move from the role of the terrified and helpless child to a young, but not naive protector of someone in a similar situation that she started in.
Lots of gamers had a very nurturing and parental sentiment towards Clementine in the first season while playing as Lee. And on upon his death or otherwise, unfortunate demise (depending on the choices the player made.) Players had to face their own character’s mortality, something that was relatively present through the entire game. Even when Lee’s fate was sealed plenty of gamers found the end of episode five to be heart wrenching in a lot of ways.
Not only were you saying goodbye to a character you grew attached to, you were essentially sending the child you took care of as Lee out into the world without any real protection, only hoping that she’s able to take care of herself and that what you taught her was enough to survive.
"Whatever the outcome though, if you enjoyed the first season of The Walking Dead, then there is a nice surprise waiting for you just over the horizon, most likely it’s a zombie."
Playing as Clementine would bring the everything around to a full circle. We’d get a bit more resolution from the first season that some players may want on top of knowing that Clementine is not only okay, but capable of taking care of herself, and possibly others. It is sort of a twisted version of seeing your child grow up, instead of attending a graduation, or a celebration to mark their milestones in becoming a self-sufficient adult, you’re sending them out into the world to fend for themselves because you cannot protect them anymore. That is what the world is like now for characters that exist in The Walking Dead universe though. The brutal and simple reality that a character lives until they don’t anymore and they may come back as an undead, ravenous creature isn’t at all a complicated force in this world, but it is incredibly effective.
At this point the 400 Days DLC is also supposed to fit into the new season somehow. However, no one is really sure in what way. There is a good chance that Clementine may end up in this group, or they might be passing through and offer her help. It has also been discussed that these separate and individual stories are nothing more than an expansion of the world that’s been created, something to make the world a bit more cohesive as the characters expand from their original locations, both as they develop and where they actually are in the United States. There are some compelling characters in 400 Days that would be good to at least see again or learn the fates of.
Whatever the outcome though, if you enjoyed the first season of The Walking Dead, then there is a nice surprise waiting for you just over the horizon, most likely it’s a zombie. Hopefully Clementine and her friends will be prepared, or else it’s going to be a very short season.
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