The Walking Dead: The Final Season

When the lights at Telltale went out last year, the first reaction of most people was to worry about the staff at the company, not only the jobs they would be losing – and many have found their feet and are being fantastically creative at other outlets – but also what would happen to the projects they so passionately poured time into.

Many of the Walking Dead team moved to a new development team at Skybound Entertainment with the purpose to seeing one of the companies most impactful franchises come to a conclusion. And what we got was an outstanding end to the Walking Dead series of games that has captivated millions since release. It all comes together nicely in The Walking Dead: The Final Season conclusion.

Any former Telltale franchise is hard to review for a wider audience, as they are almost completely story driven. What I can say is that the game was brought to a fair, and in my opinion, fantastic conclusion. Seeing the journey of Celmentine from the early days of the franchise, through to competition, was fascinating. Even if the story itself left me wanting, it would have been enough to see the epic conclusion to her journey.

And it all plays out in a beautifully created, post apocalyptic world. From Season 1 through Season 4, the development team did a fantastic job of making noticeable and lasting changes each and every step of the way, making the final episode of the final season the paramount Walking Dead experience on console. The cell shaded look has never been better, the dialogue has never been delivered as effectively, and the gameplay mechanics have been refined, and refined again, to create an almost perfect and seamless transition from text heavy conversations to button presses to avoid or diffuse conflict. The seamlessness of the transitions will be a defining feature of these developers work over the past few years, and it is all on display in The Walking Dead: The Final Season.

Ultimately, what makes this final episode so memorable is how your choices, and your teaching to Alvin Jr., come through in the games final moments. While a lot is ultimately left up to Alvin, your interactions with him over the course of the game will influence the decisions he can make. This will have a big impact on me when I go back to play this series again, knowing what I teach will have consequences – whether negative or positive – in the future.

All-in-all, this is about as perfect as a send off that would be possible for The Walking Dead series. With so many release, across all platforms, and with millions of fans, the team has done well to wrap this series up in a way that is memorable for all. It’s what all games should strive to be.