The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series Review

The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series propelled Telltale Games into the ranks of the most beloved game development studios. The studio would eventually close due to mismanagement, but thanks to Skybound, the series would reach its end.

The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Edition tells Clementine's entire story, from her early childhood days meeting Lee to becoming a mother and guardian to an orphan child. The package also contains the season 2 prequel, 400 Days, and the spinoff series The Walking Dead: Michonne, but Clementine's journey is the star of this package.

A journey full of difficult decisions and emotionally traumatizing moments that will mold Clementine into either a hardened or empathetic survivor. If you missed out on The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series, now is your chance to experience this acclaimed franchise in one place.

The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series includes all 4 major seasons of The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series along with the spinoff titles 400 Days and The Walking Dead: Michonne. 400 Days takes place before the events of Season 2 of The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series and stars a group of characters who'll become important survivors in Season 2.

While most of the decisions are pushed into the background when Season 2 starts, it offers a decent prequel and provides context for the characters Clementine will meet in Season 2. 400 Days was mostly a promotional episode and doesn't hold up today as well as it did when it was released.

The Walking Dead: Michonne is based on the character Michonne from the popular television series and comics. This narrative exists outside of Clementine's journey, features Michonne surviving the apocalypse, and explores what she did in issues 126 and 139 of the comic series.

It's an isolated story that has its share of decent twists, exploring Michonne's past and family before the events of the core story. For those who love the character, it'll give you more context on Michonne and has a dense array of consequential choices. It was clearly developed for Michonne fans, and those with little interest in the character will most likely find the season dull compared to Clementine's series.

Clementine's adventure is what most gamers will focus on. The entirety of seasons 1-4 is here, with these versions including better resolution, more helpful UI, improved lip-syncing, and, best of all, stability. Those who played the original games will notice that many of the glitches from the first releases are no longer here.

In addition, new extensions such as a music player with all the musical scores from the series, an art gallery, a 3D model viewer, a 3D font option, and behind-the-scenes commentary from the original developers provide a wealth of new content to explore. The 3D model viewers provide an extensive look at the character models, animations, and voices for each season.

The developer's commentary provides information about the game's development shared by the development team. This includes how the game was almost entirely first-person before the decision to shift focus. It's a lot of information, but it shows how much work went into developing each episode.

The journey of Clementine is one of the most acclaimed stories of this and the last generation. Starting off Season 1 as Lee Everett, a history professor heading to jail for life after murdering a Senator who was sleeping with his wife, Lee is given another chance at freedom. After a Walker walks onto the road while he is being transported to prison, Lee is freed, but not without fighting for his life.

Quickly meets a little girl named Clementine, who is all alone because her parents left town for vacation during the outbreak. This begins a long and difficult journey as Clementine learns to live in this new world where the only rules are the ones you make. Throughout each season, you'll control more characters than you do in Clementine, but she'll remain the central focus of the main series. Allowing you to alter her behavior based on what you want.

This control over decisions allows you to alter the narrative, shifting how characters act towards you and, depending on who lives, the direction the story takes. Despite the seasons being chronologically connected, the decisions you make are often discarded at the start of each new season.

For example, Season 2 has multiple ways the narrative could end, but when Season 3 begins, that decision is negated to progress the story. Because of this, many outcomes can be predicted, as only a handful of characters return for an additional season.

Despite having a general idea of how each season will end, the decisions within each season are varied and profound. Many of the more critical decisions are time-sensitive and usually have 2 choices.

These massively important choices change the story dramatically. This doesn't mean the smaller choices don't matter. The way you interact with your fellow characters will affect how they view you and, at times, their actions, opening up different dialogue options. This ripple effect encourages replayability.

The characters in each season are unique, well-voiced, and carefully written. Each season starts a new cast of characters that Clementine must work with to survive. Each one has distinct personalities, desires, and issues that are incorporated into the story. For example, Carly from the first season is brave and an excellent shot, while in the final season you encounter Terrance, an often absent-minded child whose actions often hurt others.

You start to care for certain characters and even develop a kind of favoritism towards them, until the narrative strips you of control. Despite the series sometimes giving you ample control over your decisions, whether by choice or not, the game will remove that control, and you'll be left to pick up the pieces.

Each episode ends with a list of what decisions were made and possible choices. Showing how the player could've changed the story. As the series continues, the choices add more layers, as decisions made episodes ago can come full circle and bite the player. 

The decisions you'll make are the most critical and exciting parts of the game, but the puzzle-solving you'll occasionally have to do isn't. Many of the puzzles are basic and often slow the story's momentum. There are sections where you can openly explore the environment and obtain collectibles, which sometimes provide more context about the world or simply encourage exploration. For example, in The Final Season, Clementine collects random dolls and animal skulls to decorate her room for some reason.

The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series is the perfect way to experience this acclaimed narrative experience. While Clementine's journey takes center stage, the inclusion of The Walking Dead: 400 Days and The Walking Dead: Michonne provides the complete series for anyone who wishes to join those adventures.

The improvements to the core games, such as frame rate and visuals, help modernize the experience, but stability is the best addition. The inclusion of the special features provides the most hardcore The Walking Dead fans with more context on the game's development, but Clementine's adventure will likely be the main focus for many players.

The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series gives both newcomers and old fans the chance to experience this unbelievable venture. Either for the first time or for another playthrough.