The Walking Dead Episode 3: Long Road Ahead

Writing for The Walking Dead: The Game has been a difficult task. This emotional game series biggest draw has been intense story and attempting to review a heavy hearted drama like this without revealing any spoilers is taxing. While the first episode dealt with the outbreak and the second focused on the aftermath the third episode, Long Road Ahead, attempts to test the sanity and bond between every character in the group during a time of uncertainly. If you thought that the last episode was delightfully dark then you will be in for a treat when you play Long Road Ahead.  

This marks the third of five episodes and like the pervious episode shows a short preview of your past actions. As Lee Everett you have made some emotionally scattering decisions, solved some light minded puzzles, and killed some walkers using the third-person adventure controls and transparent d-pad. While this episode adds a poor shooting system, within certain scripted events, it is the story that made you purchase this episode. The bandits from the previous episode are desperate since the dairy farm has been destroyed, Lily and Kenny continue to fight, and someone has been stealing supplies.

Choices, not gameplay, have always been the central focus of The Walking Dead and because of that you could have a different story from the one I played. The characters you choose to keep alive and the one’s you betrayed alter the game to ensure that the story flows in a cohesive manner, but at this point you probably played through episodes 1 and 2. You’ve built a relationship with these people and when someone makes a lethal and impulsive decision you wonder if you should abandon them. In the two hours I played the web of relationships I built was slowly ripping apart.  

Like the previous episodes the comic-book style graphics, writing, and voice-acting remain the same great quality. Unlike other episodes you will be traveling a lot more and solving simple puzzles to move forward. These distractions allow you to get lost into the story and notice keys differences when interacting with each character, especially when facing a difficult ordeal. Like the walkers the problems from the other episodes continue to live the game is full of framerate hiccups and character model glitches. Still the problems aren’t severe enough to cause the game to crash or detract from the experience.

While the first two episodes left wondering what would happen next, but Long Road Ahead had me in shock by the end. The characters I cared about were either dead or have lost hope and I can only wonder who will be next. Telltale games have created a journey that has balanced gaming and drama in such an amazing way that it keeps you in suspend for the next addition to come out as soon as possible. This episode was definitely disturbing, depressing, and dark and continues to add what has become a entertaining venture. One thing is for certain though for the characters within Lee’s adventure, they all have a breaking point. 

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed (@twitter)