T w e n t y S i d e d

I find it really odd that I forgot basically everything bad about this sequence. Teleporting Molly? Forgot about that. Magical Ninja Clementine? Forgot about that. The absurd and pointless leg-sweep move that Molly performs against an unseen, heaver opponent while doubly covered at point-blank range? Forgot about that. The strange modulating zombie speed that surrounds the group instantly and then takes over a minute to walk the last ten paces? Forgot about that.

It’s odd because this is exactly the sort of thing that normally gets under my skin. I guess I was just really caught up in the moment?

Also, I love how everyone accuses you of being from Crawford, even people who lived in Crawford and left.

I will say this game does not hold up well to repeated viewings.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

Towards the end of the episode we wonder about the fidelity of this downtown Savannah set. I did a search for the Talmadge Memorial Bridge and here’s what I turned up:

Here is the building that’s across the river and slightly to the right of Lee as seen in the game:

Continue reading ⟩⟩ “The Walking Dead EP20: There is no Plan B”

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.

I agree that Episode 4 seems to be the strongest. It’s got a strong theme, interesting choices, quite a few tense scenes, and the gameplay feels a little more polished. They even mess around with some very mild shooting. We’ve shed the adventure game mechanics of the earlier episodes and the characters have more going on than pointless bickering.

The cast is stronger now that Larry and Lily have been replaced with less crazy people. Larry and Lily were really great for making DRAMA, but it was cheap, stupid, frustrating drama that never led anywhere and always left me feeling angry. The moment where you have to get Clem out of the jail cell was far more emotionally rewarding and rang more true than any of our arguments with Lar & Lil’. And that fight featured lazy-writer ninja zombies. I hated them, but they weren’t villains. They were a chore to be around, but having them die didn’t feel like an accomplishment or a victory. It was just more wasted life.

Maybe I’m just mistaking my antipathy for the show for an improvement in design, but now that we’ve moved on from “surrounded by assholes” to “working with reasonable people who don’t always agree”, I find the world and the story much more interesting. I care about Omid and Christa, and I’m invested in seeing them survive.

Kenny is more interesting now that he’s lost his family. As the only guy who still had a family, he was the richest man in the apocalypse. Now that he lost it all in a single day, his personality quirks are a lot more tolerable. He’s driven. He’s got a plan. It’s not a good one, but it’s all he has left.

I don’t know if it’s fair to say that every episode is objectively better than the last, but I do see an overall improvement as we progress.

At least, until we get to episode 5. Then all bets are off.

Shamus Young is a programmer, an author, and nearly a composer. He works on this site full time. If you'd like to support him, you can do so via Patreon or PayPal.