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Just when I thought I couldn’t love Telltale’s The Walking Dead any more, the second episode of season 2 made me pick up my Clementine hat and give it a kiss. I am so in love with this game and its endearing characters.
The first episode of season 2, “All That Remains,” served as a great building block for the rest of the season. It helped us get to know a slightly older and more experienced Clem and some new characters she meets on her journey. In episode 2, players will be on the edge of their beanbags, as each decision will really make you think and keep you in constant suspense. If you’re anything like me, you will think really hard about each decision you make (even something as seemingly simple as choosing which table to sit at).
Each little bit of dialogue that the player manipulates has some sort of consequence, whether good or bad. This is something that really makes Telltale’s games stand out from the pack; you really feel like what you are doing matters. You are shaping the story.
I really enjoyed this episode because of the amount of dialogue choices you can make. It seems that this episode really focuses on the narrative and character development more than lots of action and quick time events. After completing two playthroughs of A House Divided, I can say that each choice you make involving dialogue has a profound impact on the way characters treat Clementine throughout the rest of the episode (and the rest of the season, I’m sure).
I won’t go much into the details of the story, as it would take away the impact to be had when playing with no prior knowledge about the events of the episode. What I can say, however, is that the events of A House Divided will leave you wanting to know what happens next. The release date of episode 3 is to be determined; keep an eye on poppycockreviews.com for news on that as soon as it breaks.
Final thoughts
Gameplay: I was glad to see that there weren’t nearly as many QTEs as there were in prior episodes. I never really cared much for the action scenes in this game. I think some are necessary, but sometimes an overabundance of action scenes was frustrating, and the sequences were unremarkable. I really enjoyed the gameplay in this episode because it focused on the dialogue, not the action.
Appearance: This episode seems to have far less frame rate issues than the last, and this makes it much easier to play. While I don’t much care about visuals in this kind of game, the constant loading and frame rate problems in previous episode were sometimes frustrating and pulled me out of the experience. It was nice to not have to deal with a constantly low frame rate this time around.
Sound: Voice acting and soundtrack are superb, as usual.
Bottom line: A House Divided is my favorite episode from The Walking Dead: The Game thus far. It ends on a cliffhanger, as one would suspect, and players will be left craving more Clementine.
Overall score:
95/100