But in line with the episode’s greater degree of overall freedom, options still make the world feel alive and responsive to your actions.
Wrong moves don’t penalize you much characters or cutscenes merely giving you a verbal or visual slap on the wrist. Walkers can be attacked at different body points for varied results, and tense situations can demand you choose between a few objects around you. There’s still some disconnect with aim-then-click prompts that arbitrarily place your reticle away from points of interest, but many of these moments offer meaningful mid-combat choice. That "Amid the Ruins" succeeds on a technical level benefits its QTE-heavy action, but combat is also handled better than in previous episodes. But I’ll take these concessions over failed button prompts and constant hitches any day. I noticed a little more aliasing than usual, and character animations seemed less articulate. The intermittent freezes that have soured my opinions of past Telltale games are nowhere to be seen. The framerate still occasionally dips, in combat and conversation, but never enough to affect gameplay.
#The walking dead season two episode 4 amid the ruins series#
At a technical level, this is Telltale’s best console effort to date, retaining the heavy shadows and cel-shading that give the series its distinct graphic novel style while making few of the usual stuttery slips.
In other respects, "Amid the Ruins" sets a precedent of quality I can only hope Episode 5 lives up to. Only time with Episode 5, and a broader look at the complete story, will justify Episode 4’s many shake-ups or confirm they were purposeless. Still, the twists and turns of "Amid the Ruins" are surprising and well-executed, so I’m inclined to view this episode’s seemingly aimless direction as a mishandling of the episodic format and not representative of a dip in overall narrative quality. None of the narrative seeds planted by episode’s end carry the kind of gravitas that builds feverish excitement for a conclusion. In fact, after completing this episode, I have no idea what the finale’s conflict will turn out to be. Meanwhile, new faces, potential villains, and a somewhat plodding pace make "Amid the Ruins" feel like anything but escalation to a final conflict. A notably high number of deaths and departures shake up much of the cast we’ve just started getting to know. The meandering plot is a far cry from holding the same intrigue. Heading into the finale, the player’s freedom to shape Clementine into a personality mirror or carefully composed narrative anchor is the best part about The Walking Dead Season Two. Jane and Kenny represent different possible futures for our once-meek protagonist the way you respond to each character becomes a metaphor for what’s morally right or most valued at the end of the world. Further details risk spoiling this episode’s heaviest moments, but each character’s behavior and outlook on life are at opposite ends of the post-apocalyptic spectrum. As Clementine confronts more and more of humanity’s darkness, transitioning from child to full-fledged survivor, these two characters start to mirror different options for developing Clementine as a character. The uninteresting scripts given to much of the supporting cast are offset by the fantastic characterization of Jane, Episode 3’s surprise newcomer, and Kenny, a series mainstay who’s seen plenty of hardship. There’s ample opportunity here to continue forging Clementine’s personality, even though her available responses err toward ‘cynical’ and ‘world-weary’ more often than not. Deeper immersion in the environments of "Amid the Ruins" kept me engaged during otherwise detached moments where characters talked a lot without saying anything meaningful.
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