The Best I Can: Parting Thoughts Walking Dead Season One

 “You’re either livin’ or you’re not. You ain’t little. You ain’t a girl. You ain’t a boy. You ain’t strong. You ain’t smart. You’re alive.” The new game is almost out… so let’s talk about the last one because we can…

TellTale’s Walking Dead will likely go on my list of things I talk about way too much, right alongside Sonic, Naruto, and tacos. But Walking Dead is one of few games out there to deliver such a compelling story and one of few stories I’ve seen with such compelling characters. I’ve shared links, trailers, commentaries from other critics, and songs throughout the past week in the lead up to the new game’s release. Today I linked most of you to this because I want to talk about this game in depth. Not a review, just a discussion about the game as a whole.

You play as Lee, the protagonist. There’s little personality he really gives in this game because he’s an extension of you throughout the game. His decisions are your decisions and the decisions YOU choose to make characterize what kind of person he is (within reason). The two extremes are being a merciful and caring person or a cold, unfeeling person who only wants to focus on surviving. Depending on how you played, you’ll likely end up in the middle of that, but you could very easily lean towards one extreme or another. All that said, there’s one bit of the game that influences the decisions people make more than anything else in this game and that’s the phrase, “Clementine will remember this.” 

Discussed on old podcasts of long ago by myself and Evan (shout out to Evan) Walking Dead is less a point-n-click zombie survival game and more of a parenting simulator. Yes, there’s moments where you kill zombies, focus on helping your group survive the trials they face, and do what you would expect in a zombie apocalypse situation. BUT the focus is never about any of that, it’s all about what you do to help Clementine survive. It’s all about what you do to send her on her way because you know (or, rather, Lee learns) he can’t always be there to protect her from what the world will throw at her. Whether he dies or not (spoiler alert, he dies at the end of the first game) there are situations that he won’t be able to help her with.

Much like I mentioned back in my Frozen analysis (not the review) this is very much about growing up. Or, at least, it looks like that’s what the second game will be about, just in a different setting and with different situations to deal with. And this is because we spent the whole first game preparing Clementine for the world she was going to go off into at some point in her life. It makes me wonder what the reaction or thoughts are of parents who played this game who have experienced that in sending their kids off to college or even just off to school for the first time when you know you aren’t there to watch over them. That’d be a fun discussion to have (if any of you fucks would speak up in the comment section). 

But this raises another question. We’re playing as Clementine in the next game (which sounds amazing, but also like a very daunting task on TellTale’s part). Does putting us in the driver’s seat of her remove any agency or characterization that she developed in the first game? While I can’t definitively answer that without playing the game, I can certainly speculate from a game design/narrative design perspective. And I don’t think it will. Because, again, she’s continuing the story based on the lessons YOU left her with in the first game. So anything she does in this game (which is anything you do in this game) can be assumed (within the game’s diegetic logic) is built off of that.

And if you choose to make her go against the lessons she should have learned from you/Lee? Then she’s rebellious and likely to get herself killed. Though remember you’re still, for all intents and purposes, Lee because you played Lee in the last game. In a sense, this game is creating another level of gameplay by essentially turning YOU (the player) into a spirit of Lee, and watching over her and guiding her on her decisions, just more directly. And, since you were Lee, and you’re now in the driver’s seat of Clementine, who was your surrogate daughter in the first game, I’d be shocked if anyone willingly went against what Lee taught Clementine in the first game just out of psychological duty to continue looking after her well-being. 

If that does end up being the case, then I’ll have to do a standing ovation to TellTale for having really thought this out like pros. I expected us to have to play a new character the whole way through and be expected to care for Clementine again, which would have still been “okay” but it wouldn’t have had the same impact as it did with Lee (speaking in terms of characters anyway). Putting us in the shows of Clementine gives us a much more important and deeper choice than really anything the games have thrown to us yet. And that’s do we do as Lee taught us and, by extension, do as the spirit of Lee would and keep Clementine safe with decisions we taught her to be right in the previous game. Or do we rebel and put Clementine through some kind of Hell for our own selfish reasons?

But that’s just assumption based on thinking this game will be at all like the first game. By that, I mean that the choices will be similar in terms of how easy or natural they felt to make (at least a good portion of them). Since we’re playing as a kid now and Clementine probably has a much different way she views the world than Lee, we might not get options that are always favorable to us this time around and we might unintentionally get stuck in situations that won’t work for us. I’m excited to see just what kind of ride we’re in for because it’s been a year and I want to keep making sure Clementine is safe. I put a lot of work into keeping her alive the first time around, and I’ll be damned if she doesn’t make it out this time in one piece as well. 

Oh, and let’s get to the subject of Kenny before I wrap things up (since I’m a bit short at the moment).

I’ve noticed two reactions to Kenny. The majority reaction of: “Kenny is a dick or an asshole and I don’t like him.” And the minority reaction (also mine) that: “Kenny was a good guy who always had my back when it mattered most and I was genuinely sad to see him go.” This is, again, largely based on the choices YOU made as Lee in the previous game in regards to Kenny and his family throughout the course of the story.

I feel like my admiration of Kenny as a good friend throughout the game will get me lampooned since I’ve also championed for characters the masses hate like Waluigi. But, as I said, I experienced the story differently than most (I guess). When Kenny’s kid was in danger, I went to save him because if I had lost my kids (hypothetically speaking) I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself. Plus kids in the zombie apocalypse are less equipped to handle themselves, so I’m more willing to save them on that logic alone. When Kenny wanted to kill an old man (requires further context for understanding) I was there with him because if we didn’t, there was a potential risk for Clementine. When Kenny’s lost his kid and wasn’t in his right mind, I was there to knock sense into him because I would want someone there to keep me grounded in such a situation as well. 

As I said, he had my back the whole way through the game and that’s because I kept having his. Kenny, in the game, was like what Josh or Russell or Evan are to me in real life. A friend who I know would help get me through the end of the world much like I’d help them… (And, no, significant others don’t count because it’s a given they come first in such a scenario).

All of this is why I’m glad that (for the brief second we saw in the trailer) Kenny will be back (at 0:38). I’m excited to see what role he’ll play in the story this time around since he won’t have Lee/me to keep him from flying off the handle like he has done a few times before. Will he just be that crazy uncle character for Clementine we can interact with or will there be more to him? There’s a lot I can’t wait to find out and we only have one more day until we can start the next episode of our journey. See ya next time (after I’ve finished episode one of season two).