We sit down and review The Walking Dead: A New Frontier — Thicker Than Water. This is the fourth episode of Telltale’s continuation on their version of The Walking Dead. Here’s our review on how they did
We’ve made it almost to the end of the story of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier and things are starting to boil up and over for the group here. Just about right for the fourth episode of any of Telltale Games‘ titles out there and here we are with it. If I had to guess I’d say that this is about when the real twist that The Walking Dead is known to throw out there, or the gut punch as it may be, will hit us all. Now that we’ve had a chance to go through it all before the dramatic conclusion of the season, let us break down and review the fourth episode for you to see if we can all still carry right along and onward as I’m sure is the hope for it all.
Story
Things are not looking too great for Javier and the crew. Things are right up shit creek and they may need to be using their tongues to paddle right along. His group is split. He and his brother have been detained. He also needs to get the people of Richmond back on their side as they have been seemingly been led astray and twisted by another crazy person in charge. Just as we would all expect for a story set in The Walking Dead universe as it seems that humans are always doomed to destroy and become evil over time. We can get out of it right…?
Hated
Out of all of the episodes so far here for The Walking Dead: A New Frontier this one seems to have had the fewest of meaningful choices than needed to be made. That and items/puzzles to search around and figure out. It felt very “railroaded” to get to the dramatic conclusion and less like you could help dictate out how the story evolved. Even the big choice that needed to be made where a character was slated for death was only the illusion of choice as it looked like there was a path that Telltale needed us to go down instead of finding it ourselves. It’s always off-putting in a freedom-of-choice title when you are forced down a path but given a “no win” choice none the less. Even taking no action was met with a forced reaction and it just didn’t feel like I was in control as all of the other episode have been.
Loved
If you’ve been waiting for action in The Walking Dead: A New Frontier though, this is where it all hits an almost peak of high. That is not to say that there is no drama or anything else mixed in, but Thinker Than Water keeps the action flowing once it is going and didn’t seem to let up; in the best of ways. It was almost like the big payoff for all of the slower sections and gameplay that the rest of the season has given us to date. It was also very fitting for the title and franchise and not something completely out of scope. Even though it still came down to basic QTEs, it all played very well to the strengths that the dev team has shown time and time again.
To top all of that off, it ended on such a high note that I was actually left with my jaw a gape. Usually you can see when there is some kind of building to a twist in The Walking Dead, the show and all of the other forms of it, that you can see it coming from quite a way away and be ready for it. Then there are moments like how this episode ends that bring you to the edge of your seat and leave you questioning why they would do that to you with a character you’ve loved for so long. It even left on one of the better of the cliffhangers in The Walking Dead history in my book. It’s still not the best, but once you get to it you can see that Telltale Games had a great plan and executed it rather well to keep us all hooked just a bit longer.
Overall
It is always hard to say this, but this episode of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is one of the ones that the season has been building to with all of the other slower ones in the way. There are TV shows that do the same thing and here is a version of the game that makes it fully worth forcing through the first half of everything to get to this point. It all builds to this and hopefully more for The Walking Dead: A New Frontier. All of the slower free-form play is needed to enjoy this episode and this is where all of that patience pays off. If you haven’t been in on this season just yet, this is where I’d say it is fully worth the time and money to start right up. Once you push into this point you’ll fully understand why it played out the way it did and you too will be happy to have taken the plunge.
I give The Walking Dead: A New Frontier — Thicker Than Water 2 Fake Out Choices on the Fake Out Choice scale.
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier — Thicker Than Water
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier was developed by Telltale Games. The Walking Dead: A New Frontier — Thicker Than Water was published by Telltale Games for the PS4, Xbox One, and PC on April 25th 2017. A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for reviewing purposes.