This review features minor structural spoilers for Episode 5, though it discusses no major plot points. The events of past episodes—and the past season—are discussed heavily.
Who will you become?
Telltale Games posed this question to generate hype for The Walking Dead episode “No Going Back,” challenging players to consider the choices they’ve made as the game’s young protagonist. Has Clementine become a hardened and cold survivor? Or does she valiantly protect those she cares about?
Regardless of your answer, The Walking Dead’s fifth episode offers a wholly satisfying conclusion to Clementine’s story, and it accomplishes this while allowing players to remain true to their vision of Clementine. This is Telltale Game’s magnum opus—not because it trumps the first season but because it capitalizes on the series’ core mechanics in an unprecedented fashion.
After the previous episode’s climatic conclusion, the rifts between members of Clementine’s group have become impossible to mend. “No Going Back” sees this conflict developed and complicated by additional—and necessary—character development. The group’s downfall is rendered more tragic by Telltale’s deft ability to make all sides of the conflict sympathetic. Clementine’s companions are just people, doing what they perceive as right while pursuing increasingly disparate goals. The episode underscores that point with its quieter moments. Stories and rum are swapped around a campfire. Jokes are made at Jane and Luke’s expense, and these grow more comical with Clementine’s attempts to engage in “adult” conversations. The laughter—and the camaraderie—are sharp reminders of the group’s humanity, and those memories are hard to shake off when the troupe at last turns on one another with bared teeth and itchy trigger fingers.
The episode takes its time in reaching that breaking point. This stands in stark contrast—both tonally and thematically—to the conclusion of Lee’s story from Season 1. Lee’s finale felt like a frantic and heroic last stand. Regardless of how players chose to play Lee, they eventually found themselves in the same place: seated before a stranger who judged Lee for his actions.
Clementine’s finale feels like several long moments of deliberation at the edge of a precipice, after which players must choose the method of their descent. Climb or jump, there are no answers to be found at the bottom of that ravine, nor are there any strangers eagerly waiting to judge Clementine for her actions. Instead, Clementine herself must adopt the role of judge, jury, and executioner, and this occurs in the most emotionally trying way possible.
It’s a big responsibility for such small shoulders, but the game handles it with great objectivity. For the first time in Telltale history, player’s decisions directly impact the season’s conclusion and unlock one of three majorly different endings. It would be impossible to peg one outcome as the “good” or “bad” ending, and, in subsequent playthroughs, I noticed two pretty substantial variations within those three endings themselves. Because of this, the conclusion deals less with morals and more with self-expression. It’s Telltale’s delivery on the promise they implicitly made with their promotional question: players will see their Clementine become exactly who they wanted her to be, albeit at a great cost.
This is both Telltale’s greatest triumph and their cruelest curse. Even though I was satisfied with the ending that I unlocked on my first playthrough, I find myself perpetually attempting to justify my final decision. Notably, all my attempted justifications return to my personal interpretation of Clementine, but they feel a little empty, too. This isn’t a bad thing; it’s the nature of that final choice—a decision in which both options are equally appalling. Unfortunately, the moments leading up to that final moral quandary feel less like an organic sequence of events and more like contrived foolishness, but clever game design nevertheless makes the sequence devastating. The proactive option—one which puts Clementine in control—is paired with the choice that some series veterans might impulsively shy away from. The more passive option results in an equally loathsome outcome. This results in a balanced final choice where neither option appears more desirable or “correct.”
“No Going Back” cements Season Two’s identity as a separate but nevertheless compelling entry in series. It brings many of the themes and questions from previous episodes full circle in often surprising ways, all while building upon familiar mechanics from the first season. Players may be relieved to see their choices having a direct impact on the game. I know that I’m both pleased with—and heartbroken by—who my Clementine has become.
This review is based on a retail Steam code sent by the publisher.
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