One thing that makes a review of the second season of The Walking Dead so hard is that it's completely tailored to you. Much like each successive episode of the first season, the game loads your save and sees what decisions you've made in the past, changing your experience in order to focus on the character you've created. Since All That Remains (the first episode of the second season) revolves almost entirely on the character of Clementine, the poor young girl you tried to protect during the zombie apocalypse in the first season, your actions carry over from the last game and could color the entire rest of the season. It thus becomes a very personal journey- this is your Clem, after all.
Of course, if you haven't played the first season your decisions (and thus Clem's past) will be randomized, but where's the fun in that? There's absolutely no reason to go into here blind, so make sure you play through what's inarguably one of the best games of last year before attempting this one.
Clem is grown up here, a bit. She's still a little girl but she's a little bit older, and depending on your actions from the first game she's more or less prepared for what the world has become. She might know how to shoot, she might have even shot someone she really cared about. There might be people watching out for her or she might be on her own. Regardless of what happens she does eventually end up alone, starving and exhausted in the woods. Zombies are everywhere and rest is nowhere, Clem forced to scavenge to stay alive.
After an encounter with man's best friend that doesn't exactly end up where you think it would, she ends up being found by a group of strangers. In this world it's one of the most terrifying things you can do. At least you know what zombies are about- who are these people and what do they want? What have they been doing to survive out there? Can they help Clem and could this possibly be a home for her if so?
But every group has their own politics and issues, and Clem's appearance makes tensions run high and things soon turn to shit, the way it always seems to in this series.
A follow-up to such an amazing game as The Walking Dead Season One isn't an easy thing to do. While you've undoubtedly grown attached to the character of Clem you grew into that role as her protector, the person who was either trying to shield her from the horrors taking place or trying to toughen her up in order to make sure she survived it. She gave you a purpose, a sense of hope amid the non-stop barrage of death and failure. No matter what happened, no matter what awful, horrible things you had to do yourself- as long as Clem was alright, things could turn out ok. She was everything to you. Everything.
And now she is you. It's jarring to have to now play as the character you were watching out for, trying to utilize the knowledge that you yourself gave you. (uh). It's also much different to play the kid of the group. She's not the person making important decisions, she's not strong or a good leader or someone who anyone looks up to. She'd be the sidethought in another game but here you are controlling her and what she gets up to. Of course she gets up to her own little adventures but, as far as now, they only affect her immediate worldview- not the survival of an entire group of people.
While there's undoubtedly some great, shocking moments in the game (there's one moment in particular that caught me completely off guard) we've already been through the ringer and shell shock has almost certainly set in. When you've seen the things we've seen and done the things we've done there isn't much that can faze you- you just become numb to all the horror, much like the characters in the game.
So the real question here becomes- while The Walking Dead Season Two is certainly compelling, can it be as great as the first? Can it even hope to? It's a position you wouldn't envy for any game, because when something has become so amazingly acclaimed, both critically and commercially, and had effectively changed what people thought was capable of narrative in games... well, there seems to be nowhere else to go but down.
There's also the question of where the story goes from here. One of the biggest issues the comic of "The Walking Dead" faced was that of repetition. When one attempted community of individuals fails to work and ends up either disbanding/dying off what most often happens it that the main character runs into another community and has to deal with all of their idiosyncricities, and the cycle begins again. It's already happened here in this very first episode. How many more new people do you have to meet before you grow cold and indifferent to anyone, since everyone is temporary in this awful world? Are the designers ready to take us down that journey and would we even want to experience it?
But regardless of where it ends up it's undeniably good to see Clem again. Is it weird to say it's easy to be concerned for her? No, of course it isn't- you helped her through some horrible events and don't want anything bad to happen to her. Let's hope that that doesn't include a subpar series. The first episode is still engaging, still surprising, so let's hope for the best for the next four episodes. If nothing else- do it for Clem.
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The first episode of The Walking Dead Season Two is now available for PC, Xbox 360, PS3, and iOS, and is coming soon to the Playstation Vita. This review is based on a PS3 code provided by the publisher.
