Reflecting on a Decade: The Impact of a Popular Video Game’s Conclusion and the Overlooked Success of Its Sequel

After finishing the first season of Telltale's The Walking Dead, I was reluctant to dive into a second episode. This experience had been so captivating, so immersive, that I wondered how a sequel could top it. Well, I stuck my finger in my eye up to my elbow! First of all, a little reminder. The Walking Dead is a narrative video game close to point and click and based on the famous comic book universe. But here, the scenario comes out of the developers' heads: the player embodies Lee, a character who will have to survive against the zombies thanks to a series of dialogue choices and actions. These decisions can have serious consequences on the development of the story and the relationship between the characters. And of course, this is The Walking Dead, so expect dilemmas where a character can die in a single click.

A first game that lays the foundations

In this world where death is everywhere, I have a lot of trouble becoming attached to children, and Lee quickly meets Clémentine, a little girl aged… 6 years old. The death of adults is hard enough, I can't help but be even sadder when it comes to younger ones. Too bad for me, our hero leaves us no choice: he makes the decision to take care of the child. A commitment which, after multiple adventures, will lead him to his downfall. At the end of Season 1, our character dies, leaving little Clementine alone. The game then places us face to face with one of its famous choices: ask our protégé to shorten our suffering or let us transform into a zombie. While Clementine had just discovered the death of her parents a few minutes earlier, this conclusion is all the more striking! Despite this heartbreaking finale, I persist and sign: I prefer the sequel.

Controlling Clementine changes everything!

One of the strong points of The Walking Dead Season 2 is that we take direct control of Clementine… At the time, I was curious to know the rest of this story and the future of this little girl, surely traumatized forever. But if my fear was already great when I took on the role of Lee, a robust and resourceful adult, I did not imagine how much it would be exacerbated by playing a defenseless little girl. Not only confronted with monsters but also with human violence, I felt even less serene in this second experience. Moreover, the introduction to Season 2 does not fail to emphasize these points. In the space of 20 minutes, we find ourselves alone, wandering through the woods, fleeing these two threats after losing our former companions.

Regarding my choices, in this new opus, it is no longer necessary to worry about Clementine's reactions, because we are the ones who guide her actions. This has the effect of making the character more “adult” and lucid. Consequently, this second part gives our former protégé a leadership role. Something that did not please some, arguing that it did not correspond to the universe of The Walking Dead. To me, this seems perfectly consistent, especially when comparing his journey to Carl's in the TV series. Like him, she emerges as a central character in a world where children are forced to mature quickly: unlike the first opus, Clémentine is directly confronted with this reality.

Sometimes children have to show their parents the way. Carl Grimes, The Walking Dead

Much more impactful secondary characters

In Season 2 of The Walking Dead, new game means new team. For me, Clementine only had one family: Lee. Although she ends up quickly accepted into a new group, I didn't feel particularly close to them. At first, losing one of the five members of this group did nothing for me. However, this view quickly evolved… In fact, after Lee's death, I didn't think I would find such an impactful figure again. However, in this season 2, there is Kenny: he was one of the protagonists of our group in the first part. His fate was tragic, having lost his wife and son. Originally, I was unable to fully appreciate this father, often dominated by his outbursts of anger, which often put us in danger. However, in the second part, his presence touched me deeply. He does not act as a surrogate father, but rather as an uncle, offering valuable support and advice to Clementine. His return was a moment of comfort and familiarity, one of the reasons I loved this album.

In opposition to this nostalgic character, we meet Jane who brings another interesting dynamic. Individualist and pragmatic, she presents herself as a big sister to Clémentine. His presence raises questions about trust and loyalty in a world where alliances are often fragile. After episode 4, a rivalry emerges between Kenny and Jane, revealing the reasons behind their respective attitudes. Jane, in particular, serves as a spiritual big sister to our character, influenced by her own past with her sister. On the other hand, Kenny is tormented by the traumatic events he faces: his “new” wife is bitten when we try to flee an orde of zombies. At this moment, his anger and frustration reach peaks.. This opus is for him a descent into hell in the continuity of Season 1 and it is frankly exhilarating to follow. Despite his violence and questionable decisions, Kenny represents for Clementine and me the last link with the first game, which makes it difficult to detach himself emotionally.

A well-constructed story for a successful finale

The conclusion to Season 2 is unforgiving, perhaps even more heartbreaking than Lee's inevitable death in the first game: Kenny or Jane, only one of them can continue to live, the other must die. I still remember pausing and thinking for a good fifteen minutes before making my choice. The cause of this purpose is simple: AJ. Real name Alvin Junior, he is a baby who has just been born at the end of Season 2. For Kenny, he represents his last hope for a better world, which is why he takes care of it at the risk of his life. When it's Jane's turn to take care of him, she explains to us that she had to escape, leaving him with the zombies. Taken by anger, the widower attacks her and starts a fight to the death. It's up to us to make the final decision: kill one or the other. For my part, I chose to end Kenny's suffering. Then, when we find AJ hiding in a car further away, I understand that our spiritual sister had planned everything. I take Alvin Junior with me and leave behind the one who had just lied to me, forcing me to kill the one I took for my uncle, my friend.

Kenny and Jane face each other to the death

This decision led me to abandon every trusted figure I had, even Kenny who I knew very well, to pursue my own destiny. This time, the end of the game clearly made me want to play a sequel. I was convinced that I wanted to know Season 3, even more so with this “new” Clementine and this little baby AJ. In true Lee fashion, I would become a new mentor and potential spiritual mother! In reality, Telltale games are designed to be enjoyed together and each episode enriches the story. We follow the evolution of this young girl over four seasons and how, from protected, she becomes protective.