The Walking Dead · Plethora

Lee resting a hand on Clementine's cap in a dark room — Season One · The whole game, in one hand and one cap.

Back in 2021, when everyone was stuck indoors, I randomly decided to play Season 1 of Telltale's The Walking Dead for the first time. Honestly, I just thought I was getting a fun, mindless zombie game to kill a few hours. What I actually got was Lee Everett, little Clementine, and a complete emotional beatdown. Between all the terrifying split-second choices and the constant gut punches, it completely blew me away and ruined other story games for me.

Season One cover art, Lee holding an axe with Clementine beside him — Season One

A New Frontier cover art, Javier and Clementine — A New Frontier

The Final Season poster, Clementine with her eyes closed — The Final Season

Lee

Finding out Lee got bit near the end of Season 1 hits like an absolute freight train. You sit there in complete, denial-fueled shock, desperately wishing for some magical cure while watching Clementine realize her protector is running out of time. Making the call to let Lee turn instead of forcing a terrified kid to pull the trigger feels like the only merciful move left, leaving you totally gutted as you cling to the hopeless wish that a piece of him might somehow survive.

Lee's hand holding Clementine's cap, blood on the brim — The cap, and the blood on it.

Javier looking back over his shoulder, a stop sign behind him

A New Frontier

The entire dynamic between Javi and his brother's wife Kate in Season 3: A New Frontier feels completely off, throwing a massive wrench into the story. Watching that forced, romantic tension play out while David is still alive makes every interaction wildly uncomfortable, instantly pulling you out of the experience.

Instead of feeling like a natural post-apocalyptic romance, sneaking around with your own brother's wife feels cheap and completely unnatural, leaving you annoyed and constantly wishing you could just tell Kate to back off and focus on surviving.

The group standing together at night with guns pointed at them from both sides — Everyone still standing, and every gun pointed at them.

Kenny aiming a pistol, a bandage over one eye — Kenny, at the end of his patience.

Kenny standing with his arms crossed, half smiling — Kenny, before all of it.

AJ, and the axe

While everyone else wept back in Season 1 when Clementine had to raise that gun at Lee, my heart didn't fully break until the very end. The moment AJ picked up that axe in the barn, the entire journey hit me like a crushing weight.

Watching this tiny boy, whom I had spent seasons raising and protecting, forced to stand over Clementine just like she once stood over Lee, was almost too heavy to bear. The brutal, heartbreaking symmetry of history repeating itself brought me to absolute tears, leaving me utterly shattered as that blade swung.

Lee Everett with a line of his dialogue printed beside him — Lee Everett, in his own words.

How it was played

The first two seasons were played on a Redmi 4A. By the third the phone could not keep up, so I moved to my PC, a minimum spec machine that bottlenecked anyway. It did not matter. The Walking Dead had to be finished.

Maelle 002 · End of entry