The Walking Dead: Season Two Episode 2 – A House Divided Review

One of the more tense episodes of The Walking Dead.

The next episode of The Walking Dead Season 2 has finally hit. After a long break, Clementine is back and now has to cope with the consequences of her choices she made in the first episode. Now, if readers remember correctly, I had some technical issues with the first episode, but I can safely say with the wait between the first and second episode, Telltale must have done some good polishing while still making a compelling story.

Episode 2 starts up right after the events of the first episode. Depending on the last decision players made in the first, Clem will be with whomever she chose. I would assume these next few chapters and conversations play out much differently due to the major differences in the character’s personality. Eventually, Clem makes it back to the house with the other survivors. Here, the game begins a very tense moment that I really don’t want to spoil. It has Clem both trying to hide something while lying to someone in a situation that is both frightening and gut-wrenching. This chapter really sold me on the story and got me back invested with the storytelling of Telltales’ take on The Walking Dead.

Stick around.

There are some really big surprises in this episode. Some that fans of the first season will really enjoy. But along with good surprises comes some tragedies as well. This is, of course, The Walking Dead, and a lot of things transpire here.

Guess who’s coming to dinner.

I really have to mention the storytelling and emotional turmoil that Telltale does a great job at portraying. I wasn’t feeling the first episode of this season. I didn’t feel invested, but this episode has got me right back to where I wanted to be, so much that even making a simple decision like where to sit during dinner was a big conflicting choice for me. Telltale really knocked it out of the park with this episode.

The graphical and game play glitches I experienced in the first episode are completely gone here. I never once had slow down, a missed conversation or dialog option, or any other hiccups. Finally, The Walking Dead meets the standards of The Wolf Among Us in terms of technical quality.

It is most definitely hammer-time.

Tell your story but let me explore.

If there is one complaint I had with episode 2, it would be that controlling Clem has taken a backseat here. I think in my hour and a half of playing, I controlled Clem maybe three times. Exploration seems to not be the focus here with character interactions and story taking precedence. That’s not to say the action is not here. There are a good amount of sequences and even a nice shooting scene in episode 2 that keeps the tension high.

The Walking Dead Season 2 has finally hit its stride for me. I really didn’t enjoy episode 1 too much due to both technical issues and having to set up back-story for many characters. Episode 2 remedies that by fixing all the bugs, putting the player in constant tense situations and having some truly frightening set pieces. It may go by a little too fast, but Season 2 Episode 2 is a fine continuation to the series that makes up for the lackluster first episode.

Review copy of game provided by publisher. Primary play on PC.

Good
  • No technical bugs
  • Great voice acting
  • Good surprises
  • Tense situations
  • Compelling story
Bad
  • Exploration takes a backseat
  • Somewhat short
9
Excellent
Written by
Drew is the Community Manager here at ZTGD and his accent simply woos the ladies. His rage is only surpassed by the great one himself and no one should stand between him and his Twizzlers.

1 Comment

  1. I liked the game, too. One flaw I noticed just before someone else in the room mentioned it to me – the animations of the character movements, and facial expressions seems to be more robotic and stiff than the previous versions. Didn’t kill the experience for me, and still one of my favorite episodes, but it was really noticeable

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