Episode two in TellTale’s Walking Dead continues on with the great gameplay seen in the first. Bringing back Lee and all the other characters this episode really began to stand out on its own as a standalone extra in the Walking Dead universe.
The story in these episodes is fantastic and again really follows the style of story set forth by Robert Kirkman in the comic books. The inter-personal drama between characters is what really dictates where the story goes and it also helps to set a great mood.
While you could pick up the story starting from this second episode by watching the recap given at the start of the episode it would make much more sense and likely be more fun to play the first episode as well.
Picking up a few months after the first episode the crew has a nice setup but food has become an issue, hence the name “Starved for help”. The game does a great job of creating a paranoid attitude which makes you question everyone and think twice before deciding who to trust. This episode takes place in a few different locations and they all add to the story in a beneficial way.
The difference in this episode was the choices seemed a lot more difficult. In the first episode most of the choices seemed to revolve around picking sides with group members and making alliances. In this game there are quite a few choices that have a life or death impact and there is very little time to make that choice.
It was interesting that there were no characters from the comics or TV show that made an appearance in this episode. In the first it seemed as though the appearance of Glen likely meant you would encounter many other memorable characters but without them it definitely gave the story its own feel without relying on already known characters.
Again the puzzles are quite simple and the game plays as more of an interactive story than a puzzle game. It’s quite obvious what you need to do and you really don’t run into anything that takes a whole lot of thinking to complete. This is actually better though because if there were more puzzles put in it seems as though they would likely feel too forced.
This episode is just as good as the first and with an interesting addition at the end they pull you in to get excited for the next episode.
