The Walking Dead: The Telltale Definitive Series

[b]backlog journal (7/150): playing & reviewing all my neglected sale games[/b] [i]bought in dec 2025 • completed in jul 2026 (100%)[/i] it’s 2026. fourteen years after the release of its first season, i have finally sat down and finished this game. i have no prior knowledge of the show or comics and went into this completely blind. you play as lee, a convict caught in the middle of a zombie outbreak, who ends up protecting clementine, a young girl left home alone. the majority of the gameplay revolves around examining objects and interacting with people, then using whatever you’ve picked up to solve small environmental puzzles or work through conversations. most conversations are timed, you’ve got a limited window to pick a response, or you can let it run out and stay silent. either way, it shifts how the characters feel about you. some choices are small while others are significant, right down to deciding who lives and who dies. the timing was sometimes brutally tight, and i was frustrated at not having time to properly think before having to choose. but thematically, it works: the characters never had the luxury of time either. i played through with no takebacks, and i regretted some of my choices, but i learnt to live with them, just like the characters did. there is no “correct” choice, you just have to pick whatever feels right to your brain (and heart). if you’re coming into this expecting a traditional visual novel where your choices fork the story into wildly different endings, that’s not quite what you're getting here. this is largely a storybook: the overarching plot is the same and certain things are unavoidable regardless of what you pick. but does that make your choices, or the entire game, meaningless? in my opinion, no. the game is less about [i]what[/i] happens and more about [i]how[/i] it happens. who trusts you? who resents you? which characters soften around you and which ones never quite forgive something you said two episodes ago? the destination is the same, but the road there (and who’s walking beside you when you arrive) changes based on the person you decide to be. what i appreciated most, though, was that the characters aren’t split neatly into "good" and "evil." in a world that's falling apart, people get selfish, cowardly, cruel, or stubborn. but they’re also kind, scared, and acting on reasons that make sense to them even if you don’t necessarily agree. i love that the story shows rather than tells. you can tell a character doesn’t like you from their cold tone and decisions rather than an outright “i don’t like you.” you can also infer certain plot points from small details like someone’s expression, or even the way they look at something. that said, not every part of the experience is thoughtfully handled. the quick-time events, specifically the mash-this-button-repeatedly combat sequences, are the weakest part of the game. they dont really add much tension to the story and quickly became annoying for me. i mean, let’s be honest here: nobody is playing this series for the gameplay. thankfully, the game seems to know that too, and they don’t show up too much. ultimately, all of that is secondary to how much i just loved this story despite its flaws. i teared up, i laughed, i was shocked… i found myself fervently hoping certain characters wouldn't die. i changed my mind about characters i initially wrote off as jerks, watching them find their own kind of love and support in a world that gave them every reason not to bother. to watch them fight to survive with no real end goal in sight, just to see the next sunrise. and somewhere across the four seasons, i realised i’d grown alongside them. i can’t get into specifics without spoiling the story, so you’ll just have to take my word for it. below are some thoughts on each season (tagged for minor spoilers, and you may want to skip this section until you’ve played, since reading it beforehand might infuence your opinion of the story): season one [spoiler]was phenomenal. i fully understood the hype of this game after finishing it. the story, character writing and ending brought me to tears, which surprised me considering i had no prior investment in this franchise.[/spoiler] season two [spoiler]was slightly weaker, mainly because i got annoyed at how a group of grown adults kept deferring to and relying on an eleven year old for major decisions. i understood the narrative purpose: clementine growing up fast in a world that forces her to, and that they wanted the player to have the agency to make major choices, but it didn’t stop the frustration from creeping in every time it happened.[/spoiler] season three [spoiler]was just okay. if they were going to introduce a brand new protagonist, i think it would have worked better without clementine in the mix at all. as a player, i’d spent two seasons growing emotionally attached to her, ready to protect her no matter what. but javier, the new lead, has never even met her. would he really be as trusting and risk everything to protect a total stranger? on top of that, some of the dialogue options were so ridiculous it became unintentionally comical, with the character saying something completely different from what the option actually suggested.[/spoiler] season four [spoiler]was amazing. i might have a slight bias since i absolutely loved mitch, louis, violet & james, but this is my favourite season. i really liked every character in this cast, and i was hoping for everyone to survive. it was so moving to see clementine surrounded by kids her own age, watching real friendships bloom instead of just forming temporary survival alliances. to find home. the ending here asks for the most suspension of disbelief out of the whole series, but it’s fine because i’m biased and i like the ending, hehe.[/spoiler] the michonne dlc [spoiler]was my least favourite. this dlc features michonne, a character from the comics, as the lead. the hallucinations and flashback sequences got repetitive fast (and they were kind of headache-inducing), and the runtime just wasn’t long enough for me to actually connect with any of the characters. i couldn’t tell if that’s a “you needed to have read the comics” problem or a “the game just wasn’t as good here” problem. or maybe it’s both? the fight sequences were great though.[/spoiler] final thoughts: fourteen years late, and i get it now. this is a game about who you become when the world falls apart, and who’s left standing next to you when it does. and the value is absurd on top of it. i got this game when it was 90% off. over 50 hours of narrative for $4.50, less than a coffee, in that iconic comic book shading and an immersive soundtrack (“grim ranger” by lungs and limbs had me sitting with my emotions long after the credits finished rolling). if you’re one of the rare few survivors left who haven't played this yet… please, just get it already. [code]check out what i played next at [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45862522]kitten's backlog journal[/url] ♡[/code]

telltale’s twd is genuinely one of those games that will stay with me forever. i first played it when i was younger and it ended up becoming such a huge part of my childhood. even after all these years, i still find myself coming back to it and somehow it manages to make me cry every single time T_T there genuinely isn’t a single season where i didn’t end up emotional by the end. if a game can make me ugly cry this many times then i think it’s doing something right xD one of my favourite things abt this series has always been the characters. they feel so real and it honestly didn’t take long before i got completely attached to them. watching clementine grow throughout the series is genuinely one of my favourite character journeys in any game. it honestly feels like you’re watching your own kid grow up and learning to survive in such a horrible world. clem will forever have a special place in my heart…and so will lee</3 the voice acting is absolutely incredible too and i genuinely think it’s a huge part of why every emotional moment hits as hard as it does. i also absolutely love the art style. the choices, the pacing and the story all come together so well and every season had me completely invested from beginning to end. overall i genuinely don’t think i’ll ever stop recommending this series to ppl. if you love choice based games, zombies or just stories with amazing characters then pls give this a chance. thanks for this masterpiece. 10/10. this series will forever have a special place in my heart<3

The Walking Dead is one of those games that stays with you long after you finish it. The story is amazing, and the characters are written so well that it’s hard not to get attached to them. At the same time, you’ll find yourself genuinely hating some of them. That’s what makes the game so emotional. You never know who’s going to survive, and losing a character you really liked can happen at any moment. The choices are difficult and often don’t have a perfect outcome, which makes every decision feel important. To me, this game is a masterpiece. It’s not a game with the best graphics or gameplay, but that’s never the point. The story, the relationships between the characters, and the emotional moments are what make it so memorable. If you enjoy story-driven games, I can’t recommend this enough. You’ll get a better survival story here than in any survival movie. It’s a beautiful experience that I’ll remember for a very long time.