I first played The Walking Dead back when it originally released, and I decided to replay it now so I could finally experience the rest of the seasons and carry my save forward. I already knew the entire story this time around, so I wasn't expecting the same experience I had the first time. And yet, somehow, that ending still hit me just as hard.
That's probably the biggest compliment I can give this game. Even knowing exactly what was going to happen, I still got that feeling of having just finished something special. Whenever a game manages to make me genuinely feel something by the time the credits roll, it immediately earns a place among my favorites.
It's also interesting to see just how important this game was in hindsight. At the time, it felt revolutionary, and it essentially put Telltale on the map, paving the way for three more seasons of The Walking Dead and countless other narrative adventure games based on different IPs.
Playing it again after all these years did expose one of its biggest weaknesses for me, though: replayability. Since so much of the game is built around dialogue and choices, already knowing what's going to happen makes the story feel noticeably slower and less engaging. This was one of those games that took me a while to finish because I didn't have that same curiosity pulling me forward. The first time around, however, I couldn't put it down. I remember wanting to keep playing until I reached the end, and I think that's the experience this game is really designed for. I'm generally like this with choice-driven games such as Detroit Become Human, I want to experience the story once, make my decisions, live with the consequences, and then leave it there. Going back to see different outcomes just doesn't have the same magic for me.
But the characters are where this game really shines. Lee is an incredibly well-written protagonist, and despite the relatively short runtime, I became attached to him in a way that reminds me of Arthur in Red Dead Redemption. The fact that the game manages to create that kind of connection in so much less time is genuinely impressive.
And then there's Clementine.
The relationship between Lee and Clementine is the heart of the entire game. She gives your decisions a completely different weight because you're not just making choices for yourself anymore. You're making them knowing that Clementine is watching, learning from you, and potentially being affected by everything you do. You're not just trying to survive. You're trying to decide what kind of person you want Clementine to become. And I think that's ultimately why the ending works so incredibly well.
There are games I enjoy, and then there are games that make me feel like I experienced something special. The Walking Dead: Season One is one of those games for me, even after all these years, the ending still got to me.
9/10
