Review: The Walking Dead – A New Frontier Episodes 1 & 2

With two seasons and a spinoff under their belts, there is no denying that The Walking Dead has become Telltale’s best work to date. They look to continue that trend as they have spoiled us with a dual episode release for their 3rd season, entitled A New Frontier.

A New Frontier begins with a new batch of characters, the Garcia family. The opening chapter of the first episode delivers a chilling prologue, rewinding the clock back to when the outbreak first began. The events of the first chapter leave the Garcia family in shambles, with only four members of the family surviving to present day. In A New Frontier you play as Javier Garcia, a former baseball star who tarnished his legacy and was banned from the league for gambling. Javi, alongside his brother’s wife Kate, as well as his brother’s two kids, Gabe and Mariana. Attempting to outrun a walker heard, the Garcia foursome make a pit stop for fuel and supplies at a junkyard and things go south quickly. Soon after Javi comes face to face with a character we all know and love from the previous two seasons, Clementine.

It becomes clear very quickly that this is not the Clementine we left off with in season two. She’s a little older and wiser, but there’s also just something drastically different about her in A New Frontier. The years of seeing groups she has been a part of dismantled (and occasionally dismembered by walkers) has taken a toll on her, and seems to prefer being a lone wolf.

When we last left Clementine in season two there were three possible outcomes: Clementine and baby AJ travelling back to Carver’s hardware store shelter with Jane, getting turned away at the gates of Wellington with Kenny, or Clem and AJ venturing off on their own. The first two episodes are peppered with Clementine’s flashbacks that slowly fill in the gaps of where season two left off until the events of A New Frontier. This will likely become a common theme within each episode, as episodes one and two barely scratch the surface of what Clem has been through. One major flashback we do get to see is what happens to either Jane or Kenny, which are both equally as heartbreaking.

Before the release of A New Frontier‘s first two episodes there was talk of making Telltale’s The Walking Dead mix more with the comic and television series, and in episode two they did just that. Javi, Clem, and the rest of the gang have a bit of a run in with a familiar fan favorite of both the comics and tv show, and it will be interesting to see if the appearance is more than just a cameo spanning a couple chapters in a single episode.

From a technical standpoint, episodes one and two of A New Frontier are Telltale’s best work in recent memory. After what was a pretty flawed finale in Batman The Telltale Series, they definitely turned things around as neither of the first two episodes show any signs of framerate bogs or out of sync dialogue.

Telltale once again proves that The Walking Dead series are their best work, as they deliver yet another emotional punch in the gut with the first two episodes of A New Frontier. With a much improved technical performance and yet another gripping storyline, the only downfall of A New Frontier is having to wait for the release of the next episode after being spoiled with a double episode release.

Playstation 4 season pass of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier was provided by Telltale Games