The Walking Dead: Season Two

The Walking Dead: Season Two is an episodic interactive drama graphic adventure game based on The Walking Dead comic book series developed by Telltale Games. It is the sequel to The Walking Dead, with the episodes released between December 2013 and August 2014, and a retail collector's disc edition planned at the conclusion of the season. The game employs the same narrative structure as the first season, where player choice in one episode will have a permanent impact on future story elements. The player choices recorded in save files from the first season and the additional episode 400 Days carry over into the second season. Clementine, who was the player's companion during the first season, is the player-character in ''Season Two.

A third season, a full sequel to Season Two, titled The Walking Dead: A New Frontier was released on December 2016.

Gameplay
Similar to the previous season, The Walking Dead: Season Two is a point-and-click adventure game. The player, in control of Clementine, can direct the character around the environment, examine and interact with various scenery elements and collect and use objects to advance the story. The player can also initiate conversations with non-player characters via conversation trees. Certain replies from other characters may offer the player multiple choices to select from, including the option to stay silent, with a limited amount of time to make the selection; if the player does not select an option, the conversation will continue as if they had stayed quiet. Such choices can affect how the other characters will later react to Clementine which can influence later events in the story. Other scenes are more action-oriented, requiring the player to complete quick time events to prevent Clementine or her allies from getting killed. If the player fails at these events, the game will restart at the start of the scene. Such action scenes may also require the player to make a key decision within a limited time frame, such as which of two characters to save from attacking walkers.

The player's choices and actions will impact story elements in later episodes; for example, a character that the player does not choose to save will not appear in later scenes. Season Two also incorporates the player's choices from the first season and the DLC 400 Days, via the saved game file from these games, to influence the story and events in these episodes.

Setting
The Walking Dead: Season Two follows on the first game, and coincides with events of the comic, in which a zombie apocalypse has occurred, turning humans that are bitten or die turn into zombies, or "walkers"; the only way to stop this conversion is to damage the brain. The game is mostly set more than a year following its predecessor. While the game starts in Georgia, the setting moves to more northern locales as the survivors head towards Michigan, believing there is a large survivor camp there.

The second season follows Clementine (Melissa Hutchison), a young girl who has been able to survive the walkers thanks to the help of Lee Everett (Dave Fennoy). At the start of the apocalypse, Lee helps to protect Clementine and offers to help her find her parents who had gone to Savannah; they join several survivors in their journey. When Clementine is captured, a bitten Lee rescues her, but both realize her parents have become walkers. She is forced to choose between shooting him or leaving him to reanimate, before venturing off on her own.

The second season features several new characters, as well as others returning from the first season. Clementine initially accompanies Omid (Owen Thomas) and Christa (Mara Junot), a couple who are the last known survivors of Clementine's previous group. She then encounters a cabin that shelters several survivors: Luke (Scott Porter), a survivalist who quickly befriends Clementine; Luke's friend Nick (Brian Bremer), and his uncle Pete (Brian Sommer), a hunter; doctor Carlos (Kid Beyond), who is protective over his teenage daughter Sarah (Louisa Mackintosh); and Alvin (Dorian Lockett) and his wife Rebecca (Shay Moore), who are expecting a child. The cabin group has fled from William Carver (Michael Madsen), a charismatic yet dangerous dictator who rules a large survivor group in Howe's Hardware. They later encounter another group of survivors, consisting of Kenny (Gavin Hammon), Clementine's friend who was believed to be killed by walkers; Sarita (Julia Farmer), Kenny's new girlfriend; and Kenny's friend, Walter (Kiff Vanden Heuvel) and his survival student, Matthew (Wylie Herman). Both factions encounter Carver and his men, whose community includes Bonnie (Erin Yvette) and other survivors that were previously introduced in the 400 Days add-on content from the first season; Jane (Christine Lakin), a lone wolf who had lost her sister to walkers; and Mike (Dan White), a cranky yet humorous survivor. The latter part of the season introduces Arvo (Michael Ark), a Russian teenager with a leg brace who speaks in broken English, later shown to be part of a larger group of other Russian survivors.

Plot
This is only a broad overview of the plot, and may differ based on the choices made during both this game and the preceding Season One and its add-on "400 Days".

Several months after the events of Season One, Clementine has regrouped with Omid and Christa, who is now visibly pregnant. However, during a brief rest stop, Omid is killed by a scavenger attempting to rob Clementine. Sixteen months later, Christa and Clementine remain together and seek refuge at Wellington, Ohio, though Christa losing her child and becoming cynical has strained their relationship. The two are separated by a band of scavengers, and Clementine falls unconscious into a river.

Clementine finds a seemingly abandoned camp with a dog. When she finds food, the dog turns violent and bites her before Clementine kills it. A partially conscious Clementine is surrounded by a horde of walkers but is saved by Pete and Luke, who take her to a cottage where another group of survivors have taken shelter. The group, led by Luke, includes Pete and his nephew Nick, Alvin and his visibly pregnant wife Rebecca, and a doctor named Carlos and his daughter Sarah. The group mistake Clementine's bite for a walker bite and lock her in a shed to wait out her "infection". After Clementine steals the group's supplies to treat her wound, they begin to accept her.

While fishing with Pete and Nick the next morning, Clementine finds a murdered group of survivors. She gets separated from either Nick or Pete and returns to the house alone. Clementine is left with Sarah, during which a man enters the house and snoops around, questioning Clementine about the group. Clementine learns that this man is William Carver, the possible father of Rebecca's child and the tyrannical leader of another community who had tortured the group. On hearing of his visit, the group agrees to abandon the cabin. En route, they discover a deceased Pete or a hungover Nick.

Five days later, the group arrives at a fortified ski lodge occupied by Kenny, Sarita, and Walter. While elated to see Kenny alive after his apparent death in Savannah, Clementine observes that he has changed as his bitter attitude wears on both groups. A mysterious woman named Bonnie arrives seeking supplies, which Walter grants despite Kenny's suspicion. Clementine also learns that Nick killed Walter's boyfriend Matthew, and is forced to defuse the situation. During a walker attack, both groups are saved but captured by a third group commanded by Carver, who was led to the lodge by Bonnie.

Carver takes them to a fortified mall, which he runs with a strict hand. After Kenny attempts to escape, Carver brutally beats him and permanently damages his left eye. Carver's methods drives others including Bonnie to join the combined group to escape, as well as two survivors named Jane and Mike. Luke, who had evaded capture, warns the group of an oncoming walker horde. Clementine blasts a CD over the mall's intercom to draw the horde and help the group escape. Carver is subdued and beaten to death by Kenny with a crowbar.

The group then covers themselves in walker blood to attempt their way through the horde undetected. Carlos is devoured by walkers, causing Sarah to panic and get separated. Meanwhile, Sarita is bitten, which forces Clementine to either cut her arm off or euthanize her. Everyone meets at a nearby museum bar Sarah, Luke, and Nick (if alive). Clementine and Jane's search leads to a trailer park overrun by walkers. They find an already dead Nick and the other two trapped. With Sarah in a catatonic state due to her father's death, Clementine is given the decision of coercing her to leave or abandoning her to be devoured by the walkers.

While scouting, Clementine and Jane encounter a Russian teenager named Arvo. Arvo is attempting to cache medical supplies, which Clementine has the option of stealing. As Rebecca goes into labor, the museum is attacked by walkers. The observation deck collapses and causes Sarah (if saved from the trailer park) to fall and get devoured. Rebecca eventually gives birth to a boy later named AJ, while Jane leaves the group.

As the group heads north towards Wellington, they encounter Arvo and get caught in an ambush from other Russian survivors. As Rebecca succumbs to exhaustion and begins to reanimate, either Clementine or Kenny kills her to protect AJ. This triggers a gunfight which ends with the timely arrival of Jane. Arvo, the sole Russian survivor, is left alive on the promise of supplies. He directs the group to a home across a frozen lake. As the survivors make their way across, the ice begins to break with walkers in pursuit. Luke and optionally Bonnie fall through and drown.

Kenny assaults Arvo for putting the group in jeopardy, while Jane pulls Clementine aside to warn her about Kenny's attitude. They find a truck, which they fix and plan to use to flee the next morning. However, Clementine catches Arvo, Bonnie (if alive), and Mike attempting to escape from Kenny with the group's supplies. After being shot by Arvo, Clementine passes out and has a memory of Lee from their time of traveling towards Savannah in the caravan.

Clementine recovers and awakens in the truck with Jane, Kenny, and AJ as they are heading north, the others having run off. When the road is blocked, Kenny leaves to look for a way around, while Jane tries to convince Clementine to abandon Kenny and come with her. Among the blinding blizzard, a walker horde overwhelms them. Clementine and Kenny find shelter at a nearby rest stop. They are soon joined by Jane with no apparent sign of AJ. As an angered Kenny attacks and prepares to stab Jane, Clementine must decide whether to shoot and kill Kenny or allow him to kill Jane.

If Clementine kills Kenny, she then learns that Jane hid AJ in a nearby car and faked his death to prove to Clementine how unstable Kenny really was. Thereafter, Clementine can either forgive and stay with Jane at Carver's abandoned camp, or refuse and set off alone with AJ. If Clementine instead allows Kenny to kill Jane, she still has the option of killing him and leaving with AJ. If she does not, the two find AJ hidden in the car, where Clementine can either part ways with Kenny and leave with AJ or forgive and stay with Kenny. If they stay together, the two find Wellington, but overpopulation forces Clementine to decide whether to enter with AJ or remain with Kenny.

Episodes
The game is separated into five episodes, like the first season.

Development
When Telltale Games acquired the right to make video games based on The Walking Dead comics, they signed a contract for a "multi-year, multi-platform, multi-title" license. This license went into effect after the success of the first season of The Walking Dead, when Telltale commissioned a second series of games based on the franchise. The first season was considered highly successful, helping to revitalize the adventure game genre which had been in decline since the mid-1990s, with Telltale being recognized as one of the top development studios in 2012. During an interview on IGN's Up at Noon, writer Gary Whitta teased more The Walking Dead from Telltale sooner than later. "You won't have to wait for season two to play more Walking Dead", he claimed. "I can tell you what you already know, which is season two is coming. There's not much to say because it really is very early... it's a way off", said Whitta. "But, knowing that it's a way off, and knowing that people are hungry for more Walking Dead there may very well be more Walking Dead from Telltale before season two. We may have a little something extra for you between season one and two". Whitta continued to tease that something is in the works right now "that will make the wait for season two slightly less agonizing". This was revealed at the 2013 Electronic Entertainment Expo in June 2013 to be an additional episode called The Walking Dead: 400 Days that is available as downloadable content for the first season. It introduces five new characters that journalists expect to carry into Season Two. 400 Days will use data about the player's decisions in season one, and decisions made in 400 Days will carry into Season Two.

Writing for Season Two was done to contrast the work they had completed in the first season. At the start of the writing cycle for the second season, they had debated who their primary character would be including introducing new group of survivors that they could use to flesh out the backstories of characters from the first season, or with a new "protector" for Clementine. They eventually agreed to use Clementine as the main character as they felt her story needed to be continued. By changing the player's perspective from that of Lee to Clementine, they wanted to create a "different sort of agency" that the player will experience. Instead of the player, as Lee, looking to help Clementine and others, the player as Clementine would now have to determine who to trust to help her. They also emphasize this new perspective by using several camera angles from a low perspective, to emphasize that Clementine is a child compared to others she meets. The developers also recognized that they needed to avoid making Clementine feel like a "carbon copy" of the character from the first season and instead something crafted by the player's decisions. To resolve this they created the first scenario of the game that would separate her from the familiar characters and to make it feel a result of the player's actions, so that the player would directly connect with Clementine's situation. The concept they kept in mind to write for Season Two was "[Clementine is] eleven years old and the world doesn't care."

As with the previous season, Telltale plans to release Season Two for Microsoft Windows and OS X computers, on PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PlayStation Vita, and on iOS devices. Telltale is currently working to bring the first season and its DLC to the Ouya console, and is planning on releasing the second season for Ouya as well. Releases for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles were announced in May 2014 with release at a later date, along with retail versions of the game for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles. A Nintendo Switch version is scheduled for release in 2018.

The season was formally announced in late October 2013. The announcement showcased Clementine as the playable character for the game, set sometime after the events of the first series. Telltale's CEO Dan Conners stated that this will put "players in the shoes of a lead role that will challenge their expectations of how to survive in a world where no one can be trusted". The first episode was released in the fourth quarter of 2013, with subsequent episodes released four to six weeks apart. A collector's disc was announced to purchase at the end of the season, with those who pre-order the game (from the Telltale Games Store) receiving it for just the shipping and handling cost.

Sequel & spin off
Telltale Games and Skybound Entertainment announced spin off mini-series The Walking Dead: Michonne released in February 2016 and third season titled The Walking Dead: A New Frontier was released with first two episodes on December 2016, with physical season pass released in February 2017.

Reception
The Walking Dead: Season Two overall received generally positive reviews from critics; with particular praise going to the atmosphere, protagonist, and its sense of tension; however, some have criticized its lack of hub areas and certain aspects of its storytelling and it is often deemed inferior to its predecessor.

Episode 1 – All That Remains
Episode 1 – All That Remains received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 81.29% and 82/100, the PC version 78.76% and 78/100  and the Xbox 360 version 77.50% and 80/100. Matt Liebl from GameZone gave the episode an 8.5/10, stating that it "...is just a taste of what's to come -- a mere setup for the horror that awaits us in the final four episodes."

Episode 2 – A House Divided
Episode 2 - A House Divided received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 87.29% and 82/100, the PC version 81.39% and 81/100  and the Xbox 360 version 79.44% and 80/100. Mitch Dyer from IGN gave the episode a 9.5/10, saying it is one of the best episodes Telltale Games has ever made.

Episode 3 – In Harm's Way
Episode 3 - In Harm's Way received positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 82.43% and 80/100, the Xbox 360 version 82.25% and 82/100  and the PC version 82.22% and 81/100.

Episode 4 – Amid the Ruins
Episode 4 - Amid the Ruins received mixed to positive reviews. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 79.22% and 78/100, the PC version 78.58% and 78/100  and the Xbox 360 version 72.00% and 71/100. Many critics praised Clementine's development while most criticisms were focused on some of the characters' cheap deaths and sub-par writing compared to the episode's predecessors.

Episode 5 – No Going Back
Episode 5 – No Going Back received positive reviews, higher than its predecessor. Aggregating review websites GameRankings and Metacritic gave the PlayStation 3 version 81.67% and 87/100, the PC version 79.19% and 78/100  and the Xbox 360 version 77.00% and 84/100. Mitch Dyer of IGN gave the episode a 9.5/10 saying that the finale is "an impressive and intelligent episode, and among Telltale Games' finest stories."