The Walking Dead: A New Frontier Episode 5 Review

Wrapping up the latest season of The Walking Dead, the fifth episode of A New Frontier shows what happened to Javier, Clementine, and the other denizens of Richmond. Unfortunately, the execution of this episode is more disheveled than one of its many walkers.

The Walking Dead: A New Frontier Episode 5 Review

The previous episode showed our hero Javier between a rock and a hard place. Under attack from both walkers and the citizens of Richmond, the gang spends most of this episode fighting for survival. There’s no clear goal in mind – the evil mastermind disappears without mention, and the New Frontier movement disappears after about 15 minutes of playtime. Rather, the game focuses on our heroes’ journey to find a way to save Richmond and survive the throngs of walkers, all with a bit of family drama thrown in for good measure.

However, even that doesn’t really pan out. Despite having four episodes to set the scene, nothing really happens. Some resolutions happen off screen, long lost characters make a return without much fanfare, and the decisions made up to this point don’t matter. As per previous episodes, acting any way other than the way the game wants you to breaks the script. Characters will end up downright bipolar, with frequent mood swings and no clear character development. The game profiles you at the end of the season, but the consultation provided was completely off base when compared to the actions made up to this point. To add insult to injury, many of the plot threads are not resolved, no doubt to set the stage for the inevitable sequel. The acting makes things that much worse. The liberal use of curse words, frequent pauses, and campy monologues oftentimes feels like cringy fanfiction.

There’s not many interactive gameplay elements to speak of in this episode. Exploration is nonexistant, with the hour and a half runtime divvied up between quick time events and choices. It oftentimes feels like you’re watching the game more than actually playing it. How you feel about that depends on what you look for in these titles.

A number of bugs rear their ugly head once more. Even on maxed out settings, objects will pop out of focus frequently. One especially funny bug happened when a character who previously died started walking around in the background like everything was peachy keen. There were no crashes to speak of, but the engine used here is not the most stable in the world.

Everything’s not all doom and gloom though. Fans of The Walking Dead will appreciate the fanservice the series provides, and its focus on the action gives it some interesting setpieces.

The final episode of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier ends the season on a low note. It’s lack of interactive elements, frequent bugs, and substandard writing will have fans of the series looking to the TV show or comic to get their walker fix.