The beauty of episodic games is that it all comes down to the final episode. Even if a season had rocky moments throughout, all problems can essentially be resolved if that finale lives up to expectations. For Telltale Games, issues are plentiful in their choose-your-own-adventure titles that they've become the leaders of, but the stories told in them usually tend to make up for any downsides. The third season of their wildly successful adaption of The Walking Dead had all the makings of something special, and while the studio shook things up as far as the cast was concerned, they've managed to maintain a strong enough consistency to make it still worth following. Does the final episode of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier end the season on a high note, or is it another case of missed chances and opportunities?
Throughout the four episodes thus far, there's been this hearty presence of ties, bonds, and relationships through family. There's no doubt that the character development is on point – at least as far as the main cast goes. Between interactions during present day and flashbacks, to witnessing how these interactions alter when faced with adversity, the player gets a true sense of main character Javi and his family, and it's ultimately why there's a lot to praise about this season in general. However, the season's pacing slowed to a zombie-speed crawl during times when there was too much focus on dialogue that didn't actually go anywhere plot wise, or side characters that weren't as fleshed out as they needed to be. With the finale, From the Gallows, it does everything it needs to in order to bring the season to a close, and luckily it does so in a satisfying The Walking Dead fashion.
What From the Gallows succeeds in the most is by simply staying true to itself. With the perfect mix of dialogue, action, and decision-making, there isn't one aspect that overshadows the other for once – it's not an endless bullet-spray slugfest, nor is it a sappy melodramatic soap opera with cliché relationship conclusions. It's smartly put together while mixing drama and emotions, and it makes one wonder why that couldn’t have been implemented as well in other episodes in the past.
Even though the decisions being made don't really change the track of the overall story, they do provide an additional connection that hasn't been in Telltale's Walking Dead series like ever before. For example, a decision in a previous season could make the player at least feel like they're making an impact on the plot. Now, decisions make the player feel like they're making an impact on the character, and that drastic shift is impressive in its own right. Despite disappointment from conversations and choices in prior episodes that ended up not amounting to anything at first, the call-backs and references during the finale made it clear the game was paying attention. As the credits begin to roll, it's impossible to become too hung up on technical problems or specific episode miscues when the way they wrap it all up is well worth the price of admission.
