Well, this kind of crept up on me but as one of the few people who still cares about this series (and Telltale games in general), I was pretty excited to jump back into it and was very pleasantly surprised at just how invested I was in the story again right from the jump. I don't know if it was ever mentioned in the promotion for this season but I had no idea that Clem was no longer the main character. It caught me off guard but I think I feel okay about it. Javier, so far, is a pretty good character in his own right and it's not like Clem is completely gone. I was disappointed, however, to see that the game seemed to have completely throw out your ending from Season Two, at least so far. I ended season 2 with Jane but there hasn't been a single mention of her and all the flashbacks are of Clem and AJ on their own. I ended up looking this up and apparently, Jane is suppose to be in the flashback if you ended up with her but I guess I must have messed something up? Overall though, I was really impressed with the two episodes even if it's pretty much the same formula you're used to. And hey, we finally got that new engine that we've wanted for years. Anyway, let's talk choices.

EPISODE 1

• I chose to stay the night in the junkyard. This is the kind of decision that you absolutely know is a horrible idea but I wanted to make the kids happy and I figured some bad shit is gonna happen anyway so what the hell.
• I chose to let the driver go. I'm not about shooting unarmed people.
• I got locked up. I'm not sure there's anyway to avoid this unless you completely rat out Clem, in which case, you're a monster.
• I went with Eleanor to the junkyard. At the time, Tripp seemed like kind of an asshole (he obviously proves himself not to be later on) and time definitely seemed of the essence.
• I stayed with Clementine at the junkyard. Your surrogate daughter gets shot in the head in front of you, I don't care who you are, you're gonna want to shoot back.

EPISODE 2

• I stayed out of the fight between Kate and David. You're in someone else's home, I'm not in the business in getting myself involved in husband and wife arguments.
• I surrendered to the New Frontier. She ended up dead anyway but I wasn't gonna come into someone else's settlement and get someone killed because of my bullshit.
• I took "Jesus" on his word. This whole thing is weird. When he first popped up, I actually thought "what is this guy supposed to be Jesus or something?", I didn't expect to be that spot on. Anyway, who am I to not trust Jesus?
• I killed Conrad. Again, if Telltale thinks at any point in this series I'm selling out Clem, they're wrong.
• I capitulated to New Frontier's demands. Seemed like the only smart decision to me. That twist at the end was something though. Solid stuff.

I'm pretty surprised that the 2 episodes are only about 2 hours long! Not that it's much of a problem, I think they're just about as long as they needed to be.

I ended Season 2 with Clem alone with AJ and those scenes are pretty rough. Parenting has been one of the recurring themes of the series, and it's pretty shocking how the first Clem solo parenting scene is her locking the baby in a car. The decision to go alone seemed appropriate at the time, but I feel like I underestimated how tough it would be in retrospect!

Most of my decisions seem to be the popular choices so far:

• Chose to stay the night. I'm a real pushover, so I let the kids have what they want.
• Didn't shoot the driver because Javier didn't seem that ruthless.
• Got locked up with Clem. I thought I was also covering my own ass by lying.
• Went with Tripp. He seemed dependable and going secretly at night sounded risky.
• Stayed with Clementine because holy shit fuck those guys.
• Stayed out of the fight. I've been backing down to the brother because it seemed appropriate for the character. Also been pushing back against Kate's advances and I'm kinda glad I did because the brother is still alive, haha.
• I surrendered to Badger. Felt like the right thing to do.
• Jesus looked like a cool-ass guy so I trusted him. I'm glad I did because he then proceeds to do some kung fu shit on some zombies. I guess he's supposed to be an existing comic character?
• Shot and killed Conrad, fuck him.
• I told everyone to lower their guns and then refused to release Kate, though the game still counted this as capitulating to Max's demands. I surrendered the first time because Jesus said so, and that guy's cool.

The ending of episode 2 was so ridiculously contrived that it nearly killed the entire episode for me. I'll play the rest because I bought it, but holy shit that ending was stupid as fuck. So you're saying that in four years, in the ENTIRE continental US, you and your brother happen to meet up again, not to mention that your brother is the leader of the enemy faction in this game?! Really?! REALLY? Also, from the multiple-choice Clem thing in the beginning, I made sure to pick the choices I actually did in the previous games, and I got "The Greater Good" Clem. I'm really interested to see if she behaves radically different with the other endings, because the version of her I got is kind of a brat that I immediately disliked.

Episode 1:

• Stayed the night, and immediately regretted it.
• Didn't kill the guy, I hope this will be beneficial to me in the long run.
• I picked the REALLY unpopular choice and sold Clem out here. It was an accident, sure, but YOU NEVER POINT A GUN AT SOMEONE YOU DON'T WANT TO KILL AND PULL THE TRIGGER, even if you don't think it will fire! THAT'S TO PREVENT SHIT LIKE THIS FROM HAPPENING.
• Went with Tripp here. I agreed with Clem and didn't trust the Eleanor, I bet you five bucks that she's a member of the New Frontier.
• Stayed with Clem to avenge the only character I was really starting to like. Seriously, fuck, she was all adorable saying that she listened to me, and I was warming up to her so much and then BAM. It was predictable, I shoulda seen it coming, but FUCK I wish it didn't happen.

Episode 2:

• I didn't fight with my brother. Having brothers in real life, I'm kind of playing this like how I would in real life. I wouldn't butt into my brother's personal problems in real life, so I won't do it here.
• Surrendered. Hopefully this will make the New Frontier guys like me a bit more in the future.
• Kung-Fu Action JESUS!!!! Fuck yeah, this guy was awesome. I'm glad the game lets you check for a mark, and I'm also glad I trusted him.
• Another really unpopular choice - I didn't kill Conrad. I'm not a fucking murderer, and if my nephew is in danger, you can bet your ass that I wouldn't risk his life. Not to mention that Conrad has a point, Clem might actually be a good bargaining chip.
• Lowered the guns, with Clem as a bargaining chip they already seemed to be willing to listen, and this pretty much reinforced that.

I probably would have sided with Clem more if I liked her character, but I'm really not digging her in this game. There are these brief moments where she's cute Clem again, before she stonewalls up again. Though to be honest, she is probably being this way since I've kind of sold her out twice now, so sorry about that.

Having recently played through batman - which had episodes that felt progressively shorter, I'm concerned to see the trend continuing with The Walking Dead. In the earlier games, chapters weren't a single scene - or if I'm mis-remembering and they were, they were significantly longer then what was presented here. Episodes 1 and 2 felt like one episode - and should have been in my opinion. My other gripe is with 'the shock kill'. They did it in Game of Thrones and they're doing it here. Mariana was a great character and then she just gets prematurely killed for no other reason then dramatic effect. I think I'm partly annoyed as I was really taking a shine to her but I just hope it doesn't happen again in other episodes. Game of Thrones got far to kill happy for my liking.

I understand Telltale want to tell a story, and it'd be difficult if all our choices had major causes - but they put it right at the start of each episode that the game is tailored to our choices so I was very disappointed to see all our decisions from earlier seasons practically get swept off the table and into the bin. I chose Jane in series 2 and we ended up with AJ alone and then in this series that means I get one scene where Jane just goes and hangs herself. We had each others backs through so much and then apparently its just 'see you later Clem.'

With the bad stuff out of the way - I felt the new engine runs fantastic, it made the scene's far more dynamic and the lighting looked really nice (playing on PS4 here). I like Javier as a main character though like many others we're all still getting Clem's back in every situation cause we love her so dam much (and with good reason).

Episode 1:

• Stayed the night...they had pudding.
• Didn't kill the guy - he seemed alright really all things considered.
• I didn't sell out Clem, that guy DID try to kill me.
• Went with Tripp here. Cause Clem.
• Tried to kill everyone to get revenge for Mariana - I was legit angry that she got bumped off like that.

Episode 2:

• I didn't get involved in the fight - I actually reloaded having went to argue, but what Javier says is nothing like what i was expecting so felt a bit wronged and reloaded to avoid the fight...I'll pretend it's life is strange and say i have time powers.
• Surrendered at the gate but then fought back and got Conrad's lady killed. The New Frontier were being dicks and atleast Clem had my back.
• Trusted Jesus cause...it's jesus, we all know he's cool - although he's a bit more chatty then the one I'm used to on AMC.
• I killed Conrad - #teamClem. The dude was holding a kid at gun point - i wanted an option to talk him down but I wasn't turning my back on Clem.
• Lowered the guns at the gate but didn't let Kate go.

I didn't think Javier's brother is the actual leader of the group. I could be wrong - but I thought he was just a member coming out with the other grunts.