Walking Dead Episode 4 – Around Every Corner picks up with what remains of the group walking in Savannah, GA searching for a boat to make a getaway. After the events of episode 3 the group is still pushing forward with its plan and even if it’s not hope they’re completely holding on to the alternative is worse. It was also discovered that Clementine was communicating with someone in Savannah and knows they’re coming so they have to worry about more than just walkers. And it doesn’t take long for things to get worse as Lee spots someone ringing a church bell, which of course attracts a horde of walkers that the group has to fend off before escaping to a seemly abandoned but fortified house. Can the group hold out long enough to still be able to continue searching for a boat or will they be overwhelmed and suffer more losses in a dangerous city?

GAMEPLAY

This episode starts right off the bat with action and if you played any of the previous episodes the controls are the same and the quick actions remain responsive. One of the many things that I enjoyed about episode 3 was the further development of the relationship between Lee and Clementine. It represented so much in a world devastated by a zombie apocalypse and bringing out the worst in people. And episode 4 attempts to make the player care even more because Clementine is put in danger by Ben only caring for himself and not helping her out. So the dialogue options between Lee and Ben aren’t pleasant and Ben once again retains his crown of being the most burdensome character (and also probably related to Shaggy from Scooby Doo). Even after escaping safely to the house the most meaningful interactions are between Lee and Clementine. And since there is someone who secretly wants to take Clementine somewhere in the city there’s a bigger emphasis on wanting to keep her safe. And considering how the members of the original group are virtually all dead except Kenny, Clementine is by default the character that is most known. So even with Omid’s injury being close to being fatal or Kenny still suffering from the loss of his family, Clementine’s situation resonates the most.

The interactions between Lee and Clementine highlight one of the issues with this episode. It’s not the relationship between Clementine and Lee but the noticeable drop off in the meaningful interactions with other characters. It’s not that I expected everyone to survive but Christa and Omid just aren’t compelling additions. Kenny is still a wreck and focused on just getting a boat so there aren’t any meaningful interactions with him and Ben…well he’s Ben. I understand that the losses in episode 3 can create a feeling of emptiness but the game felt like it dragged too long in the beginning even taking that into consideration.

There was however a very touching sequence in the house that was a grim reminder of the desperate actions people took when the zombie apocalypse first occurred and didn’t know what to do. I thought it was a really nice touch in highlighting this episode’s attempts to make the player care about the well-being of Clementine and not want anything to happen to her.

Thankfully this episode didn’t take place solely in the house because it does pick up once the search for a boat continues and a new interesting character is introduced. Apparently the town of Crawford was taken over by a group that doesn’t allow the elderly, the sick or children to enter and only accepts healthy, able-bodied adults. The reason is everyone is infected so anyone who dies no matter the cause will turn into a walker and put the entire town in danger. So the warning is to stay away from that town (but of course you’ll eventually need a few things from that town.) Circumstances lead to a few more characters being introduced but once again they feel like extra bodies in comparison to earlier episodes even though their roles become important. Even still the action picks up, there are a few puzzles and the episode becomes more interesting.  And the details of Crawford and what occurred there was interesting and was reminiscent of the earlier episodes showing the impact of actions and how to treat people because it will ultimately affect the group.

Other episodes dealt more with tensions in the group and decisions affecting the group. In this episode you spend the most time alone as Lee since the first episode. It was organic to the story line and considering some of the characters weren’t compelling this wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. This is the penultimate episode of the season where all your decisions in prior episodes come into play. What was lacking in this episode in terms of anticipation of what will happen next was more than made up for with the way this episode ended. It was mind-blowing and I can’t wait to play the final episode of the season.

SUMMARY

This was a very decent episode but my least favorite of all 4 played so far. Aside from the ending and the 2 new characters there weren’t any changing events that took place. Also the interactions between the remaining characters weren’t as compelling as they were in previous episodes. However keep in mind that this is in comparison to the high standard set by the previous 3 episodes so this was still enjoyable. Crawford showed the consequences of a certain mentality bent only on survival and not caring for the living at all and that put into perspective the decisions of the group. The real gem/shocker was the ending that sets up episode 5 with the potential to be the best one. If you’ve been playing the series then you definitely can’t miss this episode