The irony of a game about the zombie apocalypse dying an unnatural death only to be resurrected later shouldn`t be lost on anybody, nor should the fact that The Walking Dead returns with a story that is very much about the latent humanity present in even the shambling corpses roaming the Earth. It is, for certain, a game worse for wear, limping on to a long-overdue finish, but it`s a game full of purpose.Broken Toys picks things up in the direct aftermath of Episode 2`s climactic battle. Lilly and her underlings have taken a few of the Ericson Boarding School kids hostage to be traded and trained as child soldiers. Clementine has Abel--the grungy drifter who`s been tormenting her and A.J. since Episode 1--hostage, the only lead as to how to get her new friends back. The interrogation of Abel is the closest Broken Toys gets to well-trod, familiar territory. Clementine has to walk a careful line between presenting a serious threat to a man who`s clearly ridden this bloody merry-go-round a few times before and setting the best possible example for A.J.By way of Abel`s distinct character traits, this episode is more introspective and pensive than the series has been for some time. Abel`s not afraid of dying; he`s afraid of turning for a reason that eventually comes to define Broken Toys as a penultimate turning point and the likely set up for the finale: the idea that there is still something human in the Walkers.Abel simply doesn`t want to become trapped in a zombie body. But to James, the Walker Whisperer introduced in Episode 2, it`s also a reason to show mercy and pity towards the Walkers. Naturally, the game gives you plenty of leeway to consider or discard this possibility out of hand. James` proof, after all, is tenuous, presented in a strangely poignant moment where Clementine must walk amongst the Walkers. And yet, the episode`s script, credited to Lauren Mee and Mark Darin, does powerful work bringing the idea home to Clementine in other ways.This is the e ...
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