The Walking Dead: Michonne – Episode 2: Give No Shelter (Video Game)
Ted Hentschke
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Developed by Telltale Games
Available on PC, Mac, PSVita, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android, and Apple devices
Rated M for Mature
I don’t have a lot to say about The Walking Dead: Michonne’s Episode Two, “Give No Shelter.” It’s certainly not a holding pattern, padding out time for the sake of sales. There’s only so much meandering you can do in three episodes, so it still presents a tight narrative package. That doesn’t mean that “Give No Shelter” is not without its fair share of restrictions. It’s the awkward middle child, straddling the line of explosive violence and neutered pointlessness.
I’ll explain what I mean before getting into spoilers. I’m confused as to why you’d be reading this review if you haven’t played the first episode, but I’ll section off the spoilers to appease those of you that accidentally clicked on this review and haven’t yet figured it out. As a title both within Telltale’s The Walking Dead franchise and the main The Walking Dead comic book canon, The Walking Dead: Michonne has worked to establish its own identity. While maintaining the staple Telltale brand of tough decisions and meaningful choices, the game has also brought in a level of brutality reflective of the titular Michonne. It’s a fine line, and has drawn a lot of scorn from those who were expecting this to be more of a “Telltale” take on the character.
As Michonne goes on, I’m more inclined to side with the naysayers. I don’t think that games should just endlessly replicate their predecessors, but something gets lost in Michonne’s fountains of blood and endless piles of flesh. As the body count rises and the stakes ratchet up to yet another level, life has begun to lose its meaning. Minor choices like “who gets food” was a fundamental piece of what made the bigger decisions in The Walking Dead meaningful. You were always unsure which decisions actually meant the difference between life and death, providing tense undertones and a constantly looming threat. That isn’t the case anymore, and thus ends my ability to talk without spoilers.
*SPOILERS*: There’s a lot of this stuff
*DON’T OPEN SPOILERS INSIDE*
Picking up directly where “In Too Deep” left off, Michonne and friends need to escape the floating colony of Monroe while they have the chance. The big decision at the end of Episode One was whether or not you kill Zachary, which so far doesn’t seem to have a serious impact. As you make your escape via boat, the vengeful residents of Monroe make chase with a seemingly endless supply of bullets. Michonne does her signature zombie safety procedure, cutting off the arms and jaws and allowing the group to slowly make their way through the herd. A young girl gets hurt, and you make your way to her home, where you meet a new crew of survivors who soon become reluctant allies. Bad guys show up and shoot the leader of your new friends, so Michonne does what she does and kills all but one, whom she takes as a captive. Then, surprise, you once again decide between life and death, and “Give No Shelter” ends.
Of course, there’s a lot more to playing “Give No Shelter” than that. It’s full of great action set pieces and even a halfway decent illusion of danger. Getting from point A to B is flashy, fun, and exciting. The problem is that those hallmark pivotal moments feel hollow. When life is this cheap, death becomes less of a pivotal choice, and everything else seems inconsequential in comparison.
Holding back the unending hordes of dead loses its kick when you have protagonist armor +10
That’s what I mean when I say that “Give No Shelter” feels awkward. It ramps up the danger from the first episode, but has to hold back from the explosive finale. In previous The Walking Dead games, a five episode season allowed this curve to feel smoother, but they also didn’t start at such an elevated level. With Michonne, it goes from “brutal” to “muderfest” much too quickly, but I’m not exactly sure how that transition could have been made more gradually. It could have taken place over 10 episodes and the high starting point would have still made it feel unrealistic.
I understand that there is a source material they have to respect. It wouldn’t be Michonne if she didn’t just merc a bunch of scrubs once an episode. Unfortunately, that source material strips it of a lot of consequence. We know that Michonne isn’t going to die, so this higher body count comes without tension. I cared about Kenny’s family in the original The Walking Dead game because when I met them, there was always the illusion that they might make it. When I come across a character who from introduction until inevitable death is always in peril, I just can’t connect. There’s no down time to establish the human element.
I just don’t really feel for pointless meatsack 1 or 2. The zombies on leashes are pretty underdeveloped, too.
I don’t know how it all comes together, so I’m reserving much of my judgement. Still, don’t give me a pivotal choice in the middle of a flashback. I know for a fact that it isn’t going to change the major events. Also, don’t make the guy I can choose to let live or die a massive dick. Wasn’t that hard of a decision. I hope that they can make it up in the final episode, but I doubt it can all come together satisfyingly. I’d love to have to eat my words, as the overall experience of The Walking Dead: Michonne is fun. At this point, it’s just an undeniably inferior package to either of the previous two titles.
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