The Walking Dead: A New Frontier: Episode 5 - From the Gallows
Score: 87% Publisher: Telltale Games Developer: Telltale Games Media: Download/1 Players: 1 Genre: Action/Adventure
Previously on The Walking Dead: When we last left Javier and company, David was on trial and about to be hung in front of an angry mob in Richmond. Joan turned on David (some may say it was the opposite), and Javi went to help his brother. In the process, some serious decisions were made in which Joan may or may not have been blatantly murdered by your own hand. Unfortunately, no matter your position in the Ava vs. Tripp saga, the latter was shot to death by Joan’s cronies. Depending on your own choices, your relationship with Ava may or may not be strained. Likewise, your choices with David have likely led to one of two final paths for your relationship, and will certainly affect things to come in The Walking Dead: A New Frontier: Episode 5 – From the Gallows.
Aggressions Run Deep: One of the key relationships on trial, so to speak, is that of the interactions between David and his son Gabe. Throughout The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, there has been a balance between unconditional love and aggressive tension between the father and son, with Javier and Kate caught in the middle. As this final episode begins in From the Gallows, choices will be made that will either help or harm their relationship, which continues throughout the finale. Flashbacks have been a theme in A New Frontier’s episodes, and Episode 5 isn’t any different. Javier and David are seen with their father playing Dominoes. Their father gives out some elderly advice, and depending on your actions, Javi may have incited a deep-routed emotional war with his brother. Their father tries to calm things down, but emotional baggage can carry on for a long time and can also explain the tensions between the brothers in past episodes.
Love 'em or Leave 'em: One of the other recurring themes in A New Frontier is the relationship between Javier and Kate. Kate is David’s wife, and she and Javi have had an ongoing love interest with signs of wanting to make it official here and there, but it has never really come out in the open. Enter the ultimatum. Finally, as the sh*t is hitting the fan, Kate popped the question. No, not that question, but it is the one that has been on both of their minds since David left and never returned. However, regardless of your answer, at the end of Episode 4, Kate is in the midst of an exploding vehicle and her fate is only known in Episode 5. Likewise, Clementine’s love for A.J. continues to cause her festering rage and efforts to get him back. She continues to question David’s intents, but choices do play a part in their relationship too. Depending on how you handled the Dr. Lingard situation previously, Clem may now know the whereabouts of A.J. As far as Clem and David go, it is possible to ease the pain between the two, or ignite it into something greater.
Making Things Right: The main decision point and grand finale of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier: Episode 5 – From the Gallows, and the series as a whole, is when Javier decides to either help Kate save the city of Richmond or go after his brother. While there is a lot of crossover regardless of the choices made, fate is decided here and the results are drastically different. No spoilers here, but it is definitely worth a few play-throughs of this final episode to see how things transpire with the culmination of your previous choices playing out. While A New Frontier does follow the life of Javier, fan-favorite Clementine has been an instrumental part of this series. She had been most recently taking care of A.J., but had lost him to the New Frontier when caught trying to take meds. David and Ava took possession of A.J. at that time, and that was the last we saw of him. Throughout this most recent series in The Walking Dead Telltale games, Clementine has been searching and probing for her surrogate child. [SPOILER ALERT] As A New Frontier closes, we see Clem commencing her search with a strong indication of the next series in Telltale Games’ future output… which fans of the premiere series should be excited about.
-Woody, GameVortex Communications AKA Shane Wodele
Related Links: Official Website of The Walking Dead Our Coverage of The Walking Dead
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