Catching up with Telltale's Walking Dead: A New Frontier adventure series by way of the trailer for the fourth episode, "Thicker Than Water," we find that no matter how bad things are—even when they're so bad that the world as we know it has literally come to an end—they can always be made worse. Because people.
"Upon discovering the true nature of the New Frontier's leadership, relationships within the Garcia family have come to a head," Telltale said. "As Javier, you will decide the shape and nature of your chosen family. All the while, a herd of walkers moves ever closer to Richmond, putting pressure on allies and enemies alike. With distrust running rampant, you'll have to determine if blood is thicker than water..."
Look, I'm not naive about the way of the world. It's zombie-eat-dog out there. But wouldn't it be nice to think that when the chips are really down—when we stand on the precipice of the extinction of our species—we could all come together, set aside our selfishness, and do what needs to be done to not only preserve our existence, but our society? Our very humanity?
But that's not how The Walking Dead rolls, and so here we are, with people hissing about "betrayal" and "doing what they had to" and some poor guy on a stool, strung up by his neck. That the thin veneer of civilization is so easily stripped away makes me sad—but that is how The Walking Dead rolls, isn't it? Slowly and sadly.
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier – Thicker Than Water will be available on April 25. We've got a review of the first two episodes of the series—"A welcome return to form"—right here.