The Walking Dead: Season Two Episode 4 - Amid the Ruins

Amid the Ruins clearly demonstrates what Telltale is capable of. There’s a level of purpose and confidence here that the studio has rarely matched.

Amid the Ruins feels like the peak of the pint-sized survivor’s development. After the brutal trauma of the previous episode, we get to decide, or at least influence, what she will be like in the finale and how she’s been transformed by the events of this second season. Every moment is a struggle between Darwinism and kindness.

Amid The Ruins is utterly superb and is everything I want from a Walking Dead episode.

The story continues to develop in unexpected directions, and the suspense that’s building for Episode 5 is palpable and intense.

Like many penultimate television episodes, Episode 4: Amid the Ruins serves to set up the series’ finale by applying pressure to The Walking Dead’s characters and upping the stakes. Clementine’s group has never been more desperate.

Telltale's masterful storytelling keeps us hoping for the best even as that optimism is continually shattered by what is proving to be one of the most memorable tragedies ever told in gaming.

Amid the Ruins is an exhilarating adventure and the best episode thus far. It gives players drastic choices to partake in, not to mention building on the relationships between Clementine and her party.

Amid the Ruins forces us to swing that axe again and again and again in unsavory situations; it forces us to feel each step through a mass of hungry zombies, and it makes the steps leading up to an uncomfortable conversation just as tense.

Rest assured, fans of the series will love Episode 4 and the constant punishment Telltale doles out to Clem. However, work still needs to be done if those who tell tales want to close the curtains with the same grandeur of Season 1.

Even though the story seems to be completely on rails by this point, with player input influencing practically nothing, Telltale still manages to deliver cinema-quality storytelling and entertainment. If a third season of the Walking Dead is to be successful however, major changes have to be made to a formula, that after a triumphant run, begins to show signs of fatigue.

The great allure of The Walking Dead – beyond the game’s brilliant moral questions and compelling exploration of human nature – is that we simply don’t know how things will turn out.

Probably the bleakest episode in the new series so far, but this isn't a bad thing. The dialogue and conversations are top-notch and there are lots of decisions that need to be taken by players and Clementine, whether they like it or not.

Telltale's episodic adventure game series The Walking Dead is nearing the end of its second season, with the penultimate episode, Amid the Ruins, paving the way for what's sure to be a brutal season finale.

Episode 4: Amid the Ruins shows us Clementine’s group's most hopeless times. Even though the game is so perfect, gameplay is less than I expected.

The main problem of the 4th episode is the fact that its date of release is delayed so much you are halfway through the game and you do not even know it. Anyway, it is the most thrilling instalment of the second Walking Dead series so far. Give us the final episode!

Amid The Ruins really delivers in setting the stage for the series conclusion, creating both expected and unexpected challenges that strike at the heart of fragile group dynamics.

From somber deaths to one satisfying slap, Amid the Ruins has a lot of memorable moments. As you approach the end, you're left in an unexpected place that keeps your head spinning. Telltale was smart to involve players in this final moment, forcing them to make a knee-jerk reaction to a complex situation.

Now, everything's ready for the final episode. Actually, so ready that maybe you want to wait for it so you can play these two together.

The most memorable episode since the season premier, Amid The Ruins fleshes out the supporting cast, provides some nasty scenarios, and takes Kenny's personal arc to some very haunting places.

Although Amid the Ruins doesn't really go for many jump scares and is clearly a table-setting episode for the explosive finale, it's very much worth playing through multiple times over.

I feel that Episode four breaks tone, theme, and characterization in ways that make the series feel like it took a sharp left turn somewhere. It’s hard to talk about exactly why without giving plot specifics.

Telltale is still quite a bit away from the quality of the first season, but seems to be on track for a gripping finale.

The Walking Dead: Season 2 isn’t on par with the first season, but every episode is still fun. Every episode was entertaining in its own right, but the synergy between episodes is lacking.

This isn't the most exciting episode of the season. Nonetheless it gives us many opportunities to engage in intimate conversations with other characters. And, what's more important, leave us more eager than ever to discover how the last episode would resume the story after our very last decision.

After a slow start, TWD's second season has found a good balance with its middle chapter. Now, at the beginning of the end, we expected something more in terms of climax. Let's hope the last chapter gets back on track.

Of course, fans of the series still need to pick this episode up, and from looking back at the entire season, this is still a decent addiction to an already great series. Just keep in mind, you can’t save everybody, and even if you try, don’t be surprised if someone dies anyway. This is The Walking Dead after all.

Amid The Ruins is another quality Telltale episode, but it’s not the most memorable that they’ve ever done. It ends on a huge cliffhanger, as they all seem to now, but it’s not necessarily one that sets up an exciting final conflict.

Amid the Ruins is not the best episode of the season, but it sets the table for the finale in an explosive way.

A new ration of decisions without consequences and extreme cliffhangers, in a season that seems to have completely lost the course of its story.

A standard episode that shine only for the good characterization and the last couple of minutes that introduces an explosive season ending.

Telltale has a way with words, its authors consistently producing quite powerful stuff. It might well be that they still manage to turn this season into something special with the final episode. I just wish they had sealed the deal sooner by finding a consistent theme to the season and making the narrative less incidental.

Amid the Ruins has its fair share of shortcomings, but it also ticks most of the boxes of what we have been asking for in the past. It maintains a good pace throughout, and avoids getting bogged down with trivialities. It also manages to provide a mix of action sections, emotional scenes, and conversational passages – yet we also get some much-appreciated character development.

Amid the Ruins gave me hope that The Walking Dead: Season Two may still go out with a bang.

Season Two's early promise has consolidated into sporadic flashes of greatness, but the consistent excellence of Clementine's character alone isn't enough to carry the series. It needs the lift of an outstanding final episode.

Among the Ruins is The Walking Dead doing what The Walking Dead does well, but it's spinning its wheels when it should be racing towards the finale.

Episode 4: Amid the Ruins is the weakest episode of The Walking Dead: Season 2. Despite its major changes -- both regarding Clementine as a character and the roles of those around her -- there are too many out-of-left-field events to build tension convincingly.

Amid the Ruins [is] a major step back from the series' normally high standards. I can only hope Telltale shakes off the rust for a stunning conclusion to the second season, but it has a long way to go.