REVIEW – What a start: the save of the third episode became corrupted! I replayed the chapter on the release day of episode four with a backup made after completing the second one. During the evening, I downloaded What Ails You?, then went through this one today (Wednesday) afternoon, losing all my anger in the process. It’s a seriously good one which went against the Telltale trends.

With the fourth episodes in the series, I usually expect nothing but an empty balloon, as the finale is the serious „we give it all” one. Even The Walking Dead’s first season had this issue, and I still believe that is one of the best Telltale games ever. I’m willing to admit that I didn’t expect too much from The Enemy Within‘s fourth episode called „What Ails You?”.

Icy

As expected, the decision we made at the end of the previous chapter (if we didn’t take the blame) will change things a bit at the start. Still, our next location will be the secret laboratory regardless of our choice. This part of the episode is far from outstanding, but do not be impatient. If we weren’t antagonistic with John before, we will get a bit of help from him (you will see where it happens), but despite our efforts in the SANCTUS laboratory, we will fail, and the Pact will also break up, plus my suspects from the third episode also starts to be getting confirmed more and more as I progressed.

The Agency comes in (too late, as usual) to clean up the remnants, and there might be a bit of argument happening depending on a previous choice we made. Also, you’re going to see one of the Pact members (who got infected by the Lotus virus, no less) asking you for help. Add the fact that someone reveals who you truly are (which hooks back to the shocker ending of the first episode of The Enemy Within, giving that scene a 180° twist). Oh well, I thought that it doesn’t matter who sees who I am anymore.

We begin looking for Harley, and we will not find her… instead, it turns out that the Agency beat us, which will have a few hints here and there at that location. (And I would not be surprised at all if a certain heavyweight woman with glasses would be behind the scenario.) Instead, we’re going to find John, who had a little too much Cerveza. (Several bottles. Not just one or two.) This part is the best to end this paragraph.

Joker

John’s character evolution is the strongest positive in this episode. I simply HAVE to write this down, because this is the reason why I gave What Ails You? such a strong rating. We’ll have a bit of dialog with a third character, although John will initially feel like going on a drunken rambling, he will open up fast, especially if you treated him nicely up to this point. At the end of our scene, the choice will not matter much at all, so moving on…

Alfred will require a bit of break, and with Tiffany – if you have revealed yourself -, you’ll likely see a bit of heartbreak, especially if you continue to honor the traditional rule of „no guns.” Still, the young woman seems to be quickly catching the technical edge of her deceased father, which will be a good thing. We also learn a few new details about the virus (it’s crazy, I know), and we get information from John about Harley’s whereabouts.

And now comes another part where John’s character jumps forward to become Joker. He killed a few Agency agents due to self-defense, and he also recognizes who you are. Do you trust him? I don’t want to go into detail, but his acting here is perfect. This scene moves to the final location, the bridge. The Agency and GCPD are at a standstill against Harley. Here, we can show up in multiple ways, but if you trusted John, he might not become a villain (or Joker) immediately. I repeat it: HE MIGHT NOT BE A VILLAIN JUST YET.

Wow

This episode has weak textures here and there, as well as the usual animation flaws. However, even though I may get the usual unread paragraphs of complaints, but due to John’s character, I rate this episode a 8.8 out of 10. It’s fantastic what Telltale has done to his character. Sure, the fifth episode might be a twist yet again, but the idea is wonderful. I can’t wait to see how the finale shapes up for the end of March or so – I almost perfectly created a vigilante from a character I never thought I could shape. Give me the finale!

-V-

Publisher: Telltale Games

Developer: Telltale Games

Genre: episodic, adventure

Release date: January 23, 2018