Setting The Walking Dead: A New Frontier follows on the
first game, and coincides with events of the comic books, in which a zombie apocalypse has occurred, turning humans that are bitten or die into zombies, or "walkers"; the only way to stop this conversion is to damage the brain. The game is primarily set four years after the apocalypse began, and roughly two years after
The Walking Dead: Season Two.
A New Frontier features two playable protagonists: Javier "Javi" Garcia (Jeff Schine), a former professional
baseball player living with his sister-in-law Kate (Shelley Shenoy) and nephew, Gabe (
Raymond Ochoa) and niece, Mariana (Vale de la Maza); and
Clementine (
Melissa Hutchison), The group is led by four people: Joan (Jayne Taini), the head of diplomacy; Dr. Paul Lingard (
Yuri Lowenthal), the head of medicine; Clinton "Clint" Barnes (Andrew Heyl), the head of rations and food; and Javi's older brother and Kate's ex-husband David (Alex Hernandez), the head of security. Other members include David's right-hand woman Ava (Ally Johnson), and scouts Badger (Jon Curry), Max (Sean Lynch), and Lonnie (
Charles Halford).
Plot At the onset of the
walker pandemic, Javi is living in
Baltimore with David, Kate, Gabe, and Mariana. After Javi and David's father dies of cancer, he reanimates and bites their mother. David takes her to the hospital but does not return, while Javi and Kate eventually move on and set off on the road with Gabe and Mariana. Four years later, while scavenging for supplies at a junkyard, the four have a run-in with a group led by Max, Badger, and Lonnie. Javi is separated and captured, but rescued by Clementine, who offers help in exchange for their family van. Clementine takes Javi to Prescott—a fortified community built on an old airfield where he meets Tripp, Conrad, and Eleanor. Tripp and Eleanor both offer Javi help to rescue his family. During their rescue attempt, Mariana is shot dead, and Kate is critically wounded by Badger and his men. Clementine identifies the attackers as members of the New Frontier, a large group of survivors she had once met, who have since turned corrupt. The group returns to Prescott to treat Kate's injuries, but Badger arrives with reinforcements and releases a horde of walkers, which overrun the town. Javi, Clementine, Kate, Gabe, Tripp, Eleanor, and Conrad escape and decide to travel to another survivor camp in
Richmond, Virginia. They encounter
Jesus, who reveals Richmond is now controlled by the New Frontier. Clementine reveals to Javi that she used to be a member of the New Frontier, but Conrad listens their conversation, mistakenly believes Clementine is still a member of the New Frontier and holds her at gunpoint, suggesting using Clementine as a bargaining chip to secure safe entry into Richmond and holds Gabe hostage to coerce Javi. Javi either accepts the plan or rejects it by killing Conrad. The group reaches Richmond and is let in after David is called. While Kate and Gabe are taken to Dr. Lingard for medical care, David shows Javi around Richmond and brings him to Clint and Joan to argue his case for staying in Richmond. Max arrives and accuses Javi of stealing New Frontier supplies and killing his men at the junkyard. Although David supports Javi, Joan and Clint decide to exile him and his group. Before they leave, David asks the group to meet him at a warehouse, where Clementine accuses him of causing AJ's death by not allowing Clementine to inject him when he fell deathly ill. David reveals that AJ managed to recover, and Lingard knows his whereabouts. The group discover crates from Prescott and other communities, revealing Richmond's hand in attacking other communities. Max, Badger, and Lonnie arrive at the warehouse. They kill Badger and interrogate Max, who admits that Joan was behind the Prescott massacre and Mariana's death. Jesus takes his leave to warn his group while the others return to Richmond to confront Joan. If he was spared, Max exposes Joan's corruption to Clint. However, Joan turns on David by labeling him as a conspirator, ordering his execution in the town square, and imprisons Javi. Javi escapes confinement and organizes his group, aiming to rescue David. After an injury received from attempting to raid from the town gun locker, Javi meets Clementine at the hospital, where Lingard, no longer able to cope with the New Frontier's actions,
demands being killed by
injection in exchange for information on AJ's whereabouts. Javi can either refuse or accept Lingard's request. Javi's bid to expose Joan at the hanging fails via a betrayal from Eleanor and is forced to choose between saving a captured Tripp or Ava. Joan murders whoever Javi chose to be spared, and Clint offers Javi a deal to peacefully leave Richmond with his group, which he can accept but David will kill Clint or refuse by killing Joan. Regardless, David is rescued as a firefight breaks out. Kate races into the square but crashes into a fence, which opens a breach and allows walkers to pour through. The group barricades themselves in an apartment building and plans on how to save Richmond. However, David views Richmond as a lost cause and suggests leaving the city. Jealous of Javi and Kate's growing closeness, David fights his brother until walkers begin to close in on them. As David leaves in a truck with Gabe, Kate decides to man a bulldozer to save Richmond; Javi must decide whether to pursue David or help Kate. Depending on the choices she made in her flashbacks, Clementine will either follow Javi's lead, split up from him, go after Gabe and David, or stay with Kate. Their choices result in Javi losing David, Gabe, and/or Kate. Jesus returns with reinforcements and helps the survivors round up the walkers and lead them out of Richmond, saving the town. Days later, Javi memorializes the ones lost and meets Jesus, who suggests that he becomes Richmond's new leader. If he is still alive, Lingard tells Clementine where AJ is, and she decides to leave Richmond to find him. After Javi gives Clementine a new haircut, they bid goodbye and she departs. ==Episodes==