Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead took the video game world by surprise last summer. Unlike other zombie apocalypse games on the market, The Walking Dead focused more on the story of the survivors. It is beautifully written, has a gorgeous art style, and features some of the most difficult player decisions that I’ve encountered in a game. When Telltale announced the 400 Days DLC, I was ecstatic to enter the zombie infested American southwest again. And it does not disappoint.
The new content follows the story of five separate characters that have their stories intertwined through the two hour campaign. Each story begins with the name of the character, and how long it has been since the apocalypse has begun. As you may have guessed from the name, it all takes place within the first 400 days of the end of the world.
Like the game it is expanding on, the writing in 400 Days is the area of the game that stands out the most. The dialogue spoken between the characters is believable, and the delivery from the voice actors has that sense of panic and despair that you would expect in a world falling apart.
One of the best aspects of The Walking Dead was the difficult decisions you were presented throughout the entire story, and they do not get any easier in 400 Days. Within the first few minutes of the story you’ll be making some really difficult decisions that are reminiscent of the original game. But unlike the first five episodes of the main game, it felt like the decisions you make in 400 Days had more of an impact at the end of the story.
The pace of the DLC is well thought out. At times it feels like you’re racing through an intense action sequence, while other times you are able to explore a camp set up by a group of survivors. Unlike season one, 400 Days does feature more action sequences as you are only given a snippet of each survivors’ story. It makes sense to focus on the more intense parts of their survival to get a sense of how the characters changed in the first 400 days.
400 Days features the same hand-drawn comic book style graphics, and they still look incredible. It did feel like there were more enemy encounters in 400 Days that required you to explore a 3D space, and it does not feel as clunky as it did in season one. There is also some great lighting techniques in the game that makes the atmosphere feel tense and dangerous. There is one specific part in a cornfield that really gets you on the edge of your seat.
The Walking Dead: 400 Days is a continuation of what was one of the best games of 2012. While it is short added content, it does not skip on any of the quality that made season one so special. 400 Days is supposed to bridge the gap between seasons one and two, and if they are headed in the direction foreshadowed at the end of this expansion, then season two can not come soon enough.
Score: 9/10
The Walking Dead: 400 Days was developed and published by Telltale Games for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.
