The Walking Dead Season 1 and 400 Days DLC review.

So, last night I finally finished making my way through season one and the 400 Days DLC of The Walking Dead by Telltale Games, having bought them recently in a Steam sale.  After the underwhelming Jurassic Park The Game by Telltale, I wasn’t holding my breath for anything spectacular, but I’m happy to say I was blown away by The Walking Dead.

The game is quite simply amazing.  Everything about it is really well done, and is as faithful as it can be to the ongoing comic that it’s based on.  I’ve been a fan of the comic for a while now, and Telltale have done a great job of converting the 2D art style into 3D.  The music is well done, and isn’t obtrusive, and does an amazing job of building the atmosphere.

The writing in the game is fabulous.  Combined with the stellar voice acting, especially from Clementine, really made me connect with the characters, and I cared about what happened to them, even the ones I wasn’t fond of.

Having choices that affect the rest of the game was great, and really added to the game. Showing how other players reacted to major decisions (such as who to save and so on) was a nice touch as it showed which options players (mostly) agreed on and which dividing the players. Some decisions were real seat of your pants, and there were a few where I just panicked and clicked the first thing I could.

There were also Quick Time Events in the game too, and these were actually done well. They helped move the game along, and generally added to the game rather than being the “do it right or die” like in JP:TG.

I really got attached to the characters, and kept hoping to save as many as I could. Even in the decisions where you had to choose one character or the other, I hoped that by saving one we could help the other. Ultimately that wasn’t possible, which just made it all the more worse, which is testament to how well the game was done.

The only bad thing about the game was that it ended, but that can be said of anything you enjoy, and quite pleased to have played it.

I highly recommend The Walking Dead. It’s an amazing game that makes you really care about the characters. If you have the chance to get the game, you should go for it. You won’t regret it.The DLC

400 Days is DLC for season one and features several short pieces featuring small groups of people spaced out over the period of 400 days (as the name suggests), and is centred around a gas station.  It’s intedned to act as a bridge between season one and season two.

As it was short, I didn’t get into it as much as the main game itself, but it was nice hear what happened with the boat and how it affected the group that took it, as well as what happened to Lilly. Overall, it was nice seeing how others survived and kept on surviving. I’m looking forward to see if any of these characters pop up in season 2.

I’m looking forward to playing season two of The Walking Dead, but I’m going to hold off until after all of season two has been released.