Review - The Walking Dead; 400 Days dlc
Paul Fiander
The is it a game or is it not? was the one the main focus when people first started hearing about the way Telltale games was approaching a game about The Walking Dead. Well over 80 game of the year awards later and that controversy seems well and truly over. The first season was a critical success and drew a huge audience what is essentially a point and click title.

The developers have now released the 400 days dlc for season one to act as a bridge for the upcoming second season. Firstly just for clarity I decided to start a new game so that my previous decisions would not impact my review play through. The series as a whole does a good job of making choices matter and this is why on my first play I went through on a new save.
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The characters are varied making their stories feel more unique.
In a change from the first season Telltale have created a new cast of characters for us to interact with. There are five stories, each with one figure who is the central focus. As the game starts you get to see a Truck stop before and after the apocalypse. Its a usual opening to a game but then we have a nice touch of a bulletin board. This is the thread hub for the game, as you are able to choose a characters story by clicking on their photo. Its a nice visual touch and also fits well into the story as a whole. 
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Anticipation of events can really get your heart to racing.
Each character has to deal with actually surviving life in a zombie infested world covering a span of just before things got real to the titles four hundred days, later. The storytelling is fractured overall but each chapter gives you a sense of the character and hints at their back story in a customary Telltale fashion. The main cut and thrust of each tale is the decisions you are forced to make. I say forced as the customary count down timer is ever present on those sometimes life or death situations. It works well in adding tension to stressful situations and is one of the hallmarks of the franchise. This can have a negative effect as sometimes you lose the meaning of the situation and so your answers may not be those you wanted. However this is the beauty of the mechanic, as not all situation will turn out in a fairy-tale ending and that will always keep you on your toes.
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The pressure mounts in situations even when you think you are safe.
Its hard to go through the decisions that you have to make without spoiling the game. Suffice to say some are hard and some relatively easy. The ones I found particularly hard are related to what’s best for the group or an individual you are responsible for within the group (sorry for being cryptic). It feeds into my parental responsibility outlook on life and that is a great way to draw me and hopefully others into the experience. I also enjoyed the way that the developers are trying to delve into the psyche of survivors in an almost Lord of the Flies style and this i think will be the hook for a lot of players. Some of the plot points are true water cooler moments that I'm sure will spark lots of social media debate.
I do have a few issues with the way you choose dialogue. This is through the series as a whole but I do not like that the phrase I choose is not echoed on screen exactly. I understand it would be impossible to have whole lines of dialogue pop up for you to choose in the short amount of time available, but I still find it limited. This is a personal bugbear and does not break the game in any way shape or form. The dialogue itself is generally good with flashes of humour as you would expect from people in a hard situation. The voice acting as well seems to fit the characters and there is thankfully nothing there to draw you out of the experience. Graphically the game is similar to the full season and the thing I love is how good the game looks on low settings making it playable to a greater range of people.
Its a shame that this is only dlc but it does a great job of wetting your appetite for the upcoming second season. Again in line with the developers principles this is a short shot in the arm of content and you should easily be done in 1 and a half to 2 hours. The price is reflective of this as it comes in at  £3.99 (on steam uk 03/07/2013). I would easily recommend this to anyone as it really is a great way to bridge the seasons.

Wrap Up

The Good  - Thought provoking, Great story, Wets the appetite for seasn 2.
The Bad   - Short, Issues with dialogue choices

Score - 4/5
Images courtesy of Telltale Games
Game - provided by Publisher