If you'd rather watch a review:
The Walking Dead: 400 Days, was branded as a tie in between season one and the upcoming season 2 of Telltale's critically acclaimed Walking Dead franchise, and while this wasn't the tie in I was looking for, it definitely gives hints of what we could see in the upcoming season.
400 Days allows you to choose from 5 individual short stories following an array of 5 characters, all of whom have very different characteristics to them. While none of the stories feature any of the characters (the whole 3 people left) from season 1, it features plenty of subtle nods to it, along with even more nods the other stories. All of the stories are small, 15-20 minute stories, but as we've come to expect from Telltale, in that small amount of time they make us feel for all of these characters, and get us invested in their story. Within 30 seconds of one story I already had a strong hatred for one character and had barely said 5 words to them. This just once again shows how easily Telltale is able to make you care (or hate) for characters in such a quick time frame, and while my love for these characters doesn't run nearly as deeply for Clem and Lee (or Carley, I'm still raging over that) emotions for these characters run deep just minutes into the game.
Another big plus to 400 Days is that it wasn't just a rebranded season 1. While the core of the gameplay (the split second decision making, the conversations) are obviously still present, the countless hours I spent rummaging through the same cabinets in season 1 are (thankfully) absent, being replaced with more action and even more split second, life or death situations (yay)! However, while all of these are found in each story, all of the stories offer a different, diverse, gameplay experiences.
So while 400 Days in no way offers any closure to my hour long sob fest at the end of season 1, it gives many clues to what we'll find waiting for Clem in season 2, and besides the occasional tech bluffs we've come to expect from Telltale, is a beautifully written heart-wrenching, emotional, action packed, and overall well, scary tale (hahaha tale, see what I did there?) from the incredibly talented developers over at Telltale.
-Colby
