The Walking Dead 400 Days Review: Surreal

One of the biggest social phenomenon of this generation is easily the major fascination with an impending zombie apocalypse. The Walking Dead series has embraced that phenomenon and made it only larger. “The Walking Dead: 400 Days” continues the trend of the previous games with its unique comic style art and in-depth adventure game play.

The whole experience is one big sociological experience. The player makes decisions that effect the game later on. The Walking Dead series is most notable for it’s lack of actual combat focusing more on a storytelling aspect. Combine that with the unique artistic style of the game and it’s almost like playing through a comic book. A bit of violence here and there, but ultimately it is about the character’s story.

Unlike its predecessors, “400 Days” focuses on multiple characters’ stories, each tying into each others’ in some way or another. The stories don’t last very long, but the decisions made have a lasting effect on not only this game but also season 2 of the walking dead when it is released. The choices made are not always easy ones, and it is often difficult to make a decision without feeling some sense of regret. A bonus of the game being short is that you can go back and make different choices and it won’t eat up several days of your time.

Telltale Games does an excellent job setting atmosphere, allowing the player to interact with small objects around the area to let the player get a stronger sense of what life is actually like for the characters they play. Tiny little comments about how food is dwindling, or how someone misses the music they used to play gives a sense that these characters do have personalities and the relevant decisions you make affects their lives. It’s hard to not to feel slightly guilty when you rob an adolescent of their childhood and numb them to the consequences of killing another human being for the sole purpose of survival.

With so many different decisions and results “400 Days” is easily a game that you can enjoy multiple times. The game perfectly shows how human behavior changes drastically after the end of the world. Pick up the controller to find out if you can pull the trigger or if you run. With all the possible outcomes in front of you you will most certainly have to think about each choice you make, and fast.