Last year's The Walking Dead video game, now dubbed Season 1 for the newly established franchise, was a major hit with critics and fans of the television show and comics. It also thankfully helped the popular niche company of Telltale Games in saving the "point and click" adventure genre. Thanks to the success, but more importantly the drive for gamers to help save the psyche of a little girl through the zombie apocalypse, Season 2 is under development. The company has thrown a bone to eagerly awaiting players with the short expansion pack/season bridge 400 Days.
The game is a non-linear jump through five different viewpoints, all of whom have a connection with a truck stop diner right off a major highway. Each story takes place at a certain number of days into the zombie outbreak and you are then given a special coda that might tie in with the future franchise installments. The real joy of the game comes from this time displacement, as things that pop up and/or appear in the background in one chapter have a connection with another. For instance, one story has its main character briefly seeing two other important leads running away just outside his window. Whether you replay the entire game, which clocks in about 90 minutes, or read online about the connections you missed, it is a game that will constantly shock and delight you. Of course, if you can't handle it, you can go through the chapters in chronologically order with a little help from guides. Those looking for allusions from season one will find one memorable location and a certain group making special encores, with the former having a creepy easter egg/achievement.
As with the first season, you often have to make crucial decisions that will affect your character, their relationships, and later their future. Those picks are then included into the famed online stats at the end of the game, which will show whether you match up with the general opinion of players. As of the time of this writing, however, all of the stats are currently glitched and have an impossible 50/50 split. Thanks to the talented writing staff, what button you chose to press will always bring grave consequences. One chapter relies solely on a callback to the infamous start of the second episode but instead has you deciding this memorable horrific fate between two people instead of one. Your choice depends on the characterization you have experienced beforehand, whether someone with a despicable reputation is truly telling the truth about his past mistakes or he deserves to be punished instead of the other individual. Shades of gray is the name of the game for this series, as allies may have a lovable warm charm but are completely unhinged or too weak to survive.
The game is of course well-made, retaining the look and feel of the first season but the comic book aesthetic has taken a noticeable dip. It earns some well-planned scares and features a pretty harrowing sequence set in a cornfield. It also knows when to have a brief break into some black comedy, such as how one decision might rely on the outcome of a certain popular social game. The voice acting is again top notch, with the best coming from the Wyatt chapter. And for five bucks, you can't go wrong.
FINAL REVIEW: 4 / 5
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