Telltale Games Shows Us The Walking Dead: 400 Days [E3 2013]
The dust has cleared from E3 and so begins the torrential downpour of write-ups. Mine will start with the title that was easily the one I was looking forward to the most: The Walking Dead: 400 Days.
For those who don’t know, this will be one additional DLC episode that will be a connecting tissue between Seasons 1 and 2. It will follow five separate stories of five all-new characters that didn’t appear in the Season 1 arc, named Bonnie, Russel, Shel, Wyatt and Vince. Each story can be played in any order and span across different points of the apocalypse, from day 2 to day 400. Our speaker said that, while Season 1 focused on a character (Lee) to drive the story, 400 Days would instead focus on a location and how characters would use it and change it over a span of time. Save files from the previous season will carry over to 400 Days, and eventually to Season 2, though how those decisions would affect your gameplay was not specified.
We got to see a playthrough of one of the stories while at the Telltale booth, starring Vince, an Asian character convicted of murder who was on his way between prisons when the zombie apocalypse caught up with him. The majority of the story is banter between himself, a white-collar thief, and a rapist, establishing their rapport and chemistry before all hell breaks loose on the prison bus. Zombies inevitably make their way to the three of them, and, in a typical Walking Dead fashion, a sudden and gruesome betrayal occurs before the story abruptly ends.
The game looks and feels identical to the previous episodes, with the same point-and-click gameplay. More of the same is a-ok with me, and the writing is just as gripping as ever. It was mentioned that many Season 1 writers returned for the 400 Days DLC, but new writers were also put on staff as well. Let’s hope for the best–though I’m sure we won’t have to hope too hard, if this demo is any indication.
The episode will be released in July for $4.99, and it was mentioned during the presentation that a Vita re-release of Season 1 with 400 Days included would occur in August, though no price point was given. As with all other DLC, players must have Episode 1 installed at the very least to enjoy 400 Days.
