"We're All Dead"

As we await Season 2 of The Walking Dead video game, I find myself in a much different position than when I was first surprised by the depth and feeling of Season 1. Lee and Clementine existed in a world I had only heard about it. I had no idea.

The game inspired me to look into the comic series and I am now utterly hooked. I read Compendiums 1 and 2, bought Vol. 17 of the trade paperbacks, and needing more, downloaded every issue via Comixology (through Issue 112). That's what, some nine years worth of material. I learned no one, save Rick and Carl minus body parts/organs, are safe.

And to revisit the post-zombie world with a full taste of the mythology behind it makes me appreciate Tell Tale's game even more. By all accounts, 400 Days stands as a bridge between Seasons 1 and 2. I haven't finished it yet, but I have played a couple of the vignettes out. Apparently random characters have brief moments. It doesn't take long to see the decision timer count down and to feel the familiar quickening of the pulse.

And again, I was thrown back into moments of "what would I do" and "I don't like any of these choices" and perhaps worst of all, "that's not what I wanted or expected to happen." Yet despite this lack of control, I think therein lies some of the excitement and beauty of the game's execution. The game, like the comic, takes you to those moments when you realize you're not in control.

I like that the stories are short and the characters have not overlapped. It does give some freedom to mess with decisions, to move beyond the constancy of how I wanted to play Lee. But most importantly, what 400 Days has done is whetted my appetite to return to Clem and see where we are.

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