The Walking Dead (video game)/400 Days

400 Days is a DLC and special episode for The Walking Dead: The Telltale Series - Season One. It was released in July 2013 (exact date depending on device) 400 Days is an anthology of stories all centred at an abandoned truck stop as various characters stop there for shelter from zombies and raiders. There is an epilogue which brings the 5 stories together. It bridges the gap between the players choices with Lee Everett in Season One and the events of Season Two.

Tropes used in The Walking Dead (video game)/400 Days include:

• Anachronic Order: The DLC can be played this way due to the playable characters' individual stories all taking place at different moments within a 400 day time span and the player can choose who to play in what order. The direction or pieces of the stories can change, however, if you choose to do them in order (Bonnie can fight a Walker, for example, depending on something you did in Russell's story).
• Bland-Name Product: Nate's "Chovet" pickup truck.
• Call Back:
  • The prison bus from Vince's story can be seen in Wyatt and Bonnie's stories.
  • Shel and Becca can be seen fleeing from walkers during Vince's story.
  • Nate was the one chasing Wyatt in his story. If the player chooses to play Wyatt's story first, the headlight of the pursuer' car will get shot. The pursuer also has a scar on his hand gotten in Wyatt's story, most noticeable if Wyatt stays in the car.
  • The prison guard who ditched the prisoners in Vince's story is also the one who got hit by the car in Wyatt's story and is a "watch dog" walker in Shel's story if certain conditions are met.
  • The walker with a screwdriver in its eye that shows up in Russell's story shows up in Bonnie's story. It tries to grab Bonnie, but Bonnie kicks the screwdriver into its head. It will however show up in only one and not the other if certain conditions are met.
  • The old woman from Russell's story shows up in Shel's story as a "watch dog" walker who ends up eating a puppy. So does her husband, but only if certain conditions are met.
  • The group remarks in Shel's story that they are missing a flashlight ever since they went to the corn fields. The same ones that Bonnie goes through when trying to escape her pursuers and presumably the same flashlight that Dee was using.
  • This also shows that Shel's group were the people who were hunting Bonnie in her story. Their voices and silhouettes become recognisable after you meet them in Shel's story
  • This is confirmed again when you get the first morality branch of Shel's story, where they reference the last break-in with food and medicine stolen. If you play Bonnie's story first, Leland's survival and taking the bag decides in Roman's telling of the conversation if the group lost all the goods or if they got them back.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The Macon General Store briefly appears during the intro to Vince's Story.
  • Carley or Doug's dead body appears during Russell's story.
  • Joyce, Clive, and Boyd from the cancer group show up in Shel's story, apparently having broken off from Vernon after taking the boat from Lee's group.
    • The group will also mention what measures they had to take to steal the boat, such as who they had to overpower if someone opted not to join Lee.
  • And if you look very closely, the pre-apocalypse cutscene before your first visit to the character selection area has Kenny and Duck getting gas.
• Devoured by the Horde: In Vince's Story, Vince has to choose between Justin and Danny on who's ankle he needs to shoot because then the chain could slip out and they'll all be free. Depending on who you choose, the other will be left behind and get devoured by the walkers.
• Easily Forgiven: In Russell's story, it is possible to convince Nate to give Russell the gun, which you are then given the option of pointing at Nate and trying to kill him. Russell can't do it, Nate takes the gun back, and doesn't mention it again. Actually, because you are given the option of saying different things during this part, Nate will actually be understanding if you say the right things. Nate says, "GREAT. Good. That's what I like to hear. And no apology needed for pointing the gun at me; I can see that you're under some stress."
• Four Lines, All Waiting: The DLC contains five separate stories centred around Gil's Pitstop.
• Freudian Trio: Vince is the Ego, Danny is the Id, and Justin is the Superego.
• Genre Anthology: The five stories each show the respective protagonists' adventures at different points during the first 400 days of the Zombie Apocalypse.
• Guide Dang It: Good damn luck getting everyone to come with you in 400 Days at the end. Other than Bonnie — who joins you no matter what — the others all take a fair bit of convincing, requiring you to choose the correct dialogue options as Tavia as well as having made some "correct" choices in their individual stories before you even knew this section was coming:
  • Wyatt: Stay in the car instead of going out to help the cop. Considering that you most likely agreed to play rock, paper, scissors over it, which is a complete Luck-Based Mission, good luck. Alternatively, you can choose a specific line of dialogue with Tavia and Wyatt will come along.
  • Russell: You have to choose a very specific dialogue during the ending, also the same one that can be used to convince Wyatt, and considering that that line is hidden in a choice of four, it's pretty likely that Russell will stay behind (the line is "There might be people you know"). It's notable that despite being the only one who can be convinced on dialogue alone with no requirements as to what choices you made in his solo story, Russell has the reputation for being the hardest to convince to join you.
  • Vince: you have to save Justin, a Jerkass white collar criminal, instead of Danny, a man who may or may not be a rapist. Justin will have heard about Tavia's settlement and apparently died trying to get there.
  • Shel/Becca: actually ties in with Russell. If you chose to have Shel drive off in the RV, she'll automatically come along due to thinking her former group is hunting her. If you killed Stephanie instead, you'll need to say "There may be people your own age", but this will make Russell stay behind and if you use the correct dialogue with Russell in this scenario, Shel/Becca will stay behind. So make sure you jack that RV, completionists.
• Hero of Another Story: 400 Days focuses on the perspective of five other survivors who have no connection to Lee's group.
• Hyperlink Story: The five separate stories all converge at the end with the six main characters being invited to come to a settlement by a seventh.
• Interquel: Meant to bridge the gap between Seasons One and Two. The choices from this game will carry on into the second season.
• Last Second Ending Choice: Played straight with Wyatt, Russell, and Shel. Averted with Vince and Bonnie.
• Lost in the Maize: The last segment of Bonnie's story takes place in a cornfield.
• Luck-Based Mission: The rock-paper-scissors game with Eddie in Wyatt's story. There's no trick to winning or losing, it's completely random, which explains why, at the time of writing, the results for whether or not people stayed in the car are at 50/50.
• Major Injury Underreaction: Dee takes a while to notice that Bonnie hit her in the face with an iron bar.
• Mistaken for Racist: When Boyd suggests letting the thief stay and join their group, one of the reasons Joyce advises against it is because he doesn't speak English. Shel has the option of responding "That's racist."
• Not Quite the Right Thing:
  • In Vince's Story: Despite his humanistic nature, running off with Danny instead of Justin will mean Vince doesn't join the group, claiming that they need to stick together. Russell also remarks that he was a real asshole, likely due to a similarity or two to Nate. Going with Justin instead gives Vince a bit of reason, and prior knowledge of community shelters, sparking him to come along with Tavia.
  • Having Shel place her sister's safety over conscience at the end of her scenario makes Tavia's job harder.
  • As of Season 2, it is revealed that getting everyone to go with Tavia itself is this, as it turns out that the community she was referring to happens to be Carver's group. Maybe The Power of Trust in a Zombie Apocalypse isn't all it's cracked up to be.
• Not Using the Z Word: One character calls them zombies, which is most likely an oversight as zombie media doesn't exist in either one of The Walking Dead's universes.
• One Degree of Separation: The various characters in the DLC are just one degree of separated from each other.
• Peek-a-Boo Corpse: If Russell chooses to hide from the approaching truck he'll come face to face with the rotting corpse of Doug or Carley from episodes 1-3 of season 1.
• Police Are Useless: The guard on the bus was reluctant to act against a murder attempt on the bus. Then he kills that prisoner in cold blood before threatening the other prisoners. To be fair, he was caught in a panic, but he didn't last long either. The other guard on the bus immediately ditches the bus and others once the walkers start showing up, leaving three prisoners chained and mostly defenceless.
• The Power of Trust: Like the previous game, it's a theme among each chapter. It ultimately plays a part in the ending.
• Sadistic Choice: Much like Season 1, most of the stories have at least one:
  • Vince's Story: Vince must decide whether to shoot off either Danny or Justin's foot in order to escape the prison bus.
  • Wyatt's Story: Provided that Wyatt leaves the car, do you try to help the badly hurt police officer, or save yourself? However, it doesn't matter, since Wyatt gets abandoned either way.
  • Shel's Story: First, Shel must decide whether or not to allow Roman to execute a thief as he might give up their location to others. Later she must choose whether to execute Stephanie for trying to escape with supplies or flee with Becca.
• Schmuck Bait: Considering what we learn about the supposed community in Season 2. The ending to the game can be this.
• Seinfeldian Conversation: Bonnie's story starts with her and Leland having a bizarre conversation about what sort of weird body parts they could or couldn't live with having, such as a snake for a tongue or lobster claws.
• Take a Third Option: Inverted; in Shel's story, you can only leave or kill Stephanie. Killing Roman instead isn't an option.
• Unwinnable by Design: It's impossible for Wyatt to succeed in reaching his car.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Nate is never mentioned again after the end of Russell's story, even if Russell chooses to stay with him when he kills the elderly couple.
• Whole-Plot Reference: Russell's story has a lot of similarities to the tale of Little Red Riding Hood.