Telltale Game’s The Walking Dead DLC, 400 Days, is the follow-up to the only game that has ever made me cry. As such, I had high hopes for this package that bridges the gap between seasons one and two, and follows five different characters through more bite sized vignettes. Thankfully, I wasn’t disappointed  – 400 Days is a refined chapter in the series, proof that Telltale Game’s have honed their product and learned from their mistakes. 400 Days managed to adequately rend my emotions and leave me delightfully devastated, and is a title as shocking and heartbreaking as the original.

The gameplay is identical to Season One: in this point and click adventure, rather than navigating the environment, most of your time will be spent in conversation, talking with your teammates, and making brutal decisions. And they are brutal.

I don’t even know why I play these games, because they’re my nightmare – every scenario left me emotionally exasperated, and the story apex left my stomach tied in knots so tight I was pretty sure I’d die. Because you spend less time with each of these characters, it feels like the stakes are raised even higher. 400 Days doesn’t shrink away from tough choices; if anything, the choices you are faced with are almost harder than ever, dwelling more deeply in that grey area of the human condition. The strength of The Walking Dead game lies in the complex characters and masterful writing, and 400 Days is no exception.

You would think that spending less time with each character would decrease emotional investment, but Telltale Games are experts in the craft, and you manage to get to know these characters and what makes them tick in a very short amount of time. I don’t want to spoil anything, but you will get connected to these characters, and that connection will make your choices very difficult.

The Walking Dead explored the story of Clementine and Lee, and while I felt it broke a lot of new ground and took some amazing chances with its storytelling, it was locked into the framework established in that story. You covered some unique ground, but you couldn’t drastically change the scene because of the characters inhabiting it. 400 Days doesn’t have that problem, and it feels like each story covers a different aspect of how an actual zombie apocalypse would impact the world, but more importantly, the human soul. From survival desperation to the exploration of sanity in these circumstances, 400 Days covers it all, featuring arcs whose conclusions will resonate with you long after you turn the game off.

My only criticism is that 400 Days is a “bridging story,” and it feels that way. Some of the conclusions are a little rushed, and don’t feature as much polish as I’d have liked to see. Also, the same technical problems that marred my original review reared their ugly heads again here…literally – my characters head transmuted into horrific versions of themselves, with asymmetric features and elongated necks. It was by far the most horrifying thing the game had to offer.

Still, if you’re a fan of this series at all, download and play 400 Days. The only real negative aspect is that it makes the already difficult wait until Season 2 even more unbearable.