Telltale Game’s The Walking Dead: Michonne episode one gives you a small peak into the character’s past. Fans of Kirkman’s comics will definitely enjoy the game, and those who are just fans of Telltale Games will love the non-stop action.
[Warning: this review contains mild spoilers from The Walking Dead: Michonne episode and Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead comic books]
You know Michonne is suffering from PTSD right from the start. Michonne is in and out of reality, seeing her two little girls everywhere she goes. One moment she’s hacking away at walkers, the next she’s in her high rise apartment looking at her daughters’ toys. She’s experiencing survivor's guilt for leaving her girls behind, but we don’t know why she left them in the first place. She gives herself a choice: live with the guilt or end her life. She loads the gun and puts the barrel to her temple, but a strange man saves her before it’s too late.
The game is definitely meant to appease hardcore The Walking Dead comic fans. The Walking Dead: Michonne ties into Michonne’s current storyline in Kirkman’s novels. Without getting into heavy comic book spoilers, Michonne currently works as a fisherman, which seems a bit random for the character. However, we learned Michonne actually lived on a boat before she joined Rick Grimes at the prison.
The Walking Dead: Michonne will draw you in even if you’re not a hardcore fan of the comics or the show. There’s a surprising amount of action in the game. You have to do more than press a button or swipe your finger, sometimes you’ll have to enter a button combo to complete the action. Walkers will eat you if you don’t press the correct buttons within a few seconds.
However, The Walking Dead: Michonne might fall into the typical Telltale trap when it comes to decision outcomes. Someone once described Telltale Games’ decisions to me as the game developers asking you two questions: Do you want us to chop off your right hand or chop off a hand that’s not your left? Sometimes you think your actions can save another character, but the person will die no matter what you decide.
For example, I tried to save a boy in The Walking Dead: Michonne because I didn’t trust his sister. I tried to say the “right things” to descalate the situation, and it looked like everything was fine until the gun went off. The sister then exacts her revenge, but there’s no way to stop her. I would’ve loved the option of saving the brother over the sister, but she’s likely vital the overall plot. We’ll have to wait until the final episode to see if your decisions truly effect Michonne’s fate. Both The Walking Dead comics and TV series has made me skeptical of trusting people, so my go-to response is “I don’t know them” to save my own skin. And yet, somehow, I always end up getting dragged into saving people I don’t know in Telltale Games.
The Walking Dead: Michonne is an episodic adventure worth playing whether you’re a lover of the comics, TV show, or Telltale Games in general. It’s a great game to play on your long commute home on a train or at home during your down time. You’ll be excited to see what’s next for Michonne, even if her fate is already set in stone. The Walking Dead: Michonne is available on Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4 and PC now. The game will be available for iOS and Android devices Feb. 25.
