The Walking Dead: Michonne “In Too Deep” review for PC, PS4, Xbox One

The first episode in Telltale?s The Walking Dead miniseries revolving around the ever popular character Michonne drops this week on a variety of platforms. And guess what? It?s pretty good! It?s more Walking Dead, and more Telltale, so provided you like both of those things, i think you?ll also enjoy this. It?s a relatively short look at the character featured on both the TV show and the comic, with my total playtime clocking in at 103 minutes. But it?s also a pretty satisfying first chapter, giving us glimpses of Michonne?s tragic past, and a whole host of new characters to keep track of (and likely watch die in horrible ways).

Gameplay-wise, this isn?t far removed from other Telltale titles. You?ll have a few sections with limited exploration, where you can interact or view objects, and speak to NPC?s nearby. The gut of ?In Too Deep? is still focused on the dialogue choices, and your ability to quickly press button prompts when necessary. It?s a little unfortunate that Telltale doesn?t introduce some sort of unique gameplay mechanic here, but I?m also not particularly surprised. I?d imagine they want to slot this firmly in with their other Walking Dead releases, so there?s probably some need to be consistent across all games.

One thing that did stand out to me here is how I reacted to situations and what dialogue I chose when playing as Michonne. In just about every modern Telltale game to date, excluding The Wolf Among Us, the player characters have essentially been a blank slate. It?s up to you to build that character how you want, imagine how they?d interact with others, or what their reaction to any given situation would be. As a fan of both the show and comic, I?ve been playing ?In Too Deep? differently. Michonne isn?t exactly the happiest of characters, for good reasons. She has her moments, and certainly becomes more sociable in later arcs, but my approach here has been more in line with her earlier appearance in the comics. And I like this, because it causes me to play in a way that?s different to my normal ?good guy? approach to dialogue options.

I don?t care if a piss off a companion too much, and my world view as Michonne is a bit more dire than it typically would be. I?m also more practical, but not entirely self-serving. And despite the short length of this initial chapter, I?ve been given a pretty wide berth of options to approach Michonne?s character from different angles, which I?ve certainly enjoyed. I think this is literally the first time I?ve chosen the ?silent? dialogue option more than once in a Telltale game, and it feels perfect for this particular character. That?s not to say you can?t play Michonne as a bit more positive, but I?ve really enjoyed trying to keep myself in line with how she?s already been established elsewhere.

I?m certainly engaged enough with this first chapter to see things through to the end, and I imagine you will be too. Just go in with some expectations in check, this isn?t the Telltale game that?s going to reinvent the wheel for their particular style of gameplay. But it does serve as a solid introduction to a well-known, and well-liked character from The Walking Dead, and hopefully spirals into some interesting revelations the further we proceed. Also, if you wanted to know what an underwater zombie attack looks like, you should probably pick this up.