The Walking Dead: 400 Days Beginner Tips - Choices, Saves, and Story Order

The Walking Dead: 400 Days is a short narrative DLC episode developed by Telltale Games and currently published on Steam by Skybound Games. It is built around five linked survivor stories, dialogue choices, quick action prompts, and an epilogue that reacts to some of what you did.

Content warning: Official rating and storefront game details flag mature horror material, violence/gore, strong language, drug reference, and sexual themes. This guide stays non-graphic and focuses on choices, saves, and play habits.

Spoiler note: This is a spoiler-light guide. It explains how to approach choices and consequences without giving exact recruitment requirements, Season Two appearances, death routes, or full scene solutions.

Essential Tips

1. Use Your Season One Save If You Care About Callbacks

400 Days can notice earlier choices.

The DLC is not just a disconnected extra menu. Steam describes Season One choices carrying into 400 Days, so start from the save path you actually want to continue if callbacks matter to you.

2. Do Not Stress Over Story Order on a First Run

The five main stories are designed to be playable in any order.

Pick the photo or day marker that interests you and keep going. A chronological order can be useful on a replay, but your first run works best when you let each vignette stand on its own.

3. Track Decisions by Protagonist

Each short story has its own pressure point.

Instead of trying to remember every line, remember the broad intent behind each protagonist’s major choice: who you trusted, who you protected, when you stayed quiet, and when you acted quickly.

4. Treat Timed Dialogue as Gameplay

Silence, hesitation, and fast answers are all part of the design.

When a dialogue timer appears, choose the response that matches the character you are playing in that moment. Do not pause mentally waiting for a perfect answer; the scene is built around pressure.

5. Read the Whole Prompt Before Clicking

Action prompts can punish panic more than ignorance.

Move the cursor or reticle deliberately, confirm the verb or target, then act. 400 Days is not mechanically hard, but rushed inputs can send a scene in a direction you did not intend.

6. Wait for Autosaves Before Quitting

There is no manual save safety net in the older Telltale format.

GameFAQs and Telltale community support both point to autosaves rather than manual saves. When the saving icon appears, wait until it is gone before closing the game or changing versions.

7. Keep Exact Outcome Routes for a Replay

The best first run is not the cleanest spreadsheet.

Exact end-state routing exists, but following it immediately turns several moral choices into chores. Play once with your own instincts, then use a spoiler route later if you want a specific epilogue.

8. Expect Callbacks, Not Total Rewrites

Carryover choices matter, but they are not all equal.

Some choices create callbacks, references, or determinant appearances. Do not assume every Season One or 400 Days decision will become a large branch in the next game.

9. Use the Epilogue as a Consequence Check

Day 400 is where the DLC starts tying threads together.

When the epilogue begins, pay attention to which earlier choices are being tested. If you want to replay for a different result, note the character story that likely set it up.

10. Find 400 Days Inside Season One in Definitive Series

It may not appear as a separate top-level episode.

Skybound support says Definitive Series players should open Season One, go to Play, and scroll past the Episode 5 title card. Check there before assuming the DLC is missing.

11. Keep One Save Path for Story Continuity

Import confusion can make callbacks harder to understand.

If you are playing the whole Telltale series, avoid jumping between unrelated save slots unless you are deliberately testing outcomes. One consistent save path makes later references easier to read.

12. Decide How Spoiler-Sensitive You Are Before Looking Up Choices

400 Days is short, so exact answers reveal a lot.

Look up broad hints first: whether a choice affects the epilogue, whether a story can be replayed, or whether an import worked. Save exact routes for after you have seen the DLC once.

Story Order Advice

400 Days presents five short protagonist stories before the Day 400 wrap-up. The game details identify the main playable viewpoints as Vince, Wyatt, Russell, Bonnie, and Shel.

Approach	Best For	Tradeoff
Pick freely	First-time play	Preserves the intended photo-board feel
Chronological day order	Replay clarity	Makes timeline connections easier but feels less spontaneous
Favorite-character order	Returning players	Good for checking one branch, weak for first-run pacing
Exact outcome order	Completion routing	Spoils several decision tests

For a first run, pick freely. For a second run, chronological order can help you see how the truck stop, road, diner, and survivor groups connect.

Choice and Consequence Habits

Habit	Why It Helps
Name your intent before choosing	You will remember why you made the choice later
Watch who reacts	Character reactions often matter more than the immediate menu text
Do not reload every uncomfortable result	The DLC is built around hard calls, not perfect answers
Separate first-run choices from replay goals	A replay can chase exact epilogue conditions without flattening the first run
Keep Season Two expectations modest	The game includes carryover, but not every choice becomes a major branch
Write down only the big calls	Over-tracking every line makes a short DLC feel like homework

If a choice feels irreversible, that is usually the point. Decide based on what the character knows in that scene, then let the epilogue show what the game cared about.

Save and Version Checklist

1. Before starting - Choose the Season One save slot you want 400 Days to read.
2. During each story - Let dialogue and action prompts finish before opening menus or quitting.
3. When the save icon appears - Wait for it to disappear before closing the game.
4. After finishing a story - Return to the story board and confirm the completed segment registered.
5. In Definitive Series - Look inside Season One’s Play menu, past Episode 5, if you cannot find 400 Days.
6. Before Season Two - Keep the same save path if you want the DLC’s choices to be available for later continuity.
7. For replays - Use a separate slot or rewind/replay option only after confirming how your version handles saves.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

1. Do not start from a throwaway Season One save - Earlier choices can create callbacks, so use the continuity you actually want.
2. Do not quit while the saving icon is active - Wait until autosaving finishes before closing the game.
3. Do not assume story order is a puzzle - The five main vignettes are playable in any order.
4. Do not chase exact recruitment results on your first run - Spoiler routes work better after you have made your own choices once.
5. Do not mash through timed dialogue - Timed responses are part of the choice system, not filler.
6. Do not treat silence as always wrong - No-response moments can be valid when they fit the scene.
7. Do not expect every carryover choice to become a major branch - Some consequences are smaller references or appearances.
8. Do not skip past Episode 5 in Definitive Series without checking - 400 Days is placed after Episode 5 inside Season One there.
9. Do not mix save slots casually before Season Two - Keep one continuity path if later callbacks matter.

Summary

Category	Top Tip
Setup	Use the Season One save path you want to continue
Story Order	Pick freely on a first run, consider chronology on replay
Choices	Choose by character intent, not by guessed perfect outcomes
Saves	Wait for autosave completion before quitting
Consequences	Expect real carryover, but not every choice becomes a major branch
Spoilers	Save exact recruitment and Season Two routing for a second pass
Definitive Series	Find 400 Days inside Season One after Episode 5