(originally posted January 30th 2015)

The Walking Dead is one of the most miserable video game experiences I’ve ever had. It’s just so soul-crushingly depressing that you find yourself questioning your reasons for playing it. My guess is that, despite the constant hardships, there’s a small part of you that thinks everything will turn out okay. And I think this track sums that feeling up.

It plays during some of the quieter moments of the game (most notably the ending to Season One) and manages to sound uplifting but also very down and melancholic. It’s like it’s trying to remain hopeful and encouraging but it’s unable to hide its own doubts because it knows that things are probably not going to get better. It ends up resembling Lee’s (and, by extensions, the player’s) attitude towards the young and innocent Clementine. You keep telling her that it’ll be okay when you know deep down, that a lifetime of despair is most likely on the horizon and she knows it too. And all you can do is support and look after each other. A perfectly sombre piece of music for a sombre game.