ReMix:The Walking Dead: Season One "Don't Go" 4:55

RoeTaKa (Alex Roe) again deviates from a diet of From Software games to bring us our second ReMix of Telltale's The Walking Dead, using guitars and plucked/strumming textures to build an intimate, dramatic folk instrumental that gets increasingly cinematic as it progresses:

"When I was thinking of a game to remix for Halloween (2014), this totally slipped my mind. I went through the notions of Resident Evil and Silent Hill, had an idea for Lords of Shadow 2, considered The Evil Within, and teased the thought of Luigi's Mansion. Then my sister reminded me of The Walking Dead - seemed like a great reason to work on this.

The Walking Dead has some good music, y'know it fits very well. If you heard it, you know it would fit in that game. But it also has a really nice theme to it, something that tugs away at the heart when it needs to. I didn't want to stray far from the source, because it's really good and has a great base to build on. So I thought of Season 1 with Lee and Clementine, thought about that journey. And that's it, really. Hope you enjoy!"

Of course, that was a year ago, but we've posted tons of Alex's stuff since, and this Halloween seemed like a great occasion to feature this mix - it's not particularly spooky (I'd characterize it more as dramatic & moving), but it's from a holiday-appropriate series of games dedicated to a show that I'm still personally very much a fan of. The source here is relatively minimal, so Alex took an interpretive approach that adds original material to expand things out a bit - DragonAvenger writes:

"Wow, what a beautiful piece! Really loving what Roe has done here. Sure, the source doesn't have a lot to it but he's stretched every once out of it and then some. I felt like the source was pretty apparent throughout since it relies so heavily on that chord structure, but I can see other judges disagreeing. Regardless, this was a very moving piece that I enjoyed quite a bit!"

zykO adds:

"Really pretty piece of music you've concocted here. It has a meandering walking dead feel to it, it's warm and damp. The guitar is a great touch to give track more elasticity. As you build your track, it picks up a lot of steam and starts to really sound cinematically epic. Very well done.

I hear plenty of the source, this feels very cohesive and focused. All the original source really had goin for it was the block chord structure so emphasizing those in the arrangement, though in other applications is not very garish, works really well here. Original feel sustained and amplified. I'm all for it."

What he said - though I feel like "meandering" & "focused" are antonyms :) This arrangement has all the atmosphere of RoeTaKa's other recent mixes but differentiates itself with more of an emphasis on plucked & strummed string textures and a gradual transition from intimate folk to something larger. Great stuff!