Batman the Telltale series season one came to an end this month. The concluding episode was my favorite of the season. It had everything a season finale needed to be excellent. It had an explosive opening of action sequence with batman and everything kept escalating throughout the entire episode. There was a great sense of urgency for all the characters, all storylines came to an end without feeling rushed.
The episode started with the best action sequence of the series until it got topped at the end of the episode. The GCPD police department was under attack, with batman being one of the last lines of defense. It ended with the inevitable death of the police commissioner, creating the path for Jim Gordon to step into that role. Then we see the end of Harvey Dent's storyline. Harvey has reached the point of no return, he was holding hostages in Bruce Wayne's mansion. Where he was letting the infamous two face coin decide everyone's fate. This sequence ended with Dent in police custody. Stakes then got even higher when Alfred was captured by lady Arkham. The rest of the episode was finding clues Alfred was leaving behind to help batman find him.
One of the best aspects of the episode was finding out more about why Vicky Vale became lady arkham. Batman goes back to the Vale house and finds a torture room, where Vale was abused as a child. This made it clear why she killed her foster parents, she wanted revenge for what they did to her as a child. All her motives became more clear that she wants to end all abuse even if it means going to extreme measures to do so. We also see that she has great respect for batman and what he does. They just have a significant difference in philosophy on how to get things done. Vale like many in the series resent Bruce Wayne and unleash anger on him for how his parents treated patients in arkham asylum. The final battle takes place at arkham asylum where batman is lead to the undergrounds to find Vale. At the final showdown the player is given a choice to take the cowl off or just attack Vale. I chose to take off the mask fearing I wouldn't get to her in time to prevent her from killing Alfred. So I took the mask off. Then proceeded my favorite action sequence of the series. A long Boss fight with Vale that had me on the edge of my seat the whole time. It ends with Vale's concussion weapon making the room cave in. Her story ends with rocks falling on her before she can escape. The last shot of the episode shows Gordon making his police commissioner acceptance speech where someone attempts to assassinate him. Then we get to see the joker out of arkham asylum at a bar, setting him up for season two.
Overall, this was a fantastic series and I can't recommend it enough. This episode also had the least amount of technical problems for me. I still ran into some frame rate drops, but nothing like the previous episodes. I hope Telltale can change the engine the game runs on for season two.
