Telltale Games has found its niche in taking popular titles and giving it an original story that would make you feel something about the characters while staying true to the source material. How have they done this? Choices and episodes. All of Telltale’s games are episodic choice based games where the story is tailored by your decisions, which is great, until your choices and the consequences cause your brain to explode or sadness pangs in your chest at the end of the season.
Their popularity is attributed to the fact that along with a great story you have to wait to finish it because the game is not released in one fell swoop. The episodes are sometimes months apart and that makes fans completely ravenous because every episode of every game ends in a vicious cliffhanger. Of course you could hold out for the collected edition which will come out after all the episodes release, but with the internet being the way it is now could you avoid the mind boggling, heart breaking spoilers?
I was introduced to Telltale Games by their wildly popular adaptation of The Walking Dead and while the gameplay was minimalistic and new to me I was captivated… and hurt at the end of the first season, as were many others like myself, and this was one-upped by choices I was given in season 2 of Telltale’s game. I’ve also played The Wolf among Us, which is an adaptation of the comic Fables. Since then Telltale Games has released new adaptations of The Game of Thrones and Borderlands series. And a new title is on the way: On December 3rd at the Video Game Awards, Telltale Games debuted a teaser for a Batman game that will reportedly “…will give fans a firsthand opportunity to dive deeper into the complex life and mind of Bruce Wayne…”. This means not only is this a Batman game but a game that focuses on the most under-appreciated part of Batman, Bruce Wayne. There are scores of games where you get to be the Batman, like the recently concluded Arkham series from Rocksteady games, but who would have thought, or even wanted to be, plain old Bruce Wayne? Until Telltale Games put their stamp on it I doubt there was little to no one was on this list. Imagine the choice possible as Bruce Wayne, dealing with a limited personal life and protector of Gotham. Imagine the choices as Batman, all of which would not allow the killing of The Joker. The anticipation is real.
The game is set to release sometime in 2016 but while we wait for that can Telltale release a second season for The Wolf among Us and a third for The Walking Dead? These cliffhangers DEMAND satiation.
