Batman - The Telltale Series

Batman - The Telltale Series

I have some friends and people-I-know who like to judge me. All these judgement comes from their inability to accept that people can be different and their tastes can vary, it highly depends on what kinda person you are, your lifestyle and your education.

Telltale Games are always a reason for discussions and some weird talks like “what do you exactly call a game in there?” and every time I hear it I start to get mad. Truth be told, I never understood why people like to judge the genres they don’t like and people who play them, ‘cause it’s never been a big problem for me. If I don’t like the game or genre, I just don’t play it, easy as that.

Real player with 67.9 hrs in game


Read More: Best Episodic Atmospheric Games.


By now, Batman is a well known character who’s had probably the largest exposure among comic book characters. Across the years there have been many interpretations of the character, some focusing on the hero, others on the darker aspects of his personallity and most of them on his growth. They’ve all been done to death. How does Telltale’s Batman fare? Do you need to know his character to enjoy this game? Is this a cashgrab or is there some worth to it, something that make the game shine ? Telltale’s catalogue is formed of both kinds. Batman season 1 is an interesting one. It starts as the former and ends as the latter. Before I go on with the narrative and technical details, I’ll get something out of the way: If you intend to play it on a low-tier device, better stay away! The engine of the game served as a prototype and therefore not many things could be fixed. To this day, the framerate can drop to the half of your display, there’s some stuttering in few moments on high-end machines, but it’s much worse on lower-ends. With that out, here’s the actual review:

Real player with 35.3 hrs in game

Batman - The Telltale Series on Steam

Blues and Bullets

Blues and Bullets

Game is dead like a beached whale.

My personal experience is probably a lot like most people on here. When a sale season hits, you go out a buy a crap-tonne of anything and everything that has had a price reduction on your wishlist. Like a hungry vacuum cleaner sucking up your wallet, purse, handbag, life savings, superannuation and assorted licorices, you just buy buy buy! without really looking at the forums or the latest info or even if the game is finished yet.

Which brings me to my point. This game wasn’t finished, and never will be.

Real player with 8.7 hrs in game


Read More: Best Episodic Noir Games.


I do not really review episodic titles without having all episodes at hand with a complete walkthrough. With Blues and Bullets I did an exception as the title with its heavy noir atmosphere kept calling me. “A Crowd of Monsters” made an interesting and enjoyable game and I’m sure we’ll hear more about them in the future.

In the center of the game we have Eliot Ness who is based on the real Eliot Ness - an agent who enforced the Prohibition in the early 20th century and was famous for being part of the so-called Untouchables, a group tasked with getting Chicago rid of its corruption and - most notably - putting Al Capone behind bars. Here, the story is fictionalised - Eliot has already retired when he gets a visit from one of Capone’s henchmen. The kingpin wants to bury the hatchet and offers the agent a job most unexpected: finding his granddaughter as Sofia Capone was kidnapped.

Real player with 6.2 hrs in game

Blues and Bullets on Steam

Tales from the Borderlands

Tales from the Borderlands

Wow…. just wow. This game is a must buy!

Let me start out by saying that I’ve never played a Borderlands game before this one. If you are new to the Borderlands universe, no worries. Tales From The Borderlands is able to introduce you to the world without needing any prior knowledge of the original games. Technically this game takes place after Borderlands 2, but it is summarized perfectly and requires no further knowledge then what they explain to you.

In TFTB, you play two different characters (Rhys and Fiona) as they recap the story of their adventure. Like most other Telltale games, Tales plays out like an interactive adventure, with dialogue options and choices sprinkled in.

Real player with 28.6 hrs in game


Read More: Best Episodic Choose Your Own Adventure Games.


I guess there’s a lot to say about the game but I’ll keep it short for ya’ll. If you really want to read some in-depth critisism you can check out the lower part the review. If you just want to know if this game is good for you, just read the short COOL-list up here.

COOL:

  • Tales really captures the Borderlands’ iconic mix of action and humour.

  • Dialogue is quite solid, be it in a serious or humorous scene. Has it’s off-moments though, but that’s to be expected when…

  • …You have about 10 hours of story going on. Quite a long journey with lots of twists and turns.

Real player with 24.2 hrs in game

Tales from the Borderlands on Steam

Batman: The Enemy Within - The Telltale Series

Batman: The Enemy Within - The Telltale Series

Batman: The Enemy Within is the second season of Telltale’s version of my favourite DC superhero. Obviously this game is mostly focused on story, so I’ll start with my overall recommendation, and then you can skip my detailed analysis if you want to avoid spoilers.

This is an essential must play for any fan of Batman. The story is fantastic, Telltale back to their absolute best form. Voice acting is outstanding throughout the whole cast, headlined by Troy Baker as Batman/Bruce Wayne. I advise playing season 1 first, because some decisions carry forward, which can impact the appearance of some characters, and their relationship with Bruce. It took me 9 hours to finish Enemy Within, which is longer than Telltale’s other recent games, and I think you can justify buying the game for full price or a small discount.

Real player with 18.0 hrs in game

Gotham’s Finest

By now almost everybody knows who Batman is and most of the details surrounding him (parents‘ death, enemies and villains, Batman‘s codex etc.). So you would probably think “why should I play another Batman game? Will it be the same old story I already know?“. In case of Batman - Enemy Within you would be nicely surprised because many things are just not as you are used them to be. And this is good because it makes the story much more interesting than still playing the same song over and over again.

Real player with 17.2 hrs in game

Batman: The Enemy Within - The Telltale Series on Steam

D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die -Season One-

D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die -Season One-

D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die is a true hidden gem. I consider it to be a masterpiece. It is among my favourite games, and one of the finest examples of the interactive movie subgenre. It’s also among the most immersive games, both overall and specifically due to how great it is with giving you a lot of different emotions. It’s sad, mysterious, weird, funny, and somewhat scary. It has a great balance of brightness and darkness, and not because it only plays on contrasts, but because it has bright, dark, and in-between moments, and they are placed appropriately, as well as equally good at what their purposes are. While some might claim the game is unfinished, it’s not exactly so, it’s more of a somewhat unfinished game, but worth it without a doubt. You can see it this way - even if a truly beautiful painting is unfinished to some degree, it still remains beautiful. Now let’s talk about the essential video game aspects.

Real player with 27.0 hrs in game

8.5/10

My likes include 100% de Agave tequila. My dislikes are mainly drugs… And chewing gum.

Overview

D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die -Season one- is the first part of a planned episodic adventure games series developed by Access Games in the same vein as Telltale’s cinematic titles. D4 is a crazy story filled with wacky characters and ridiculous situations somehow fittingly wrapped into a serious, moody detective crime story.

Story

D4 follows the tale of David Young, middle-aged ex-cop and widower turned private detective in order to find D, a mysterious individual whose only known initial was Little Peggy’s (Young’s wife) dying breath.

Real player with 16.1 hrs in game

D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die -Season One- on Steam

The Wolf Among Us

The Wolf Among Us

I’ve played through this game about 5 times. Each time was fun and engaging. Definitely recommend!

Real player with 24.0 hrs in game

A therapeutical game about Big B and his inner restraints holding him from killing everyone in this annoying town.

Snow white? More like hope she dead tonight!

Faith kinda kewl tho, “he’s not as bad as he seems 3”

10/10

Real player with 23.4 hrs in game

The Wolf Among Us on Steam

The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead

TellTale’s gem. Too bad the company was shut down mid production of Season 4. Anyway, I 100% recommend this series to all. Pro tip, buy the definitive edition to access all seasons in 1 big game. It’s the biggest bang for your buck :)

Real player with 1745.2 hrs in game

Bloody solid game best way to start a off a great game.

Real player with 45.6 hrs in game

The Walking Dead on Steam

The Walking Dead: Season Two

The Walking Dead: Season Two

I will be the first to admit that when I beat The Walking Dead: Season 1, I not only cried, but I cried like a baby. The story, setting, and, most importantly, the characters all pulled me into this world where no one is truly safe, and your decisions matter and go beyond the “choice 1 = good-but-risky, choice 2 = evil-but-conserative” trope. So when Season 2 was announced, I was eager to get my hands on it. Now, ten months have passed and the season is over, ending with “Episode 5: No Going Back”. Was it amazing, and how did it stack against Season 1?

Real player with 26.6 hrs in game

A stirring and well-acted journey, Season Two of The Walking Dead may not deliver the breakthrough experience of the first season, yet it retains the emotional punch that makes this undertaking just as heartfelt and gut-wrenching as we all so fondly remember. Each episode builds upon the last, and we open with the slightly older and more experienced Clementine being once again ripped from the last vestige of Season One’s survivors. These initial scenes, when Clementine is truly at her most vulnerable, allow new characters and personalities to fill the void, and they are definitely a step up from those that we have love and lost before.

Real player with 26.2 hrs in game

The Walking Dead: Season Two on Steam

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope

“Who put Bella in the Wych Elm?”

~The unknown individual

To be honest, I didn’t really plan to write this review. I mean… what is there to say? It’s the second game in Supermassive’s horror anthology (a series of short spooky stories told in “choose your own adventure” way with some QTE elements) and I already wrote detailed review of Man of Medan (which was the first one), so, like I said, what else is there to say? Surprisingly, it turned out that, even though the core mechanics here is almost identical to what we’ve seen in Man of Medan, the actual storytelling, the structure of the game is pretty different and it does make it to feel… well… different. So… here goes.

Real player with 52.1 hrs in game

“Little Hope” is one of the few cinematic, story driven games that are better played with a friend than alone and this is why I bought it. Unfortunately Supermassive Games let us down once more. We tried it a dozen of times, but just like their previous title the online coop is full of glitches, infinite loading screens and corrupted save files that didn’t let us finish the game. One year later they don’t even bother solving the problems and patching the game. Two years later they haven’t patched “Man of Medan” either. The single player is decent but nothing special. Cool story and atmosphere but definitely a step backward compared to “Man of Medan” as of the gameplay, decisions making and sceneries design. You can try couch coop though.

Real player with 12.3 hrs in game

The Dark Pictures Anthology: Little Hope on Steam