In my ongoing and likely futile effort to write a review for every game in my Steam library (#514 out of 1000+)... it's time for Batman: The Telltale Series.


Fully half of the main menu is occupied with an advertisement for DLC. And, look, listen: if you really want me to loathe a game, this is all you really have to do. Nice and easy, right? Just plaster a bunch of giant ads all over something I've already bought. Yeesh.

But, right. The game. That's what I'm supposed to be talking about, right? And, well... it's a Telltale Batman game. Everything you need to know is kind of contained right there within those two words, yeah? The most interesting thing going on here is that the game's equally interested in Bruce Wayne as the Bat, which allows for slightly more nuanced storytelling than you'd usually get from the Caped Crusader.

As Batman, beat up desperate poor people; as Bruce, give a homeless man a few coins. Doing good!

Your time will be pretty evenly split between Batman and Bruce Wayne, and at certain points you even have to option of choosing which 'character' you want to send off into the next scene. This juxtaposition makes one thing remarkably clear: Bruce Wayne is infinitely more engaging than the bat. As Batman, you punch things and glower; as Bruce, you have opportunities to charm, persuade, investigate and deflect. When the opportunity arises, it's always more interesting to remove the cowl.

The big flaw of Telltale's episodic release structure is that decisions made in one,episode cannot have much impact on subsequent episodes. It's also difficult to really tease out much character development or nuance when each episode is so short and needs to feel unique to the others. This forcibly reduces how compelling the story can be, because every plot thread feels a bit undercooked. That said, there are enough good ideas baked into the narrative to give the story some nice momentum and keep players engaged. Which is especially important as this game offers yet another take on the very-overdone Batman origin story.

Of particular note is that this game tries to examine the origins of Bruce's wealth. Rich people do not earn their billions by being decent, after all. It's a bit unfortunate that the game doesn't quite have the gumption to explore this premise as much as it could--Gotham City is very much a stand-in for New York City, and the old money in NYC was mostly derived from a very particular and exceptionally abominable industry. Instead, the Wayne fortune is attributed, deductively, to generic "crimes." Which I suppose is a hair better than the usual vague hand-waving of the Wayne's being "industrialists," but not by much.

Ultimately, though, it's a pretty fun, if casual, popcorn game. You'll probably forget about all of the story details a few weeks after finishing the game (I sure did), but while playing you'll never be bored.

[i]In my ongoing and likely futile effort to write a review for every game in my Steam library [/i](#514 out of 1000+)[i]... it's time for[/i] [b]Batman: The Telltale Series.[/b] [h2]┛Being Batman's Best Bruce┏[/h2] Fully half of the main menu is occupied with an advertisement for DLC. And, look, listen: if you really want me to [i]loathe[/i] a game, this is all you really have to do. Nice and easy, right? Just plaster a bunch of giant ads all over something I've already bought. Yeesh. But, right. The game. That's what I'm supposed to be talking about, right? And, well... it's a Telltale Batman game. Everything you need to know is kind of contained right there within those two words, yeah? The most interesting thing going on here is that the game's equally interested in Bruce Wayne as the Bat, which allows for slightly more nuanced storytelling than you'd usually get from the Caped Crusader. As Batman, beat up desperate poor people; as Bruce, give a homeless man a few coins. Doing good! Your time will be pretty evenly split between Batman and Bruce Wayne, and at certain points you even have to option of choosing which 'character' you want to send off into the next scene. This juxtaposition makes one thing remarkably clear: Bruce Wayne is infinitely more engaging than the bat. As Batman, you punch things and glower; as Bruce, you have opportunities to charm, persuade, investigate and deflect. When the opportunity arises, it's always more interesting to remove the cowl. The big flaw of Telltale's episodic release structure is that decisions made in one,episode cannot have much impact on subsequent episodes. It's also difficult to really tease out much character development or nuance when each episode is so short and needs to feel unique to the others. This forcibly reduces how compelling the story can be, because every plot thread feels a bit undercooked. That said, there are enough good ideas baked into the narrative to give the story some nice momentum and keep players engaged. Which is especially important as this game offers yet another take on the very-overdone Batman origin story. Of particular note is that this game tries to examine the origins of Bruce's wealth. Rich people do not earn their billions by being decent, after all. It's a bit unfortunate that the game doesn't quite have the gumption to explore this premise as much as it could--Gotham City is very much a stand-in for New York City, and the old money in NYC was mostly derived from a very particular and exceptionally abominable industry. Instead, the Wayne fortune is attributed, deductively, to generic "crimes." Which I suppose is a hair better than the usual vague hand-waving of the Wayne's being "industrialists," but not by much. Ultimately, though, it's a pretty fun, if casual, popcorn game. You'll probably forget about all of the story details a few weeks after finishing the game (I sure did), but while playing you'll never be bored. [h3]Arbitrary Rating: 7/10[/h3] [h1]▰▰▰▰▰▰▰▱▱▱[/h1]