BATMAN:
I was thrilled to hear that Telltale would be tackling Batman as their next game. I’ve long been a fan of their episodic series, and Batman is a franchise that is near and dear to my heart. The pairing couldn’t be more exciting – but I was worried that Telltale would be a little restrained when it came to their usual flair for storytelling.
Story:
Gotham’s a lot more bloody than you might be used to. Opening on a guard getting his brains blown out, Telltale’s new Batman series doesn’t pull any punches.
Even the Bat himself can be more prone to gratuitous violence – should you let him – and it’s surprising. Gotham’s never been pretty; it’s always been a dark place where dark things happen, but there are moments here where I was shocked nevertheless.
There’s plenty here for Batfans to revel in – from trading quips and claws with Selena Kyle to walking the tightrope that is Batman’s relationship with the police – and enough seeming inconsistencies to trip up casual fans. Telltale’s Batman exists outside of the canon gamers might expect from the Arkham titles, and it plays almost like an origin story. Bruce Wayne is only just meeting and greeting mainstay names such as Harvey Dent or Carmine Falcone, and villains of the series have still to become those villains.
In Realm of Shadows we’re introduced to a pretty large cast, with enough recognizable names for fans to start putting pieces quickly together. That’s the ultimate drawback of creating a story within such a well-known, fully-explored property: Telltale can only do so much. When we’re introduced to Oswald Cobblepot, for instance, we know where his story is going. This predictability both hurts and helps the story: as familiar pieces pop up, we can fit them comfortably into the narrative without too much direction, but it means going forwards there will only be so much suspense. This is, of course, unless Telltale decide to completely go off book and surprise everyone. I really hope they do.
Gameplay:
Getting in on the ground floor, before big events go down, is important, as it gives us a chance to shape Bruce Wayne’s relations to every fast friend or big bad. I doubt Telltale’s reigns are loose enough to really let us mess with Gotham too much, so choosing whether to shake a mob boss’ hand as Bruce Wayne or choosing which of a crook’s bones to break as the Bat is the extent of things, at least for now.
Most of the choices and gameplay in episode one are as the suited-and-booted millionaire Bruce Wayne; choosing how to deal with press in the face of scandal, whether to take a call in the middle of an important meeting or how to verbally spar with someone getting a little too close to the cowl-related truth. As Batman, your choices are more limited, extending only to decide exactly how much you’re going to hurt someone.
On that note, I was surprised by how I played Realm of Shadows. I’ve always struggled with Batman’s moral constraints and how, even faced with criminals so heinous that the lives of innocents would be spared if Batman where to kill them, he refuses to waver from his code. I’ve long wished for a game to come along and offer me a chance to break those rules, but when Telltale gave us that choice, I – and an unbelievable 90% of fellow gamers, according to the end game stats – stayed true to the Bat’s code of conduct.
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