Batman: The Telltale Series Is A Criminally Underrated Game

I wish I played this game during the company’s glory days. After playing the first season of Batman: The Telltale Series for the first time a few days ago, I can safely say that it is one of the best Batman games out there.

Telltale is that video game company that everybody trashes on, but secretly plays the hell out of their games.

I remember many years ago (circa: late 2000’s/early 2010’s) people online moaning and complaining about everything that Telltale was doing, ranging anywhere from the style of the game, the graphics, cut scenes, choices, characters, plot, hotkeys, etc.

Now, I know Telltale was doing some nefarious things back then, such as overworking its employees, giving their employees crunch hours, and bad management, but that was just a part of the complaints I heard about Telltale as an impressionable kid.

So, I stubbornly listened to these Telltale critics and refused to play any of their games. That really wasn’t too difficult for me as The Walking Dead, The Borderlands, The Wolf Among Us, and games similar to those ones (i.e.: post-apocalyptic, zombie/mutated-like villain games) wasn’t my thing back in the day as I was more into Star Wars, superheroes, The Witcher, The Elder Scrolls, the Total War series, Crusader Kings, Call of Duty, and every sports game I could get my hands on.

Obviously, there was Telltale’s Batman series, but given how stubborn and uncompromising I was with my game selections back then, I never gave the game a chance. Until yesterday.

For no particular reason, I put aside my decade plus long dislike for anything Telltale and downloaded Batman: The Telltale Series Season 1. And it was FANTASTIC.

The way Gotham’s police, politics, and criminal underworld was portrayed and given such stark and unique characterization was unbelievable as so many Batman adaptations only focus on the “grandiose” nature of the Caped Crusader.  I don’t have a problem with such depictions, but it can get a little boring and repetitive watching Batman beat up world-ending villains and threats time after time again, resulting in his deductive reasoning, detective instincts, and brilliant intellect going to waste.

But not in Telltale’s Batman. No, in this game Batman’s detective work, brilliant mind and gadgets, and his deductive reasoning are at the forefront as you are forced to put together the clues of multiple crime scene to get a better understanding of what occurred…just like Batman would do. It’s great if you are as much of a fan of the “down-to-earth” Batman as I am.

In fact, the only live-action/video game adaptation that portrays the politics and scheming of the criminal underworld of Gotham better than this game is The Dark Knight Trilogy, The Arkham games, The Batman movie (2022), and the Batman animated universe shows. That’s how good the Telltale series game was.

Moreover, I think Lauren Bailey’s Selina Kyle/Catwoman and Travis Willingham’s Harvey Dent/Two Face are now in my Top-5 portrayals of the classic Batman anti-heroes/villans. There was so much personality and chemistry with Troy Baker’s Batman/Bruce Wayne (whose portrayal I also loved and is in my Top-5) and these versions of Catwoman and Two Face in every scene, which was a massive reason why the game works as well as it does.

Due to the “movie-like” style of animation and gameplay, it was vital that the voice actors could build up a believable rapport between themselves and the characters. And that’s exactly what each and every single voice actor was able to achieve, though I’m sticking with these three actors as the game’s best.

Nonetheless, I also have to push back against some of the past criticisms over the choices presented in the Telltale games as I thought they were not only interesting and unique, but also profoundly impactful on the story.

I mean, you can have a story where Batman screws over Catwoman, gets Alfred’s eye blown out of his head, gets part of his manor burnt down, and is seen as a scary, ruthless vigilante in the eyes of the public or have a story where Batman and Catwoman form an adorable relationship, Batman reveals his identity and gets part of his ear blown off to save Alfred, losses control of his tech and surveillance of Gotham to Penguin, and is seen as a beloved crime fighter in the eyes of the public.

Or, you could have a mixture of the two. I don’t know what those critics were thinking as that’s an incredible amount of variation. What were they actually expecting? For Telltale to have Batman get killed off in one of the choices? You wouldn’t have much a game if that happened.

Nonetheless, I’ll finish off this overdue review by saying that the Children of Arkham storyline was superb.

Using Gotham Gazette reporter Vicki Vale (Erin Yvette; she was also a great voice actress), who was kind of a D-level character in the comics, as the notorious, undercover leader of the Children, Lady Arkham, was not only a brilliant move, but also really threw me for a loop. I did not see the that plot twist coming as I thought Vale was just some noisy, double-crossing reporter who was trying to get a reputation off the downfall of Bruce Wayne and Wayne Enterprises.

Having her be Lady Arkham and suffer the horrors that Thomas Wayne, who was a ruthless undercover mobster in this version, put her and her mother through was a great way to put a new twist on a classic character. Plus, her concussion powers were really cool.

This review probably doesn’t mean too much as the game is now 7 years old, but I still highly recommend anyone who hasn’t played to give it a try. I can guarantee you won’t be disappointed as I’m giving Batman: The Telltale Series Season 1 a 9.2/10.

Images Source: Featured Image: (Telltale) (Batman: The Telltale Series Official Trailer – YouTube)

In Text Image 1: (Telltale) (Batman: The Telltale Series Official Trailer – YouTube)

In Text Image 2: (Telltale) (Batman: The Telltale Series Official Trailer – YouTube)