Batman: The Telltale Series Episode 1 – Realm of Shadows (Video Game)
Ted Hentschke
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Developed by Telltale Games
Available on Android, iOS, PC, Mac, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, and PS3
Rated M for Mature
There’s something poetic about the current state of the DC universe. Between the New 52 reboot, the CW “Arrowverse,” the new Justice League cinematic universe, the Nolan Batman run, associated side projects like Suicide Squad, and various failed stand-alone projects like The Green Lantern, keeping up with what is canon is incredibly confusing for casual consumers. It’s exactly the same kind of overload that made it impossible for me to get into DC comics. There are so many alternate timelines, correlated series, offshoot projects, and little nuances to absorb that I never even figured out where the door was to get my foot into. Hell, The Walking Dead might be really long, but at least there’s an “Issue 1” for me to pick up that isn’t from the 1940’s.
That being said, classic comics have never been about the individual story arcs, but the iconic characters. Names like Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, and Green Lantern survive past their various incarnations and take a place in the collective pop culture zeitgeist. It doesn’t matter how poorly Superman Returns was received or if he renounces his US citizenship, he will always be in our minds the defender of truth, justice, and the American way.
And how Batman will always be known for having a bomb-ass rig.
So there’s a natural challenge when you try to reinvent one of these classic characters. Each incarnation will have differences, but it would be a bit shocking if Batman just started… oh, I don’t know, killing people without remorse. Telltale is trying to tackle this obstacle in an even more challenging fashion, by putting you in charge of the decision making. As we saw with The Walking Dead: Michonne, playing an established character in a choose your own adventure game is awkward. You already have some idea of what the character would do, so acting any other way defeats the purpose of playing as an established character.
The style didn’t quite work in Michonne, but that’s largely due to it being nestled in an established timeline. Batman: The Telltale Series tries to break this mold by creating an entirely new Batman story using the canon as only a framework. Batman has just gotten his start as a crime fighter, so there’s a lot more room to develop his character. Do you want the softer, just beat people up and break their ribs Batman, or the hardline arm snapping and kidney rupturing Batman? Either way, he’s still dispensing justice to the villains of Gotham in a less murder-y fashion.
Your buddy Oz, on the other hand, totally fine with the murder-y stuff.
Telltale also takes this opportunity to recolor many of the villains. Catwoman is the first of the big name adversaries to show up, filling in a grey area between vigilante and criminal. It’s a pretty common theme for the character nowadays (Nolan’s take in The Dark Knight Rises being the most recognizable), but adds some nuance to how you choose to mold Batman. When shit starts hitting the fan and your allies begin to shrink, her self-serving brand of vigilantism starts to make more sense.
Carmine Falcone also takes the stage as “Realm of Shadows’” prime bad guy. Whereas Catwoman is appealing to Batman’s moral grey area, Falcone offers temptation to Bruce Wayne. Wayne is currently backing his friend Harvey Dent for mayor, believing his honesty and integrity will bring stability to the city that current mayor Hamilton Hill has so long led into darkness. Though Falcone is clearly a criminal, no charges have ever stuck, making him a key player in opening the doors for Dent’s campaign. Early on, you can make the decision to play nice with Falcone in support of Dent, or politely tell him to eat shit.
And judging by that grin, he’d be very comfortable eating shit.
Now you might be saying to yourself, “Hold up, why would Batman be friends with Carmine Falcone? That’s totally out of character!” And you’d be right, for Batman. With Batman: The Telltale Series, Telltale Games is trying to set the stage for Batman and Bruce Wayne to act as two separate entities. So even though Batman will still ruthlessly hunt down Falcone and his thugs, Wayne can play nice in support of Dent. Though technically the same person, the two characters rise and fall in different arcs. Early on, the Wayne name is put on the line when it is revealed that his parents, Tom and Martha Wayne, may have been related to various criminal elements. Meanwhile, Batman is still an unknown to the police and Gotham’s citizens. His actions and penchant for brutality will color how he is received. Each follows their own arc, and who you choose to be in and out of the mask is up to you.
The themes in “Realm of Shadows” are familiar Batman territory. The speech Alfred gives you about how your parents would never approve might as well have been copy/pasted from any of the Nolan films. Bruce Wayne, bandaging up his wounds to put on a happy face and entertain guests in Wayne Manor, is a scene that has been played out ad nauseam. The love affair between Batman and Catwoman is the topic of more than just countless fanfictions. For a game that wants to tell a good story, it’s nowhere near as narratively bold as something like Moore’s The Killing Joke.
Dent is one of the more interesting characters. Between his political ambitions and role as DA, it’s almost as if he has two different faces.
What gives Batman: A Telltale Series spice is how you choose to explore and develop those themes. It didn’t initially grab me, but the quick and difficult choices carried me through to a very foreboding ending. It does the job of quickly setting up a number of conflicts and characters, and I’m genuinely interested to see where they go. The introduction of Oz (Oswald Cobblepot) was surprising, and I’m particularly interested to see how he becomes the iconic villain The Penguin. That being said, it’s a lot to set up in just two hours. The pace of the story often felt rushed, pushing me from one set piece to the next without sufficient build or payoff.
You know there’s something off when I just don’t get excited over “Exploded Human Remains.”
There is one other point that I should address before giving my score: PC performance. Telltale games have never been graphically demanding, as they need to be playable on mobile platforms. The games look good courtesy of their cel shaded and cartoony art style, but it’s always been a question of performance over jaw-dropping visuals. So you can imagine my displeasure when I heard that many players were experiencing performance issues on the PC, AKA the “poor port dumpster.” In my two hours playtime, I experienced a single crash and generally unfavorable frame rate. It didn’t ruin my fun, but seriously? This is a game that I can play on my fucking iPad. Stop shitting out bad PC ports and hoping some modder optimizes it for you.
As always, it will be impossible to tell how this one will pan out based on the first episode alone. While I’m more eager to find out what happens next than I was with many of their previous games, I’m having a hard time giving “Realm of Shadows” a high score. For all of the interesting mechanics they introduce, it just feels like a bunch of tutorials. I get that they are setting up for larger stuff, hence my excitement for what comes next, but how pumped can a person really be on a bunch of tutorials? The glimpse I got of their vision for a larger story is the game’s saving grace. Playing it, on the other hand, was kind of bland.
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Episode
Categorized:Reviews
