Batman - The Telltale Series

I already played this years ago on PlayStation. I didn’t remember a thing about it which is usually not a good sign that it left an impression on me. I just remembered that I liked it quite a bit. In preparation of finally playing Enemy Within, I wanted to refresh my memory and also grab some super easy Steam Achievements. I really enjoyed my second playthrough - which basically felt like the first time because I didn’t remember any of the story twists. Being a Telltale game I don’t have to explain how these play out: It’s a mix of walking around, interacting with objects, doing quicktime events and making some decisions that form the story. Batman: The Telltale Series is a great fit for that formula. It tells a good noir style story in the Batman universe that takes some liberties in how it portraits certain characters. It even comes up with a completely new villain that has quite the interesting backstory and twist for himself. But you will also meet old acquaintances like The Penguin, Catwoman and Two-Face that all fit well into the narrative. To be fair, the game loses a bit of steam in the middle-part and some story beats don’t feel all that logical and sometimes a bit overly dramatic. But overall I still enjoyed the story a lot. I also liked how well this is presented. The voice actors are well known professionals like Troy Baker and Laura Bailey. The action sequences are so well made, even when you only press a few buttons, it draws you right into the action. Some of the decisions make you think twice. And the game offers a few detective segments that fit Batman's characters so well. Nothing complicated, but quite atmospheric. For my second walkthrough I used the Shadows Mode which was originally a paid DLC. The mode is included in the Telltale Batman Shadows Edition that includes both games. Shadows Mode is mostly black and white, which underlines the noir flair perfectly. But certain key elements like fire or sirens of police cars cast their color to the surroundings. This produces a unique look that greatly enhances the overall atmosphere of the game. I’d also like to note that this game still looks great today. That Telltale Artstyle is just timeless in my opinion. So, if you don’t hate Telltale games in general and if you like Batman, then this is an easy recommendation.