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₪ Genre: Adventure
☑ Release date: August 2016
♬ Soundtrack: Revolution and Decimating the Bro Code

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Back into the fray with another Telltale game. I'd say giving it a year long break since my last game, that being Michonne, is probably about right when it comes to their formulaic approach not wearing out [too] much. To cut the long intro short it's time for Batman - The Telltale Series.

It is interesting to see a Batman media that simultaneously glosses over his origin story, told and re-told so many times already, and yet makes its own version of said story so integral to the entire premise. What do I mean by that? Well, keeping this spoiler-free let's just say that Telltale has their own spin on what Batman's parents were up to in cahoots with the local criminal boss and blatantly corrupt major. This comes back to bite Bruce Wayne in the behind seeing as consequences of those decisions endured. Get it? Actual present story you're dealing with ranges from the local major candidacy run, with everyone's favorite two-faced coin tosser being a central figure, some cat burglary happening about and no Batman game would be complete without a green haired fan favorite who, much to my own surprise, ends up relegated into a cameo more or less. Now that I think about it Telltale really put their own mark on the game with the way they handled established characters and even some you wouldn't expect. The likes of Vicki Vale, for example.

There's your story or as much as I can divulge of it. Seeing this is a Telltale game you can see there's plenty of “we're winging it from episode to episode” but in my opinion this is probably one of better examples of tighter storytelling versus something like The Wolf Among Us which, despite its qualities, really suffered from pull-push writing and constant lack of focus. Batman actually has a solid story to tell and you can see threads of overall narrative in every episode with a healthy sprinkling of characters advancing their plans over the course of multiple episodes. This is kinda where we tie into my first big problem with the game – it's all so very low scale and production for about first two episodes or so until the meat of the story kicks in. While this benefits from them becoming more fleshed out in the process, you're basically interacting with the same half dozen characters or so and, looking at it from the final standpoint, game really blows through everything it has to offer during those episodes.

As far as tackling the characters goes... they're your Batman cast. You'll be seeing most of the favorites befitting a relatively small-time criminal story which sadly means your more specialist antagonists like Mr. Freeze and others are out of the picture. Game is quite dedicated to keeping it grounded with plot points like police force corruption, hostile company takeover and old friend from Bruce's youth returning until the last episode when it goes into overdrive with action. I can't really add anything new here because characters largely play it straight with their established personalities. Game's highlight is still its character interaction and there are some particularly effective scenes, like for example when Batman and Catwoman have a very real existential crisis moment wondering if it's all worth it or Bruce and Harvey with their BFF interactions. I liked it and it felt like real people interacting more than once.

Telltale still can put together a nice scene when they feel like it.

Can't a guy attend a press conference without a constant messaging?

Ever present duality of Batman is put on display in this one quite prominently.

Adding anything about Telltale's games mechanics might be redundant at this point seeing how dead set they are on being adventures-lite, but Batman actually has few surprises in his toolbet in that department. Is it it perfect? No way, but I rather liked the clear cut between more diplomatic Bruce approach and aggressive Batman style. Game offers you the choice on who will take the lead on couple of occasions to predictable results where former gets to talk his way through situations while latter is more along the lines of planning out his takedowns. Problem here is talking your way through problems is how Telltale games play while Batman's action/deduction approach feels either clumsy because the engine can't handle proper action so it's QTE central with awkward stop-and-go between segments or game stops to a halt so you can “solve puzzles” aka connect two obvious clues in sequence and then wait for the game to explain it to you. In short, it's familiar and action segments from Michonne are now greatly expanded upon in order to make for bulk of Batman's action.

Technically you can tell devs absolutely put in effort to upgrade the visuals from what I would classify as their last-gen games, but why couldn't performance be the priority? It still chugs when transitioning between scenes and odd shader flickering isn't uncommon when even I managed to notice it. That hand drawn edge filter around the edges also has its odd moments when looking at the screen from a distance, but looks much better up-close when you can appreciate it without dithering and aliasing detracting from overall presentation. All I can say is I guess I was lucky to not experience many problems people seem to be reporting on the forum.

So what to say in conclusion? You've seen the recommendation and despite having some, mainly technical, issues I liked this one as well. I've given up on choices actually mattering in these games so I won't hold it as a negative against Batman which admittedly has some different outcomes, for example how Harvey Dent situation plays out. I walked away satisfied in no small part thanks to moody soundtrack and a satisfying finale that actually managed to have a fight that wasn't godawful.

As fate would have it I actually bought Black Flag a week or so before it was free on uPlay so I got gypped out of couple of euros, but I can live with it. Coming back to Assassin's Creed is always odd because they're fundamentally all the same games with just a different time period and some bells and whistles added to fit appropriately, but seeing as it's been while since... what was it, Liberation? Yeah, I think I was due for more faffing about.

Current Impressions?

My progression indicator is saying I'm at 48% completion, but seeing as I've fooling around and collecting stuff more than progressing in the main story I'm not sure how suspect that figure really is. I kinda wish story was tighter in the opening act seeing as you're just carried about, and I have no idea how you're supposed to acclimate if you're not already familiar with the series, and the never-ending tutorials are grating on me, but the famous sailing everyone's lauded is in indeed very satisfying.

Edward has plenty of personality, but how likable he is will depend on the levels of smug you can tolerate. Comes with being a pirate, I guess.

Because everyone needs their MMO fix every now and then, and because I got it for cheap + Morrowind expansion, Elder Scrolls Online has been something I've dabbled in for a while. Mind you “a while” really means I haven't even played dozen hours over the extended period I've had the game, but that's par for the course. I go a long way back with TES series so why not?

Current Impressions?

Considering I'm just barely out of tutorial and I've essentially been treating the game as spin-off TES title aka playing with gamepad, player names off, etc... I can say I've had a great time so far. Not really a fan of soft TAB-targeting when they could've gone with proper action combat and I RELLY don't like how you're locked into a selection of classes from the beginning, but former is a technical necessity while latter is something you sidestep because freedom to “train what you use” is still the crux of the game. Looking forward to it and perhaps even getting some of the DLC I'm missing, but it's pretty pricey.

Squint hard enough to ignore some horrendous texture work at places and ESO is a very enjoyable experience. It's Skyrim Online, as kids would say these days!

And here we are – Pillars of Eternity. Game I've followed from inception ever since it was announced on Kickstarter that Obsidian was working on an independent title. Game I actually bought on GOG, got on Steam and then waited for a deal on Expansion Pass before I finally started playing it. Isometric CRPGs are my jam and Obsidian ranks pretty highly as far as RPG developers go so, needless to say, I'm IN.

Current Impressions?

Still in tutorial. Not even joking. I like the character creation and that's basically the extent of what I can comment on. I have noticed the game bombards you with information and it has nice QoL features like hyperlinks that further explain/detail mechanics or terms. Sure beats looking them up in the manual if you're not familiar, I'll give them that. Let's hope it's good.

I will not have any plagiarism accusations thrown in my direction. I'm an Elf ranger with a companion Lion. Totally different from Drizzt.