The team at Telltale has confirmed during the SXSW Gaming Expo that Batman will start already this summer. They also whetted our appetites with new details about the game – and it’s looking amazing.
Opposite the folks at Gotham, Batman is the hero we deserve and the one that we most need right now. That’s why we welcome with open arms the fact that Telltale’s version of the Dark Knight is arriving sooner than we expected. The folks at Telltale made the most of their panel at the SXSW Gaming Expo in Austin to confirm that their next game is coming this summer and that it will attempt to bring the best of Telltale’s narrative mastery without forgetting Batman’s unique lore.
The studio has been working swiftly on the title since it got announced last year. Only two weeks ago, Telltale’s president Kevin Bruner announced that the team is so confident in they’re take on Batman that it could be one of the best things they have worked on so far. Pretty big words for a game that will attract a great deal of attention due to the history of its protagonist.
Telltale is very keen on teasing and leaving cliffhangers all around the place. That’s the reason why no visuals of Batman have been released yet and we are left wondering. They normally release in-depth content right before launch so this isn’t news for us. What they did do during their panel at SXSW is confirm some juicy details about what we can expect for their game.
If you like the way Telltale grooves, and happen to feel a special sympathy for Bruce and his alter ego, you will enjoy reading about it.
Telltale’s Batman in a Nutshell
As with any game from the studio, there will be great doses of interactivity, decision making and the array of consequences that those decisions entail. In this case, we will play both as Batman and Bruce Wayne and Telltale wants us to experiment the intimate relationship between each of those two worlds: expect decisions made as Batman to have a great impact on the daily business life of mister Wayne, and vice versa.
Kevin Bruner already said it: Their game is not like any other Batman game out there. In fact, they are going for a fresh interpretation of the universe rather than a copycat from previous games, films or comics. And they want to focus on the main protagonist, as they have invariably done. Telltale always creates a plethora of characters along the way but they keep their leading role distinct from the rest. In Batman, this will not be an exception and while we will meet some staples from the series (what would Batman be without Alfred Pennyworth, after all…) there won’t be a “Bat-family” meeting this time.
This is not to say that Bruce or Batman will roam freely the streets of Gotham without mingling in interesting relationships. If there is something juicy about Telltale games, is the way we get to interact with other characters and how our actions help them succeed or fail in their personal quarrels or quests. Extent this to the spirit of Gotham too: as Bruce and Batman we will totally shape the corrupted city. We have never doubted the utter good motives of the Dark Knight but we also know the serendipity of the streets and their bad guys. And how quickly public opinion changes…
Talking about visuals and graphics, Telltale is “enhancing engine and technology to deliver a more seamless living comic book art direction.” They are following inspiration from artists such as Jim Lee, Greg Capullo and Neal Adams and they want to create a mature universe. The game will land at an “M” rating and its cinematic approach will place it next to an R-rated film.
[Source: Telltale Games Official Blog]
