I didn’t know what Telltale Games was until midway through the studio’s first season of The Walking Dead. But, when I heard the buzz, all the hype of a once-in-a-lifetime cultural phenomenon in gaming? How could I not participate? As it turns out, what I would quickly discover is one of my all-time favorite game development studios.
I fell in love with The Walking Dead‘s Lee and Clementine — despised the villains and rogues that stood in the way of their survival. Actually, The Walking Dead has received its rightful flowers and then some. But, what about Telltale’s Batman series? One of the most faithful and earnest examinations of an immortal comic book character.
Batman is my favorite superhero. I’ve read comics, played games, and watched the movies and shows. But Telltale’s take on the Caped Crusader was the best. The Arkham series “made you feel like Batman.” Telltale’s Batman understood the Dark Knight, Bruce Wayne, and the balancing act between the two. It’s an origin story that doesn’t rehash the origin story. You get to watch classic Batman villains be born anew, given fresh backstories, developed from before they turned to villainy.
telltale games — masters of the storytelling craft
How can I ever talk about Telltale without discussing my sweet baby boy, The Wolf Among Us? It was my introduction to the complex, dark, wondrous world of Fables. Without spoiling a thing, I’ll say this about what I received from The Wolf Among Us. I understood the difficulty of being in a position of power and trying to do what’s best for as many people as possible. I learned what it means when a group of people is neglected and turn toward darker paths to get what they need.
The value of a listening, empathetic government. How hard it is to shed a troubled past in the face of genuine self-reflection and transformation. Struggling to do what’s right even if it’s harder and more painful than doing what’s easy. Bigby Wolf and the gang showed me how to be a leader if ever such a time came. That was Telltale. That’s what we lost when the company shut down in 2018.
Sure, Telltale technically still exists. But most of that original team that gave us those legendary games? Scattered to the wind — lucky to even have any of them left in the games industry. Any studio closure is devastating, for sure. But Telltale Games was something special that will likely never be replicated.
The post ‘Telltale Games’: Missing a Pioneer of Narrative Excellence appeared first on VICE.
The post ‘Telltale Games’: Missing a Pioneer of Narrative Excellence appeared first on VICE.
