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Telltale reveals the first details of its 'Batman' game series
When Telltale Games confirmed late last year that it was working on a Batman game series, it didn't reveal much beyond the game's very existence. At last, though, it's ready to dribble out some details. The series will translate at least some of Telltale's character-driven formula to the Caped Crusader's story when it arrives this summer. Unlike Rocksteady's games, the emphasis is as much on Bruce Wayne as his alter ego: choices you make in Wayne's private life will influence what he faces as Batman (and vice versa), including whether characters will go through "corruption or redemption." You'll even have the option of dealing with certain scenes as Wayne or Batman, no doubt with far-reaching consequences.
Snag 'Tales from the Borderlands' on disc in April
In Tales from the Borderlands, Telltale Games turns Gearbox's frantic alien shooter into a narrative-driven point-and-click adventure, broken into five episodes that were released across 2014 and 2015. All of these action-packed, emotional episodes will be collected in physical form on April 26th for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC. Rejoice, completionists and collectors alike.
'The Walking Dead: Michonne' debuts on February 23rd
The Walking Dead: Michonne is a three-episode miniseries from the undead-drama masterminds at Telltale Games, and the first installment is set to drop on February 23rd for PC, Mac, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One and Xbox 360. Android and iOS versions land on February 25th. The premiere episode is titled "In Too Deep" and it ties directly into Robert Kirkman's The Walking Dead graphic novel: Michonne disappears between issues #126 and #139, and Telltale's miniseries divulges what she did during that absence. Spoilers: She becomes a badass pirate.
You don't have to know 'Borderlands' to play 'Tales from the Borderlands'
The final trailer for Tales from the Borderlands, the narrative-driven point-and-click adventure game from Telltale, is full of action, guns, humor, drama, raw emotion and a catchy chiptune-inspired soundtrack. It's a bit like the game itself (which is good, since it's a trailer for exactly that). If you're worried about diving into this game blind, Engadget's former sister site Joystiq reviewed the premiere episode back in November 2014 and had the following to say: "Regardless of your level of Borderlands experience, Tales from the Borderlands is a witty, well-written adventure with broad appeal. And yeah, there's a dick joke or two." The fifth and final installment of Tales from the Borderlands drops on October 20th for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PC and Mac; October 21st for Xbox One and Xbox 360; and October 22nd for iOS and Android.
'Firewatch' reaches PC and PS4 on February 9th, 2016
Campo Santo's Firewatch has racked up its fair share of hype: its creators hail from venerable studios like Telltale and Double Fine, and it's based on the unusual premise of serving as a lookout in the Wyoming wilderness. If that sounds intriguing, you'll be glad to hear that it won't be much longer before you can try it yourself. The team has revealed that Firewatch will be available on Linux, Mac, Windows and PlayStation 4 on February 9th, 2016. There's still a lot to show about the game in the months ahead, but early reports are promising. It thrives on strong characterization (you play a middle-aged man retreating from a failing marriage), and it blends first-person exploration with the challenges of a classic adventure game. Hopefully, the finished title lives up to the early promise.
Here's your first look at Telltale's 'Minecraft: Story Mode' game
The people behind Minecraft just kicked off Minecon 2015 with a bang. At the fan convention's opening ceremony, Mojang's Lydia Winters debuted the first trailer for Minecraft: Story Mode, an upcoming title from Telltale Games. Yep, the same developer that created video game tie-ins for Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead. As you might expect, Minecraft: Story Mode combines the game's blocky aesthetic with a branching, narrative-based adventure. Players will take control of Jesse, who has to find the fabled "Order of the Stone" with his friends to save the world from destruction. There's a panel later today with the Mojang and Telltale folks, so we're expecting to hear a lot more then.
Marvel and Telltale team up for a brand-new game
Telltale, the studio behind Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead adventure games, has partnered with Marvel for a game series due out in 2017. Telltale announced the collaboration in a brief blog post, and details from an event in San Francisco note that it's a PC and console game (via GameSpot). Other than that, we have the above image and our imaginations.
Telltale names new CEO, original property in the works
Telltale Games announced co-founder Kevin Bruner as its new CEO, with former boss Dan Connors taking an advisory role after leading the company since 2004. Telltale also revealed it has "original IP (intellectual property)" in development, a marked change for a studio that built its name on licensing and adapting properties like The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us. Telltale's official announcement discusses plans for growth in 2015, underscoring a period of transition for the adventure game studio. There are seasons of Tales from the Borderlands and Game of Thrones to complete after their debut episodes, while Minecraft: Story Mode. The Walking Dead Season 3 and the new original IP are also somewhere in the pipeline.
Best of the Rest: Jessica's picks of 2014
ATTENTION: The year 2014 has concluded its temporal self-destruct sequence. If you are among the escapees, please join us in salvaging and preserving the best games from the irradiated chrono-debris. Threes Threes is ingenious. Its simplistic presentation belies beautiful, thoughtful design and butter-smooth mechanics. Threes isn't a matter of "less is more," it's fully encapsulated and pushed to the limits of what it intends to do, providing hours upon hours of repeated gameplay on that four-by-four tiled screen. On top of the brain-teasing numbers game, writer Asher Vollmer, illustrator Greg Wohlwend and composer Jimmy Hinson infuse Threes with personality, giving the numbers voices and faces, and tipping Threes from "Fun" to "Absolutely adorable. And, of course, fun."
Game of Thrones Episode One review: Baptism by ice
Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PC, Mac, iOS The good news about Telltale Games' Game of Thrones is that it is very, very Game of Thrones. It captures perfectly the machinations, intrigue and violence that are the hallmark of the show - which is why, of course, its fidelity to its source material is also the bad news. You can say all the right things and still have everything go horribly wrong, your fate changing irreparably because of someone's malicious whim. It makes for a faithful adaptation of the popular HBO show based on the even more popular series of books, undoubtedly filling some players with despair and others with a fire to claw their way to the Iron Throne. Telltale's Game of Thrones absolutely assumes that you are not only familiar with the show (or the books, potentially, though the game is very much based on the world created by the show, using voices and likenesses of the cast) but also fairly up to date. Without getting into spoiler territory, when the game begins, Joffrey isn't married, but Robb Stark is, and if the significance of either event is lost on you, you'll be baffled by most of what happens in the episode. The game makes no effort to explain to newcomers what a Maester or Septa is, why cozying up to Tyrion is not without its complications, or why it would be bad to be brother and sister the way Jamie and Cersei are. It doesn't take a devotee of the show to grasp the import of bad people tormenting decent people, but the nuance will be lost and, in Westeros, nuance is often the difference between life and death.
Tales from the Borderlands Episode One review: Busy earnin'
PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC, Mac, iOS, Android You should probably know who Handsome Jack is. That's really the only advice I'd give to anyone looking to dip into Telltale's latest episodic series, Tales from the Borderlands. Granted, Borderlands doesn't have the most sophisticated lore, subsisting largely on dick jokes, pop culture references and lots of screaming jerks, but suffice it to say that you don't have to be intimately familiar with Gearbox's first-person shooters to appreciate Tales. If you know that Handsome Jack is a villain, perhaps heard his smarmy voice in a trailer or two, you should be fine. In other words, regardless of your level of Borderlands experience, Tales from the Borderlands is a witty, well-written adventure with broad appeal. And yeah, there's a dick joke or two.
Game of Thrones teaser offers a Stark reminder: Cersei is evil!
In fairness to Cersei Lannister, you could argue most of the characters in HBO's Game of Thrones would register 6.0 or higher on the Richter scale of Pure Evil. Yet when it comes to House Lannister's leading lady, every word drips with ice-cold vitriol, and every sentence veils her poisonous cunning. In other words... she's evil. Evil! All of which makes her perfect to introduce the first official teaser for Telltale's Game of Thrones adaptation - you'll find the video below the break. As it suggests, actress Lena Headey reprises her TV show role in the upcoming game series, as does Natalie Dormer as Margaery Tyrell and Iwan Rheon as Ramsay Snow. And of course, Peter Dinklage ghosts in as Tyrion near the end, confirming we'll see at least one other Lannister in the game.
Telltale's Game of Thrones stars five playable family members
In an interview with the UK's International Business Times, Steve Allison, Telltale's senior vice president of marketing, let slip a crucial detail about the developer's upcoming, largely mysterious Game of Thrones adaptation. "In Game of Thrones we're taking that multi-protagonist design even further with five playable characters from the same family whose choices affect everyone in the family, and that adds a whole new layer to things that we're really excited about," Allison stated. He makes no mention of which family that might be, nor does he name any of the five playable characters, but Allison's comment still stands as one of the more comprehensive details we've learned of the game to date. Despite this dearth of information on Telltale's adaptation, Allison reiterates recent claims that Game of Thrones (and Borderlands spin-off Tales from the Borderlands) will be released by the end of the year. "We are on track to launch both premiere episodes of Tales from the Borderlands and Game of Thrones before the end of [2014], so stay tuned." [Image: Telltale Games]
The Walking Dead stumbles to PS4, Xbox One
Both seasons of Telltale Games' episodic adventure The Walking Dead are now available digitally and at retail on Xbox One and PS4. Retail versions of the two seasons are also out now for Xbox 360 and PS3. At least, this is the case for North America; European players will have to wait until October 31 for the Xbox One and PS4 versions. The European release date always differed from that of North America, as the adventure game's two seasons were previously expected to reach the next-gen platforms on October 24. Telltale's ten episodes generally impressed players, though the final episode's conclusion left a lot to be desired according to our review in August. The developer added that The Walking Dead series has sold "more than 39 million episodes worldwide" to date. [Image: Telltale Games]
Destiny writer joins Telltale Games, seeks the iron throne
Destiny writer Joshua Rubin left Bungie for Telltale Games, announcing his departure via Twitter after two years with the developer. Rubin will be working on Telltale's take on the Game of Thrones franchise, and noted that the creators of the HBO television series, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, have "set an incredibly high standard for writing" and that Rubin is "inspired by their work every season." "In the end, Bungie makes games about shooting aliens in the head," Rubin told Gamasutra. "And while there's a true art to 'writing between the bullets' - as Mr. Staten once said - I couldn't turn down an offer from Telltale, to create games that are entirely about story." Telltale announced its spin on Game of Thrones in December during the VGX awards, just weeks after reports about the game surfaced. Destiny will launch September 9 for PS4, Xbox One, PS3 and Xbox 360. [Image: Telltale Games]
The Walking Dead Season 2, Episode 4 review: Life and Death
This review covers the latest episode in an ongoing season, and may contain minor spoilers. Death is better than zombification, but life is the best option of all. Even in a hellhole of a world; even with rotting corpses hunting you down every path, salivating for your flesh; even when you have to kill your friends every day – life is the better option. That's what "Amid the Ruins" teaches us. More than any previous episode of The Walking Dead, it throws the importance of life in our faces – the fragility of breathing, the futility of fighting, the need to do it anyway – and it makes us wish for life harder than we ever have. Not necessarily our own lives, either. Clementine, for her part, is capable and in charge in this episode. She's rarely in direct danger herself (at least not in any way she hasn't already conquered 50 times before), but she bears witness to the potential deaths of many others, multiple times over. She saves some people. She kills some people. And she survives. She lives.
Walking Dead S2 Episode 4 gets release dates, trailer
Telltale Games revealed this morning that the snuggle-huggle fest known as The Walking Dead: Season 2 will return later this month with episode four. The current release schedule: PC and Mac worldwide, PlayStation 3 and Vita in North America: July 22 Xbox 360 worldwide and PlayStation Europe: July 23 iOS: July 24 We've placed the spoiler-containing trailer for the latest comforting episode after the break.
George R.R. Martin's assistant to consult on Telltale's Game of Thrones
George R.R. Martin's series of fantasy novels, A Song of Ice and Fire, is immensely popular, especially thanks to HBO's Game of Thrones adaptation. It's to be joined by another take on the property from adventure gaming studio Telltale Games. To help Telltale keep its adaptation of Martin's source material in check, HBO assigned sci-fi author and Martin's personal assistant Ty Corey Franck to the developer as its story consultant, according to The New York Times. Telltale announced its Game of Thrones adaptation at the VGX awards in December. The partnership between Telltale and HBO spans multiple years and games, and NYT reports that it began with a little persuasion from the developer in the form of a 10-minute presentation of what the game may look like when it launches this year. Game of Thrones is just one project that's keeping the 200-person developer busy, as it recently launched the third episode of The Wolf Among Us, as well as the first two episodes of the second season of The Walking Dead on Vita. We recently met with Telltale's producers and The Wolf Among Us voice actor Adam Harrington, the voice behind Bigby Wolf, for a special one-hour livestream of the game filled with funny and interesting stories. [Image: Telltale Games]
Telltale's Walking Dead, Wolf Among Us, Game of Thrones coming to Amazon Fire TV
Telltale Games is bringing three of its story-driven adventures to Amazon Fire TV starting with the first season of The Walking Dead, which launched today with the media streaming device. The second season, in addition to The Wolf Among Us and the developer's Game of Thrones-based adventure, will arrive on Fire TV later this year, Telltale confirmed with Joystiq and Engadget. Amazon launched the $99 game and video streaming machine today, announcing it alongside a $40 game pad (though developers have the option to support other Bluetooth controllers). Telltale unveiled its own Game of Thrones adaptation in December before launching the second episode of The Wolf Among Us in February. The developer offered a new trailer for the third episode of the game today, though no release date was given for it. [Image: Telltale Games]
The Walking Dead Season 2, Episode 2 review: Body count
Clementine is holed up with two factions of angry, desperate survivors. One group cowers on the floor, while the second flashes their guns and makes an example of a rival survivor with two quick, non-lethal snaps. Clementine watches the torment from a raised landing, where she's hiding with two allies who argue about their next move. They reach an impasse and turn to Clementine for advice. Let's get that straight: Two adults, who have weathered the zombie epidemic for more than a year, pause in their argument about a serious, life-or-death situation to take tips from the 11-year-old girl. An 11-year-old-girl that they would have easily shot two weeks ago. She still has pigtails. She also has good advice. "A House Divided," the second episode of The Walking Dead's second season, presents Clementine as a complete, independent character for the first time. Though she is surrounded by people – mostly adults – she doesn't answer to any of them, and she doesn't depend on any one person for survival. She can hold her own and she has demonstrated her skills to her new companions. They trust her, and she trusts herself.
