Telltale managed to captivate audiences with their take on the Dark Knight via the five episode season of Batman: The Telltale Series. The fifth and final episode of the season is due for release a lot sooner than you might be anticipating.
IGN is reporting that Episode 5 of Batman: The Telltale Series will drop on December 13th next week. The episode will wrap up all of the events that have occurred so far during the first season, which has mostly centered around Bruce and Harvey's deteriorating relationship and Harvey's descent into madness.
The final episode of the season will focus on the final showdown between Batman and the Children of Arkham led by Lady Arkham. Of course, decisions and choices made in the previous episodes will drastically affect what happens in Episode 5.
Players were given the choice early on to save Harvey or Selina Kyle, Catwoman, and the choice drastically alters what becomes of Harvey. If you save Harvey it prevents him from having his face disfigured. If you save Selina then Harvey transitions into Two-Face much quicker. Further decisions throughout the various episodes determine how Bruce and Harvey connect, with players having the option of antagonizing him or attempting to help him.
Batman: The Telltale Series gives gamers a very different set of options in how to resolve some issues, specifically allowing them to either confront some obstacles as either Bruce Wayne or Batman, which can have a drastic change on the outcome of some scenarios.
Tucked within the subplots of the game is an equally drastic interpretation of Vicky Vale, most famously played by Kim Basinger in Tim Burton's classic 1989 Batman.
There's also Oswald Cobblepot, who is depicted a lot closer to his counterpart on Fox's Gotham television show as opposed to the more rotund gangster in the comic books, Batman: The Animated Series or Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham games. The Cobblepot subplot wasn't thoroughly fleshed out like some of the others but the story surrounding his ride to villainhood is decent enough.
One of the more interesting wild cards that Telltale introduced into Batman: The Telltale Series occurred in Episode 4: Guardian of Gotham, where the green-haired Joker met Bruce Wayne for the very first time. Telltale did a superb job in giving their rendition of the Joker depth, nuance and a very sociopathic charisma to his depiction. He's as dangerous as he is unpredictable, and appears to be an amalgamation of various Jokers used throughout the history of DC's popular property.
There's really no telling what role the Joker will play in future seasons, but they really managed to ratchet up the intensity levels in the later episodes, so much so that the season finale should be pretty exciting depending on the choices you made earlier on.
Unlike some of the other titles from Telltale, Batman: The Telltale Series' intensity and story captivation really, truly does rely on the choices you make as a player. So hopefully the series does well enough to warrant a second season, because it would be nice to see how some of the characters and situations evolve over time.
The season finale will be available for home consoles, PC and mobile devices.
