Telltale Games recently took to the stage at SXSW in Austin, Texas to talk up the upcoming release of their Batman game, based on their own interpretation of the Dark Knight. The game is scheduled to release this summer for home consoles and PC and it will be as much about Batman as it is Bruce Wayne.
The details spilled out over on the official Telltale website where they explained that the story and script have been finished after they worked on it for more than a year and that the graphics and art-style are being wrapped up now. They also mention that they will show the final look of the game closer to the launch of the tile this summer.
They show a brief image of the script for the game, which looks extremely thick. The reason for the thickness is because Telltale is taking a very different approach with their Batman game. Instead of it simply focusing on players donning the costume and cape and swinging around Gotham to stop crime, it will put an equal focus on Bruce Wayne and the choices he makes throughout the day that will drastically impact what Batman faces at night.
According to the website, Bruce Wayne will attempt to help Gotham using Wayne Enterprises, but not every choice he makes will always have the best outcome for him as the Dark Knight. Players will have to deal with the consequences of what they do as Wayne – for better or for worse – as the Batman. They will also have to then deal with the consequences of what they do as Batman at night – for better or for worse – as Bruce Wayne.
The game will delve heavily into the duality of choice and consequence; as a character who leads a double life which will intertwine his decisions between both personas. It's an interesting take on Batman, for sure, and I'm curious how Telltale will examine it from their lens.
They state on the site that this is also an entirely fresh interpretation of the Caped Crusader, and that it doesn't follow any single arc from the comic books, the movies or the animated series. There also won't be the presence of Nightwing or Robin. However, Bruce Wayne and Batman will interact with characters such as Alfred Pennyworth, James Gordon, Renee Montoya and Vicki Vale. It's interesting because Vicki Vale hasn't really received any mainstream attention since Tim Burton's take on the character in the 1989 release of Batman. I'm definitely curious to see what Telltale will do with the character in their upcoming title.
As per usual with most Telltale titles, the player's actions and choices will be at the center of the story and will unfold from there. They also state that their take on Batman will be a Mature rated game and that the cinematic approach and thematic material will be akin to an R-rated film.
And while they had no graphics to show off, Telltale did mention that they're taking inspiration from artists Jim Lee, Greg Capullo, and Neal Adams to make a “non-photorealistic” rendition of the Batman universe.
