The Best Possible DC Game For Telltale to Make Isn’t More Batman

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Telltale Games is an iconic name in the narrative games space, though it’s been through a lot these past few years. After shutting down in 2018, the studio returned a year later under a new parent company known as LCG Entertainment, with new leadership and staff. Still, this new entity retained many of the original Telltale‘s licensing rights, leading many to wonder if the studio will release more entries in popular series like Batman.

But the company hasn’t commented on the possible continuation of Batman, as well-received as such a venture would likely be. There’s definitely potential in more narrative-driven Batman experiences, especially considering the character’s well-wrought rogues gallery and the broader pantheon of DC Comics properties that could cross over. But at the same time, it might be better to give Batman a few more years of rest, instead pivoting to another oft-neglected corner of DC Comics: Watchmen.

Watchmen Works Well With Minimal Gameplay

Just before Zack Snyder’s popular 2009 movie adaptation, Warner Bros. released a game called Watchmen: The End is Nigh, which follows Rorschach and Nite Owl as they punch and kick their way through a crime-infested city. The game isn’t necessarily bad—it has decent controls, runs well, and looks fine enough—but few would consider it anything more than mediocre. There are a number of reasons for this, but the most significant is arguably the mismatch between the Watchmen story and beat-em-up gameplay: Watchmen is about its characters first and foremost, with a hefty dose of social commentary and self-aware critiques of the superhero genre. As such, a game that does little more than glorify these characters’ fisticuffs is thematically opposed to the source material, and winds up feeling derivative.

But a Telltale Watchmen game could easily side-step such awkwardness. Naturally, a central appeal of Telltale’s adaptations is its lack of fast-paced combat or other mechanically complex challenges, as they instead center on nuanced, multilayered narratives steered by the player. Considering that the original Watchmen story mostly consists of dialog, with action serving to influence the plot rather than titillate, a choice-based interactive adaptation makes quite a bit of sense.

What a Watchmen Telltale Adaptation Could Look Like

Although Watchmen is owned by DC Comics and technically takes place in the DC universe courtesy of the Doomsday Clock storyline, it ultimately has very little in common with its superhero-laden contemporaries. Unlike, say, Justice League, which features an array of different heroes, villains, and alternate realities, Watchmen is more self-contained. It is a traditional story with a beginning, middle, and end, rather than something intended to be reproduced and expanded indefinitely, as is the case with most superhero media.

Predictably, this puts some restrictions on Watchmen adaptations, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. In the context of a theoretical Telltale game, perhaps an earlier era of the Watchmen or Minute Men could be explored in greater detail, giving audiences a closer look at the various pivotal events of the Watchmen saga. Alternatively, Telltale could develop a sequel to the original story, not unlike HBO’s Watchmen TV show, which focuses on what happened in the years following Ozymandias’ plot. The restrictions of the Watchmen universe could therefore make for a tense and significant narrative, rather than just being yet another chapter in a sprawling, neverending superhero story.

“}]] Even if Telltale never makes a third season of its Batman series, there’s a potentially better superhero option waiting in the wings.  Read More