Telltale Gamesis 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 originalTelltale’s licensing rights, leading many to wonder if the studio will release more entries in popular series likeBatman.
Telltale Games has already made its comeback withThe Expanse, and plans to release a sequel toThe Wolf Among Us.
But the company hasn’t commented on the possible continuation ofBatman, as well-received as such a venture would likely be. There’s definitely potential in morenarrative-drivenBatmanexperiences, 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 giveBatmana few more years of rest, instead pivoting to another oft-neglected corner of DC Comics:Watchmen.
Telltale Games Could Work Wonders With a Watchmen Adaptation
Watchmen Works Well With Minimal Gameplay
Just beforeZack Snyder’s popular 2009 movieadaptation, Warner Bros. released a game calledWatchmen: 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 theWatchmenstory and beat-em-up gameplay:Watchmenis 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.
Such criticisms were leveled against Snyder’s film adaptation as well, with many arguing that it dumbed-down theheady concepts of theWatchmencomicin favor of standard superhero-action fare.
But a TelltaleWatchmengame 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 theoriginalWatchmenstorymostly 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
AlthoughWatchmenis owned by DC Comicsand technically takes place in the DC universe courtesy of theDoomsday Clockstoryline, 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,Watchmenis 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 onWatchmenadaptations, 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 variouspivotal events of theWatchmensaga. Alternatively, Telltale could develop a sequel to the original story, not unlike HBO’sWatchmenTV show, which focuses on what happened in the years following Ozymandias' plot. The restrictions of theWatchmenuniverse could therefore make for a tense and significant narrative, rather than just being yet another chapter in a sprawling, neverending superhero story.
