Batman: The Telltale Series

Batman: The Telltale Series is a story-driven adventure about Bruce Wayne and his life as Batman. Unlike a freely explorable action game, Telltale's take tells a self-contained story across five episodes. Conversations, investigations and decisions take center stage rather than open combat or equipment progression.

The story takes place in Gotham City, shaped by corruption and power struggles. How Bruce, as a businessman, and Batman, as a nocturnal investigator, approach other characters affects relationships and how individual conflicts unfold. The plot is a standalone adaptation of the comic characters, not a sequel to the Arkham games.

The first episode, Realm of Shadows, launched on August 2, 2016. Telltale initially released the five-part season episodically. For consoles, a season pass disc followed that included episode 1 and enabled downloads of the other episodes. In Europe, this retail version was released on September 16, 2016.

The Nintendo Switch version came out in Germany on November 17, 2017 and includes all five episodes. The Shadows Edition with its Noir visual mode launched on PC and Xbox One in December 2019. It is a new bundle or visual expansion, not a sixth episode.

Native versions for the original game are documented for PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS and Android. The platform releases did not all happen on the same day. Nintendo gives Nov 17, 2017 for the Switch.

The Xbox One version is also listed in the Xbox Store as playable on Xbox Series X|S. This is backward compatibility and not a standalone Xbox Series version. Accordingly, a possible playability of the PS4 version on PS5 is not counted as a native PS5 release. The PC version offers all five episodes on Steam.

The story progresses through conversations, decisions and set locations. In investigation sections, Batman examines clues and links them together. Action sequences are staged through time-critical inputs. The gameplay focus, however, lies on how you act in a tense situation and what follows for other characters.

Decisions are spread across one continuous season. As a result, Batman here is less a classic combat game than an interactive story, in which the double role of Bruce Wayne and Batman repeatedly becomes the starting point of a choice.

The Shadows Mode changes the look with hand-colored noir visuals and reworked textures. It is a visual variant of the same story, not an additional story episode. For owners of the base game it is available as a separate expansion.

The Telltale Batman Shadows Edition bundles the five episodes of the first season, the five episodes of Batman: The Enemy Within and the Shadows Mode. The two seasons remain separate games. If you only want the first season, you don't automatically need the complete ten-episode package.

Steam lists as the historical minimum configuration an Intel Core 2 Duo at 2.4 GHz, 3 GB RAM, an Nvidia GTS 450 with 1 GB graphics memory and DirectX 11. Note that the Steam client today requires Windows 10 or newer, although the original game requirements list Windows 7 SP1.

The first season comprises five connected chapters: Realm of Shadows, Children of Arkham, New World Order, Guardian of Gotham and City of Light. The PC version currently offered on Steam includes all episodes. With older disc offers, check the scope, because the original season pass disc provided for additional downloads.

Telltale's narrative approach makes Bruce Wayne's civilian identity more than an interruption between Batman missions. As an entrepreneur and public figure, he has to make decisions, while as Batman he has other options in the same city. The double role creates conflicts that cannot be solved with a fight alone.

Dialogue choices and story options determine how Bruce Wayne and Batman deal with allies, rivals and other residents of Gotham. The season revisits choices in later scenes. Its story remains a set narrative with decision points, not an open simulation of the city.

Alongside Bruce Wayne, Alfred Pennyworth, Selina Kyle, Harvey Dent, James Gordon, Vicki Vale and Carmine Falcone appear. In the English original, Troy Baker voices Bruce Wayne, Laura Bailey Selina Kyle, Travis Willingham Harvey Dent and Enn Reitel Alfred. Telltale confirmed the cast back in 2016 when the game was announced.

Batman: The Telltale Series is designed for one player. The Steam version offers English voice acting and German text or subtitles, but no German dub. Nintendo lists German as a supported language for the Switch version too.

In investigation scenes, clues are examined and linked together. These sections are followed by staged action moments with time-critical inputs. The gameplay stays embedded in the five-part story, rather than offering a freely explorable open-world structure.

DC documents its own versions for iOS, Android, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The original season pass disc for consoles initially contained episode 1 and allowed the remaining episodes to be downloaded later. The Switch version hit the market in 2017 with all five episodes.