The Ten Worst VNs of 2017

6) Batman: The Enemy Within Episode 3 (Telltale Games)

What in the bloody Hell is going on at Telltale?

I have to put aside my Batman fandom on this one because just judging it on its deviations from established lore would overshadow just how awful their Batman series has been. You can read my thoughts on the first season here, and the second season just seems to have dug the whole deeper. Episode Three, Fractured Mask, is the showcase for this as any actual tension or traction that could have been found over the season so far is slowly deflated or removed. The deaths of major supporting characters, the police continuing to investigate Bruce Wayne, the fight between the government and a new faction of super villains over a bio-weapon and whatever the Hell the Riddler was up to are all either answered or made irrelevant by episode’s end. These plot points were not particularly interesting in the first place, but at least it was something. Now, with two episodes left in the chamber, all we have to wait for is the inevitable final credits: unless the prospect of yet another final battle with Batman and the Jok- I mean ‘John Doe’ is really that interesting to you.

What’s worst than that is that they’ve actually devolved most of their cast as characters: losing independent and unique traits that the story tries to establish for them, but never follows through on. For example, despite having gone through what should be life-altering moments that should change how he approaches not only his role as Batman, but also his life in total, Bruce Wayne just makes the same damn mistakes over and over again. Key among them is that he doesn’t PLAN ANYTHING. He just goes with the flow and is forced to come up with ideas in the moment; usually making the situation much worse than it is several times in this episode along, resulting in a final choice that not only breaks immersion, but makes it clear this thing is being dialed in at this point.

This is easily Telltale’s worst work to date and considering we have The Wolf Among Us Season 2 and the final chapter of their Walking Dead franchise coming this year, I hope they get it together soon.

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