14 DAY TRIAL // Video game developer Telltale Games is announcing that it is working together with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and DC Entertainment to create an entirely new Batman episodic game series which is set to be launched next year at an unspecified date.
The companies are saying that they are planning to deliver the new experience on the Xbox One from Microsoft, the PlayStation 4 from Sony, older home consoles, the PC and mobile devices.
Kevin Brunner, a co-founder of Telltale Games and the chief executive officer of the studio, states, "At Telltale, we've been honored to bring our unique approach to interactive storytelling to some of the biggest entertainment franchises in the world, and we're excited to announce that we'll soon be exploring what it means to be Batman in an all-new series starting next year."
The Batman series that the company is creating is designed to allow fans of the comic book character to explore both the complex mind and the complicated life of Bruce Wayne and see how he deals with the challenges of saving Gotham from a range of villains.
David Haddad, the president of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, states that his company wants to work with Telltale Games to find a new way to approach Batman and to show a new side of the superhero using the unique techniques that the studio has developed.
The announcement trailer is low on actual details about the game, but it does suggest how the atmosphere of the comics will be translated into the video game space, with a focus on the characters and the way they interact with the player character.
Telltale Games' Batman will probably be more about talking than fighting
The development team has managed to create a range of successful episodic game series, the most important being The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones and Tales from the Borderlands.
All of them use a series of very similar mechanics, with gamers allowed to explore a wide range of character relationships and interact with the environments in unique ways.
The action side of the video game will be relatively limited and will probably use the classic Quick Time Events that the other episodic titles use.
Given that Telltale Games has announced it will deliver a new Walking Dead experience, called Michonne, which is set to arrive in February, it's very likely that first episode of Batman will be offered at some point during the spring.
Presumably more details about the game will be delivered once 2016 starts.
The studio has not said how many episodes will be included in the Batman video game and whether it will have any direct narrative connection with the coming movie featuring the character, the Gotham television series or the recent run of comics featuring the superhero.
Telltale Games has managed to create some unique moments in its video game, but the recent Game of Thrones season shows the limits of its formula.
This means that it needs to try and deliver some innovation in the coming Batman video game to keep fans interested.
