Telltale Games Game Reviews
Review The Expanse: A Telltale Series (PS5) - Solid Sci-Fi Showing Signals Course Correction
Artemis ascending
The Expanse: A Telltale Series is a positive step in the right direction for the newly reconsecrated developer, capturing the essence of what made its initial efforts so successful in the first place. It's sharp, well-paced interactive media that delivers on the expected premise, telling an original story set in an established...
Blink and you'll miss it
RGX Showdown's promise of a new arcade racer from the creators of Burnout and Split/Second is a fairly empty one. It's a minuscule indie racing game with some impressive talent behind it, and while it certainly evokes elements of your old favourites, it isn't really in the same class. RGX Showdown's online only races see...
Review The Walking Dead: The Final Season - Episode 1 (PS4)
Stayin' alive
The Walking Dead: The Final Season begins with a beautifully animated synopsis of Clementine’s story so far, and it’s testament to the insignificance of the previous season that no more than ten seconds are spent recapping its events. Telltale’s been through a bit of a rough patch behind-the-scenes, but there are signs in Episode...
Review Batman: The Enemy Within - Episode Five: Same Stitch (PS4)
Joke's on you
Telltale’s take on the Batman universe has been one of the few shining lights in its portfolio of late, and The Enemy Within has successfully eschewed the sophomore slump with another sterling five episode series that turns everything you know about the Dark Knight on its pointy-eared head. This finale is far from perfect, but...
Review Batman: The Enemy Within - Episode Four: What Ails You (PS4)
Ail be back
It’s testament to Telltale’s work within the Batman universe that we didn’t even realise Episode 4: What Ails You does away with the cape and cowl almost entirely. That’s right, for the majority of Season Two’s penultimate instalment, you’ll be blitzing it as billionaire playboy, Bruce Wayne. Clocking in at around an hour,...
Review Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 5: Above and Beyond (PS4)
Put to bed-rock
The finale to Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two is finally here, meaning you can now play the entire game from start-to-finish in one sitting. To be fair, this may help the series a great deal, as Season Two has really struggled to produce lengthy episodes that keep your interest. The finale is no different clocking in at around the...
Review Batman: The Enemy Within - Episode Three: Fractured Mask (PS4)
Ready, steady, crook
The best thing about Batman: The Enemy Within so far is how many different relationships you’re forced to manage. Playing as both billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne and the Caped Crusader himself, Episode 3: Fractured Mask picks up where previous instalment The Pact left off, with the square-jawed suit right at the heart of...
Review Guardians of the Galaxy: Episode Five - Don't Stop Believin' (PS4)
I am Groot
It's probably a little bit late in the day but Don't Stop Believin', the final episode of Telltale's Guardians of the Galaxy, is easily the best episode of the series to date. That might not sound like glowing praise given the often painful mediocrity of the previous episodes, but it at least makes for a nice surprise and leaves us with a...
Review Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 4: Below the Bedrock (PS4)
Rock bottom?
Below the Bedrock is the penultimate episode in Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two and boy are we glad it’s going to end soon. With the opening three episodes getting very mixed reviews we weren’t expecting much to change for the fourth, however we were surprised with a genuinely enjoyable and well balanced experience. ...
Review Guardians of the Galaxy: Episode Four - Who Needs You (PS4)
Just the Drax, ma'am
Penultimate episodes are a tricky proposition. On the one hand, you've got to set up the story for the big finale in the next instalment, but on the other, you can't promise or give away too much or the coming climax might wind up feeling, well, anti-climactic. Telltale's Guardians of the Galaxy - a series that has such little...
Review Batman: The Enemy Within - Episode Two: The Pact (PS4)
Friends close, enemies closer
Oh, this is good. Telltale’s take on Batman has always traded on the duality of the Dark Night, but in this excellent instalment, all of its efforts come to fruition. Tasked with befriending Gotham’s most gruesome, Bruce Wayne’s morals are pushed to their limits, as he’s forced to ingratiate himself to the likes...
Review Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 3: Jailhouse Block (PS4)
A happy little review
Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 3: Jailhouse Block starts off with a much more intriguing plot than the first two episodes in the season. Jesse and his companions are locked in a bedrock prison at the bottom of the world which is controlled by the Admin’s loyal followers. They must find a way to escape it and...
Review Guardians of the Galaxy: Episode Three - More Than a Feeling (PS4)
Star Bores
More Than a Feeling is, unfortunately, more of the same for Telltale's Guardians of the Galaxy. In our reviews for the previous two episodes, we've talked at length about how the Telltale incarnations of the popular Marvel superheroes feel like a watered down version of their big screen counterparts. We've mentioned the main narrative...
Review Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 2: Giant Consequences (PS4)
Lacking in consequence
So far Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two hasn’t had the best of starts with Episode 1: Hero in Residencestruggling to remedy the issues experienced in the first season with a slow paced story and clunky gameplay mechanics being the most prominent problems. Unfortunately Episode 2: Giant Consequences, although...
Review Batman: The Enemy Within - Episode One: The Enigma (PS4)
Riddle me this
Telltale’s take on Batman lore ended with a bang a little less than a year ago, and The Enemy Within picks up the baton from its predecessor without pumping the brakes. Episode 1: The Enigma once again puts an emphasis on Bruce Wayne, as the Riddler returns to Gotham with his trademark brand of brain-teasing supervillainry in tow...
Review Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 1: Hero in Residence (PS4)
Blockage
It’s a fresh season for Minecraft: Story Mode and what better way to kick it off than with the same old mechanics and tiresome gameplay that everyone complained about in the first season. We don’t want to write the game off in the first episode but it certainly doesn’t provide a promising introduction to the season. The game begins...
Review Guardians of the Galaxy: Episode Two - Under Pressure (PS4)
Space Shoddity
The biggest problem with the first episode of Guardians of the Galaxy was that the whole thing felt like a pale imitation of the James Gunn movie of the same name. The game isn't set in the same continuity as the movie or any of the comics, and that strategy can be used to great effect as Telltale demonstrated with its Batman...
Review The Walking Dead: A New Frontier - Episode 5: From the Gallows (PS4)
Off with its head
The problem with episodic games is that you have to finish strong, otherwise you risk spoiling months of build-up and leaving a sour taste. Unfortunately, the finale to The Walking Dead’s third season is a big disappointment, and it’ll leave you pondering exactly what the point of this story was in the first place. With the...
Review The Walking Dead: A New Frontier - Episode 4: Thicker Than Water (PS4)
Batsman out of Hell
You'd be right to assume that the title of Episode 4 in Telltale's latest The Walking Dead story A New Frontier is a reference to disgraced baseball star Javier Garcia's biggest decision: family or friends? Thicker Than Water explores whether the everyman would be better off siding with his brood or buddies, and it prompts plenty...
Review Guardians of the Galaxy: Episode One - Tangled Up in Blue (PS4)
Marvel?
Telltale's Guardians of the Galaxy seems to assume that you're already familiar with the titular team of loveable rogues after the success of the 2014 smash-hit movie of the same name, as there is very little in the way of introduction for any of the characters involved. This is simultaneously Episode One's greatest strength and greatness...
Review The Walking Dead: A New Frontier - Episode 3: Above the Law (PS4)
Brotherly love
For as quickly as characters come and go in The Walking Dead titles, you've got to give Telltale Games credit for continuing to pull together a compelling cast. Ex-baseball star Javier Garcia's only been around for three instalments, but already he feels like part of the fettered furniture: his complex family dynamic once again the...
Review The Walking Dead: A New Frontier - Episode 2: Ties That Bind (Part Two) (PS4)
Oh, brother
Alright, the "twist" at the end of this episode is about as subtle as a meat cleaver to a Muertos' face, but The Walking Dead: A New Frontier is really moving at a breakneck pace. Having established a new cast of characters in the first half of this two-part premiere, Ties That Bind (Part Two) ratchets up the tension by plotting the fall...
Review The Walking Dead: A New Frontier - Episode 1: Ties That Bind (Part One) (PS4)
Family splatters
The first season of Telltale Games' comic book adaptation The Walking Dead propelled the episodic developer to superstardom; Lee's poignant tale of life after the apocalypse was lavished with end-of-year awards, and is looked upon fondly some four or so years after its original release – despite a laundry list of mechanical and...
Review Batman: The Telltale Series - Episode 2: Children of Arkham (PS4)
Cobblehot
Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered, y'know? The second instalment of Telltale's burgeoning Batman yarn wastes no time reminding you of the most pivotal point in DC Comics lore, with brooding billionaire playboy Bruce Wayne casting a shadow over Crime Alley. Fortunately, the episode quickly deviates from the banal backstory that's been...
Review Batman: The Telltale Series - Episode 1: Realm of Shadows (PS4)
Gotham pity
Bruce Wayne's parents were murdered, y'know? You'd think that Telltale would be able to gloss over the most iconic origin story in superhero history, but the haughty Alfred Pennyworth takes an almost perverse pleasure in reminding you about the unfortunate fate of your mother and father at every opportunity. It's, as is always the case...
Kill me
The premise behind 7 Days to Die is strong: it's an open-world zombie survival horror game smashed together with the crafting and building elements of Minecraft. That description sounds compelling, but the final product doesn't come anywhere near to being fun. Before you jump into the actual game, you are given a plethora of options to...
Review Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 5: Order Up! (PS4)
Blockheaded
Telltale released the first four episodes of its Minecraft series fairly quickly – within three months, actually – but opted to wait several months before deploying the fifth episode. We've slung our fair share of criticisms at this series, but one of our biggest complaints was that Episode Four felt like the end of Season One; the...
Review The Walking Dead: Michonne - Episode 1: In Too Deep (PS4)
A name you won't forget
Telltale Games' portfolio may be deep these days, but it's the company's exemplary contributions to The Walking Dead universe that will forever earn top billing. Alongside millions of others, we love the crushingly hard choices and branching character development that's unfolded over two seasons thus far. That said, we were...
Review Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 4: A Block and A Hard Place (PS4)
A fitting end, but not really
Telltale's fourth Minecraft release over the course of just a few months continues the breakneck launch schedule that the developer has suddenly become fond of. We've been weary of this rapid schedule from day one because it's in such stark contrast to their normally overly long, drawn out release time frame - and this...
Review Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 3: The Last Place You Look (PS4)
Begin the rebuild
A short month and a half after Telltale's Minecraft: Story Mode premiered, we have already arrived at the third episode of the season. The first instalment wasn't exactly something that we were convinced by, but it left us interested. Unfortunately, Episode Two delivered one of the weakest episodic releases that we've seen in some...
