The finale episode to Batman: The Telltale Series has released bringing this five episode series to a close. Despite the penultimate fourth episode feeling rushed and the most unpolished episode so far, it did manage to set up this final chapter according to the choices I have made throughout this experience. It was time for my story as Batman and Bruce Wayne to come to a close, but can ‘City of Light’ deliver on ending the series as strongly as it had begun?
*SPOILER WARNING – My review will reference choices that I have made leading into this final episode as different decisions will shape where the player will start in the finale*
City of Light looks to tie up all the player choices that have been made in the four previous episodes of the series and offer a final climatic battle against the story’s main villain, Lady Arkham, but there are a few loose ends that have to be tied up before that can happen. Through my choices in the last episode, a final showdown with The Penguin allowed me to prevent him taking over all the Waynetech systems that Batman uses and needs to fight crime and the cost was seeing Wayne Manor in flames as episode four came to an end.
With Penguin dealt with, it was time to deal with Harvey Dent, now completely out of control and using ever increasing devastating tactics to battle The Children of Arkham. The finale quickly puts Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent together, way faster than I had expected if honest. Now as I explained in my previous review, my player choices have not lead to Harvey Dent becoming the iconic disfigured Two Face that we all know he becomes. This has not stopped his character displaying the traits and split personality of Two Face though which after seeing what the traditional disfigurement of Harvey in the trailer left me regretting the decision to save Harvey instead of Cat Woman. But it does serve as a reminder that player choice does actually shape the story and in particular the last decision in episode four that results in how and where you start the chapter in City of Light.
So for me, Harvey has taken hostages in Wayne Manor, each one represents for him the corruption and evil that he needs to eradicate in order to make Gotham safe again. He is demanding Bruce Wayne come to the Manor or he will start to shoot them one by one and with Alfred also a hostage, Bruce races over. This opening section is another great example of how Bruce Wayne is just as integral to the story as Batman, as he has to try and reason with Two Face in order to reach the real Harvey to stop him from shooting the hostages. The dialogue exchange here can either result in saving the person or in having Two Face flip his coin and shoot the hostage, showing again how player choice impacts the story being told. There is no penalty should they be killed but as the player it would feel as though Bruce failed in saving them, which has been an element throughout this series. That feeling when your decisions influence the story being told both to you as the player and because of you as the player.
What this final episode does well for me is in bringing the focus of the story back to Bruce Wayne and his crusade to protect Gotham. Up to now he has been attacked on multiple sides as both Batman and Bruce Wayne. The Wayne family name has been tarnished through the truth coming out about Thomas Wayne, who for the first time in a Batman story is really a villain, responsible for heinous crimes that shock Bruce to his very core resulting in him losing control of Wayne Enterprises and himself thanks to his little visit to Arkham Asylum courtesy of the betrayal by Vicky Vale who is really Lady Arkham. With Dent and Penguin handled, his focus is finally on the showdown with Lady Arkham, and for that he must return to the detective work that featured strongly in the early episodes. I found the pacing of City of Light to be a little rushed when it came to getting to the final battle with Lady Arkham but the story telling around the action sequences addressed all the plot threads still dangling with enough resolution of player choices that it does feel like the final chapter of a story that I shaped myself.
There are some lovely moments in this last episode that I wont go into to avoid spoiling it, but the strength of those moments when looking back on the whole store told in the five episodes is something I have enjoyed the most about this fresh take on the Batman universe by Telltale Games. They have successfully told their own version of Batman and with the little changes made such as taking Thomas Wayne, who in most versions of Batman is often used as the inspiration and strength as to why Bruce became the Dark Knight, and making him a detestable criminal in the eyes of Bruce or in taking a side character who is little more than a love interest for Bruce in Vicky Vale and turning her into a dangerous and powerful adversary for Batman was genius. The different take on Penguin to be a charismatic opposite to Bruce was fun to see in the game just as it was to help shape the relationships with Jim Gordon and Selina Kyle as Catwoman.
Batman: The Telltale Series is still the quickest release of episodes for a Telltale Series in recent years. It still had the usual issues of frame rate drops and sluggish QTE moments but the story told was great and complimented by a solid voice acting cast. City of Light brings the series back to the same place that the opening episode so cleverly focused on, who the player really sees Bruce Wayne to be and really it comes down to choosing which persona is the real mask for Bruce. Is Bruce truly Batman at heart and wearing the Bruce Wayne character as a mask or the other way round. Player choices throughout the five episodes to me at least, always come back to this point. The finale does leave the door open for a second season, even if the way it does this is a bit obvious and left the closing moments feeling a little flat for me, but this is a strong story that authentically left me with the feeling that my choices mattered, which is something most Telltale Game series lack as a sensation on completion.
Of the five episodes, only the fourth felt lackluster and even though this finale episode felt a little short, it did what it had to do and I was left with the feeling that I helped create a new Batman to protect Gotham and as the credits rolled and I looked at how my choices compared with other players, I can say my story that was forged was different to that of others but knowing we all had a great time with this game. I very much hope there is a follow up season and even more excited to see how Telltale Games handle the MARVEL Guardians of the Galaxy in 2017.
City of Light and the series as a whole gave me the feeling that I was Batman, I shaped his world with my decisions and in the end I was satisfied that I had given Gotham a silent guardian, a watchful protector and a Batman ready to face whatever Telltale Games has in store next time.
