Batman The Telltale Series Episode 2 Review: Children of Arkham — ‘The Cat’ and ‘The Bat’

With the ending of the first episode of Telltale Games’ Batman Series, Realm of Shadows, many thought that the supposed “truth” about Thomas Wayne and his family was a lie. Children of Arkham rewrote the Batman mythos in more ways than one, redefining Bruce’s motivation for becoming Batman to begin with, not unlike when Peter Parker found out that he didn’t kill his uncle’s murderer in Spider-Man 3. The episode was action-packed and full of twists and turns, wonderful chemistry between two special characters, and an ending that left us wanting more. The one downside is it felt like the choices from Realm of Shadows didn’t carry over like they should have, but that isn’t a huge deal; Children of Arkham is superb and our Batman The Telltale Series Episode 2 review reflects it.

Batman The Telltale Series Episode 2 Review — Rewriting the Batman Mythos

Joe Chill is traditionally credited with mugging the Waynes and murdering them. In a twist of fate though, Thomas Wayne is revealed to be a ruthless man who would do whatever it takes to get what he wants. Joe Chill was actually hired by a previously known character to kill the Waynes as an assassin. This drastically changes the Batman mythos and is a huge risk on Telltale’s part, but it works. Bruce is still Bruce (or ‘The Bat’) and stays true to his self, surprisingly, even when he lost his reason for being. Alfred is his anchor. Bruce actually goes into detective mode in a very cool moment to recover the memory that his parents were assassinated and not merely mugged.

Batman The Telltale Series Episode 2 Review — The Bat and the Cat

One of the highlights of Children of Arkham is the dynamic between Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne. Bruce finds out that Oz, now called Penguin, plans to put a hit on her and does everything in his power to save her. The two fight side by side on more than one occasion and the chemistry is all but obvious while they kick ass. I personally was shipping Bruce with Vicky Vale, but the chemistry with Selina is astounding. The Cat and The Bat are the two characters’ true personas, while Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne are merely facades, which makes it even more the perfect pairing. This was one of the highlights when we conducted our Batman The Telltale Series Episode 2 review. The chemistry between the two was obvious during Realm of Shadows, but it was taken to another level in Children of Arkham. Bruce could even attempt to kiss Selina, but she backs away. The final major choice makes things all the more interesting based on your feelings about Selina, and while she does not die if you don’t choose her, it will be interesting to see how this carries over in future episodes.

Batman The Telltale Series Episode 2 Review — Choices

One of the disappointing things about Children of Arkham was the fact that there weren’t very many major choices, save maybe two, but there were some choices that didn’t adequately carry over. Handing over the Falcone files to Vicky didn’t really make all that much a difference in the end. Batman’s behavior did carry over to an extent, but there were times where you had to bend the rules, which were moral dilemmas and emotional puzzles I had to let slide and do what had to be done, even if it hurt my reputation. There is a chance that Harvey became Two-Face in the episode, but, because of my choices he may not have transformed. That is one great thing about the game: the replayability factor. It will be interesting to see how things differ between playthroughs.

Penguin, Vicky, and Falcone didn’t have very huge roles in the episode and that was frustrating, as so much was set up in Realm of Shadows. This isn’t to say they didn’t have roles at all, and there was a lot of setup, but this was the most disappointing thing we noticed while putting together our Batman The Telltale Series Episode 2 review. There are three more episodes left with a lot more exposition, and it is a great chapter in the story and redefines the Batman mythos, but, it really focused on just two characters: Selina Kyle and Bruce Wayne, or ‘The Cat’ and ‘The Bat’.

Batman The Telltale Series Episode 2 Review — Left Wanting More

Children of Arkham left us wanting more, again. I know this is the nature of episodic content, but it was revealed that Penguin isn’t the head honcho behind the happenings in Gotham. The episode literally ends fixated on a masked man speaking of reeking havoc in Gotham. This, along with the relationships between the characters, the further changes to the Batman mythos, and Harvey’s fate leaves me wanting so much more. This may be Telltale’s best series yet right behind The Walking Dead, which coincidentally continues in November. While the episode itself is somewhat flawed, the series itself may fit together perfectly. Telltale has taken decades of source material and made it its own, and on that note, they are doing a fantastic job. If Telltale can convince me to ship Catwoman and Batman rather than Batman and Vicky Vale, they can do anything.

Thank You to Telltale Games for providing Video Game Culture Headquarters a copy of Batman the Telltale Series for review purposes.