Batman: The Telltale Series Episode 2 The Children of Arkham Review

Going the Right Wayne

Continuing the adventures of the caped crusader, we find him reeling from some very unwelcome news from a very trusted source. He’s taken down a mobster, gained an ally, and even had some political fires to put out, so he’s been a busy little bat. Now Bruce must worry about his family’s legacy and figure out how to save the city he loves from basically everyone, while also trying to sort out his sordid past.

Batman’s origin story with his parents getting killed in front of him has been overdone to such a degree that people who don’t know who batman is somehow know the story. So, instead of the normal flashback and sad little Bruce crying, they have finally flipped the script and built on what was with so much more. You never do see Batman ever really deal with the loss in any meaningful way, even with so many films under his utility belt. But now you get to explore crime alley in great detail, and even find new evidence that paints a very different picture of the supposedly perfect Wayne family.

We get to see Bruce come down to earth for once, and get out of the mansion, and never is this more demonstrated as when he kicks ass with catwoman in a bar to some really cool quick time events that finds the line between tense and fun and strides it perfectly.  There aren’t too many QTE’s as we saw in previous battles that just got to be boring or tedious, instead it’s a fast paced brawl and you get to see a relationship begin right before your eyes.  The settings and details in each room have been expanded on since episode 1 which also a nice treat for eyes and the mind, but I do wish there was yet still more of different environments that we haven’t seen in other games or movies.

More so than in Episode 1, you do a lot of cool stuff as Bruce, so none of the boring billionaire parties have to be struggled through. You can beat up thugs, threaten a mayor, and make out with Catwoman, all without donning the cape and cowl which is a cool twist on the narrative and lets us see more of the actual Bruce Wayne than ever before. That said, the brief moments when the bat is present is pretty awesome as the episode ends with a very tense hostage situation involving a lot of people important to Bruce and Batman.

You get to experience a lot of character development in Episode 2, and with a streamlined fight and a very different storyline, this is definitely the best yet in a series that now seems to be on the right track. Moral choices abound in this tale of the Batman, and you better believe that everyone will make their own story happen, and we can only hope that our choices matter at the end.