So, here it is, the finale to Telltales adaptation of Batman. This first attempt by Telltale at telling Batman’s story has come to an end and the question now becomes “did it end with a bang or was it a dud?”. While this may not have been Telltale’s strongest project, there was a lot of enjoyable moments that Telltale brought and interesting ideas that gave a unique look at the characters we all know and love. The final episode, while it may have its flaws, does tie up many loose ends and leaves great anticipation for a second season.
This episode starts with you having to either fight Harvey Dent or Cobblepot’s drones depending on the choices you made in the previous episode. I find it interesting, that based on your choices from previous episodes, Harvey will remain unscathed physically and not have the literal two face we have all become accustomed to or he will indeed, be the two face we all think of when we think of the character. I enjoy the fact that they focus on Harvey’s mental health and treat him as more of a three dimensional, almost tragic character than a simple “bad guy” who simply went over the edge from being disfigured by a mob boss. Harvey is sick and has been for a while, resisting treatment and has been hurt by someone he thought was a friend and his mental health is affecting his ability to deal with his hurt. Telltale took an interesting turn with Dent that I am glad was constant through the episodes..
Lady Arkham was also a drastically different character than we thought she would turn out to be and turned out to be much tougher than previously assumed. She also continues to be more fleshed out in City of Light as we learn a lot more of how she grew into the revenge seeking, tough woman leading the Children of Arkham and her motives for attacking the Wayne empire. The writers certainly were creative with their decisions for this character”. Her and Harvey certainly have their reasons for their behavior and are handled wonderfully throughout the series, although Cobblepot and The Joker seem much more insignificant.
The problem with City of Light from a story perspective is the sheer amount of characters shoved into the story. While Harvey and Lady Arkham get fleshed out and even sympathetic at times, Cobblepot and “John Doe”/The Joker seem in comparison. Yes, we learn about Cobblepot’s motivations, but not much else but some simple exposition. I felt no connection to him and he seemed to be more of a nuisance than a character. The Joker also seemed very rushed into the story as his purpose to was to possibly help Bruce in one section of episode 4 and then make another appearance in City of Light that just seemed unnecessary. I feel Telltale could have held off introducing his character until a theoretical season two so he didn’t seem so obligatory. I feel if Telltale only included the two villains, it could have led to a stronger ending. The result feels muddy and at times rushed, and yet, still entertaining.
For what flaws this final episode brings, how they concluded Lady Arkham and Harvey/s stories left me satisfied with the episode and wanting more from their rendition of Batman. They were overall creative with Bruce’s story and how he fought for his family’s name and honor and the story ended a lot of arcs in a satisfying way. If you have played the other episodes, there is no reason not to finish the story and if you have not played Batman at all yet, it is definitely worth a look.