Team Talk | Telltale Games’ best told tales

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Team Talk is our shiny new regular feature, in which Pass the Controller staff come together and voice their opinions on different topics throughout the world of gaming.

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by Sam Sant

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by Team
​PTC

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@pass_controller

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You’ve probably heard about Telltale Games’ unfortunate demise by now, provided you don’t actively avoid the news. The flagship adventure game developer was recently forced to release over 90% of its workforce and cancel any ongoing projects when a vital round of funding fell through. Those remaining few were working on bringing Minecraft: Story Mode to Netflix, but they too then joined the unfortunate majority in finding themselves out of a dream job without any warning or severance pay.

Controversy has justifiably dominated headlines as a result, though news that The Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman’s Skybound Entertainment will be rehiring staff to finish off The Final Season made for a welcome change of tone. In an attempt to continue that upward trend, we’d like to take a moment to remember Telltale at their best by sharing our personal picks of their many episodics. Where we can, anyway...

Sam | The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead shot Telltale into the mainstream, picking up multiple Game of the Year awards and introducing gamers to an innovative new brand of hybrid gameplay, to be gradually consumed in episodic chunks.

It didn’t stand out to me for those reasons, though. Having already played Wallace & Gromit and Sam & Max - just a couple of Telltale’s lesser-known earlier titles - it was the stark shift in focus that grabbed my attention instead. In a flip of the script, narrative now took priority and puzzle-solving was relieved of its mantle; that might’ve agitated the point-and-click purist in me, if only it wasn’t executed so damn well.

Introductions to protagonist Lee and his surrogate daughter, Clementine, were exquisitely conceived and delivered, immediately cementing what would become an iconic central duo. Their blossoming relationship doesn’t overshadow a stellar supporting cast, however, each of which evoke a strong gut reaction; you’ll love them, definitely hate them, but most of all, in a world of moral greys, often find yourself somewhere in between. It’s here that the ingenuity of reactive storytelling shines through, making many of the game’s choices almost painfully heart wrenching, especially at a time we hadn’t yet peeked behind the curtain to discover what really amounted to an illusion of choice.

Chris | The Wolf Among Us

Despite enjoying The Walking Dead, I wasn't initially sold on The Wolf Among Us. I figured I wasn’t the target audience for a story about fairy tale characters living in the real world, but a free trial did enough to convince me otherwise. Sufficiently intrigued, I purchase the first episode and then immediately bought the season pass upon completing that.

This was a far darker story than I’d expected. Whilst protagonist Bigby Wolf (also known as The Big Bad Wolf) is a reformed character, most of his fellow Fables’ lives are quite tragic and far removed from the cheery tales you may have heard about them as a child. Take Georgie Porgie, who’s a brash loudmouth and pimp operating out of his strip club, the Pudding ‘n’ Pie, or the Woodsman, who once upon a time saved Little Red Riding Hood from Bigby, but is now a hopeless alcoholic.

This is Telltale at their finest, bringing personalities to life and creating an engaging narrative which demands your attention. It's just a shame we'll never get to see how the sequel would’ve panned out.

James | Tales from the Borderlands

SPOILER WARNING

​In a revelation that will come as no surprise to many, I was never very good at Borderlands. However, the prospect of something a bit more story-y and less shooty was a welcome one; enter Tales from the Borderlands.

One of the first Telltale offerings to bring a dual-protagonist perspective (to my knowledge), with corporate yes man Rhys and hat-wearing rebel Fiona, the game benefited from smart writing and the faithful inclusion of series stalwart Handsome Jack to make everything feel significant and connected in that universe.

Where the Game of Thrones series’ ties felt more like tokenism, here the plot device of having Jack be a projection only experienced by Rhys proves to be far more effective than you'd think, frequently impacting the real world beyond just the character getting weird looks.

The adventure has you discover the origins of Atlas, one of Borderlands’ numerous weapons manufacturers, through a structure - much of the game being retold by a captive Rhys, who can misremember events on purpose - that introduces comedic moments to accompany a lot of genuinely interesting lore which serves to enhance the overall Borderlands canon.

Liam | Game of Thrones & The Wolf Among Us

I’ve never really given Telltale games the chance they probably deserve, though it’s hard to say exactly why that is. Perhaps it’s that their most prominent series, The Walking Dead, centres around a topic that terrifies me to the core.
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I can handle the odd bout of Zombies in Call of Duty, or the tongue-in-cheek take on the apocalypse seen in Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, but The Walking Dead’s relentless misery just seems so oppressive.

That’s not to say I’ve had no interaction with Telltale’s work whatsoever; I enjoyed The Wolf Among Us’ alternate take on fairy tale creatures living in a real-world setting, and their Game of Thrones series was a sobering reminder that I could never cut it as a little Lord in Westeros. It’s important to stand up to bullies, just not ones named Ramsay Snow (never Bolton)!

If there’s any personal smidgen of good to be salvaged from this unfortunate situation, it’s that I now feel far more inclined to explore some of Telltale’s back catalogue than I ever did previously. Just nothing starring the undead.

Rob

Unlike the rest of the team, I’ve never finished a Telltale series. I’ve played a few bits of The Walking Dead’s first season and have The Wolf Among Us and Game of Thrones on the old hard drive, but I’ve never really felt compelled to get stuck in.
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Similar to Liam, I’m not too sure why I haven’t committed. I’ve always appreciated their unique stylings - the gorgeous visuals, branching narratives and choices that really affect what happens to characters - though I’m often late to the party with games, so will no doubt rectify my wrongs in the not-so-distant future!

With that in mind, it’s been really disappointing to see the way in which the company has collapsed. Huge job losses and (what has been reported to be) a complete lack of severance pay, after talented people worked long hours on apparently unprofitable projects, showcases the dark and difficult side of business. How this can still happen in the modern world is pretty despicable.

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Which Telltale series is your favourite? Let us know with a comment.

For more Team Talk, check out last week's debut feature, in which the team discussed the latest gameplay trailer for Red Dead Redemption 2.