If you've played multiple Telltale adventure games in the past five years, you've likely noticed that the developer's games don't look all that different. They each adopt a semi-realistic style that, with the exception of Minecraft, all begin to blend together after a while.
Telltale's adventure game engine is old, and in recent years, its age has begun to show. Thankfully, Telltale knows it. That's why, for its upcoming Batman game, it has made major upgrades to its tried-and-true engine. Telltale co-founder Kevin Bruner elaborated at a recent South by Southwest panel (via IGN), going so far as to say that it's a more significant step forward than fans have ever seen in the past.
"We've got a whole lot of new technology that's going in that you'll start to see in Batman, and Telltale games going forward [...] We have a bunch of new engineers that have been working on rendering technology — non-photorealistic rendering technology [...] but it's really cool, very much upgraded from the kinds of things that you've seen from Telltale in the past [...] It's still a Telltale game, so it'll be evolved from what you've seen before, but I think a more significant step than you've seen from any of our products in the past."
That should please more than a few fans. Despite always delivering stellar writing and gut-wrenching moments, Telltale's game engine has a reputation for being buggy and not so easy on the eyes.
The details on the engine upgrades coming in the developer's new Batman game arrive just as new details on the game's story and setting have also been disclosed. Players will take on the role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in a modern day Gotham City, with players having the option to tackle certain situations as either the billionaire playboy or crime-fighting vigilante.
"Each night, Bruce Wayne chooses to change Gotham for the better," Telltale writes in a blog post about the game. The team wants to explore what the consequences are of the player's actions when decisions made as Bruce have a critical impact on his nightly crusade as Batman, and vice versa."
Telltale's Batman won't be connected to any existing film, comic book or game Batman continuity, but expect to see familiar faces like Alfred, Commissioner Gordon, reporter Vicki Vale and more.
