Telltale Games has done a masterful job of creating decision-based narrative video games with their recent adaptations of The Walking Dead, A Wolf Among Us (based on Vertigo's "Fables" comic book series), Tales from the Borderlands and A Game of Thrones. For the uninitiated, each game forces the player to test their sense of both morality and pragmatism by making decisions that affect the direction of the story and their character's relationship with the supporting cast. I've played the Game of Thrones title 4 different ways now, (we're allowed 4 save slots) and I'm wishing that House Forrester could actually be integrated into the TV series! Aside from reading the books yet again, there are few ways to get your Game of Thrones fix in the "off-season" (Well done, TellTale). Next, I'm going to replay season one of the Walking Dead and at least let Lee (SPOILER ALERT) die with his arm still attached (OKAY, YOU CAN LOOK BELOW NOW).
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| The Telltale Games collection, photo courtesy of the Xbox Store |
Laura Hudson
(@laura_hudson) of Fivethirthyeight.com does a great job of describing the moral complexity and sense of peer pressure (you will re-assess your sense of humanity as your decisions are compared to the rest of the gaming world) explored in the Telltale Games series
here. What I'm using this space to explore is which other iconic series full of moral ambiguity TelltaleGames should explore next. I'd love to see the following...
House of Cards
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| Buckets of blood on these hands, photo courtesy of ign.com |
Like in Game of Thrones, I can easily see alternating between multiple playable characters in the House of Cards' political reality. A reporter eager to break a big story on the true nature of Frank & Claire Underwood's reign...an Underwood staffer conflicted with loyalty to their country or to the campaign...a secret service-man protecting Frank from an assassination attempt...? I'm in.
The Wire
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| A Telltalegames-ish artistic interpretation, photo courtesy of psarips.com |
This may be a bit of a long shot from a timeliness standpoint, (although the advent of HBO GO/NOW can only help the cause), but I can not think of two characters I'd rather take control of in a narrative-based video game than Omar and McNulty. 'Nuff said, right? (but if not 'nuff said...) They both thrive on moral ambiguity and live by their own "codes," and would certainly present very compelling storytelling possiblities.
Watchmen
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| Photo courtesy of aplithelp.com |
A Watchmen game or adaptation that centers around the "action" is just doing it wrong. Watchmen isn't the classic that it is because Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons expertly portrayed iconic fight scenes. Their exploration of the characters equal parts bold and crazy enough to dress up and play "hero" is where the magic truly lies. Whether this game would draw inspiration from the original source material or the more recent "Before Watchmen" series, the series of multiple-choice response scenarios would be nearly endless.
The Godfather
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| A more comic book-esque Godfather fan art, photo courtesy of this website |
Remember the EA produced Godfather games that felt more like a Grand Theft Auto knock-off? Like Watchmen, the heart of the Godfather stories was in the characters and the sense of family, not in the shootouts and murders. The series provides another world in which one could find honor by living within the code of the family and the mafia, as opposed to conforming to the rest of society. Whether cast as a player in a rival family, or as an up-and-coming member of the Corleone family, there are also plenty of compelling moral dilemmas to navigate here.
Now, for a more minor spoiler alert, you can see which titles TellTaleGames is ACTUALLY working on
on their website. What other titles would you be quick to spend $4.99 per "episode" on? Feel free to comment below!
