Telltale games are relatively a new type of games, though not everyone may consider these to be video games. These games represent aspects of popular TV shows and movies, but allow you to control the narrative. For example, in The Walking Dead game, the player is given a choice to save the life of either character, and therefore each choice allows the player to experience a different narrative. Another player would be able to experience a completely different narrative depending on their choices.
Though this seems like an innovative and unusual idea for a game, it reminds me of the R.L. Stine’s Goosebumps series, which were horror fiction novels in which you could play the part of the main character and be able to choose different narratives for the book. After each major incident in the story, you would be able to flip to specific pages to continue the story as you would choose.
The telltale games have been able to combine the concept of letting the player control the narrative of the game, with specific story lines. People who enjoy TV shows such as the Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and other popular shows and movies, are able to immerse themselves in the show or movie and choose how it would end. This type of game is able to appeal to a vast number of audience, specifically the fans, and gamers who enjoy a good story.
Thanks for reminding of the Goosebumps. I almost forgot about those… Those are good childhood memories. I played the GOT, although I like the series, the game was okay….I also heard that the ending is always the same. I also played a couple mobile conversation-driven games and there’s also a Chinese website that lets you create games like that. Those are really simple to make kind of game. They also reminds me of the 80s text games. I never play them as a child but I think they’re cool.
While I’m a big fan of Telltale Games, I feel like their games suffer from a problem other games have that tout “choices” as a selling point: Your choices don’t matter all that much; the so-called Illusion of Choice. The Walking Dead Season 1, the first game I bought from them, while I really liked it, was kind of obvious how nothing you did changed much in the end. Pretty much every adventure game in their library after that after TWD S1 is like that. I’d like it if they went back to Sam & Max kind of games, just to breathe life in the point-and-click adventure genre.
Wow that comparison brings back some memories, I had forgotten all about those goosebumps “choose your own adventure” books. I had never thought of that connection before but its a very accurate description of what these games are like. I’ve never played through them myself but I’ve watched some gameplay from them and it’s unique compared to other games nowadays. I don’t really think it’s my type of game since it focuses entirely on story and there’s not too much gameplay to it besides quick action events but I can definitely see the appeal of these games, especially ones based on series people really like, like Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, Batman, etc.
Telltale has always been an interesting company for me, simply because they are making niche linear story-based games that seemingly no other company wants to do. I enjoy many of their games, especially the Sam & Max series and “Poker Night at the Inventory”. Its pretty neat that they’ll work with an existing series to provide a different insight for veterans of a certain franchise (the Walking Dead and Game of Thrones, just like you have mentioned).
That’s a good comparison with Goosebumps. I, personally, never read the series. However, I remember a couple books that had a feature like that. I forgot all about that.