Telltale games has created a series of titles where television meets video games. Telltale takes a world of popular media and tells a story where you the player can help determine the outcome. Everything from Sam and Max, The Walking Dead, Borderlands, Batman, CSI, Back to the Future, and even Minecraft have been covered by Telltale. It goes without saying that some of these titles were better than the others. Luckily for me I played a good portion of the most popular Telltale games and I can share some of my favorites among them.
5. Game of Thrones - A Telltale Game Series
The Game of Thrones universe is one known to almost everyone at this point. Whether you are a fan of the books, a fan of the show or just know some fans there is no doubt you will recognize the smattering of GoT characters along with Telltale original characters.
In this series you take the role of House Forrester, a northern family who are closely allied to the Starks. The game takes place right after the Red Wedding and chaos has broken loose throughout the realm. With their allies the Starks losing their war, the Forrester's must scramble to ensure the safety of their family. In the bloody world of Game of Thrones one wrong word, one wrong action, or one right action in front of the wrong people can lead to the death of those you love. And even if you do everything right the blood of loved ones is spilled.
This series does a great job of portraying the cruel world of Game of Thrones in all its aspects. You will escape bandits in Essos, try to keep your home of Ironrath in order, navigate the politics of Kings Landing, and see the threats beyond the wall at Castle Black. With a large cast of playable characters you will see not only Westeros but Essos.
Along with the universe itself comes the characters that reside within. Characters like Tyrion, Jon Snow, Margery and more appear throughout the story. In one aspect this is cool because you get to see and hear some of your favorite characters. However this also takes away a feeling of suspense. Because the show characters have their own role outside the game they have plot armor. So the player cannot kill, endanger, or meaningfully impact cameo characters.
4. The Wolf Among Us
I love me some supernatural storytelling, and those who share that love should be playing The Wolf Among Us. I never read the comics "Fables" so I'm not too familiar with the world of The Wolf Among Us but I enjoyed the game nevertheless. The Wolf Among Us takes part in the 1980's community of Fabletown. Fabletown is a community of Fairytale characters hiding among normal society trying to blend in to a more modern world of New York. You play as the Sheriff Bigby Wolf who was formerly known as the Big Bad Wolf. As the Big Bad Wolf Bigby had a pretty high body count and a reputation for being ruthlessly violent. As he left his world he wandered the world until he found himself in his current position. Bigby's strength and intelligence lead him on his path to attempt to find the culprit of some very gruesome murders in Fabletown.
This title has some of the more difficult morale decisions. At times it feels as if there is no right answer and you have to make judgement calls. This morale grayness and the incredibly interesting universe of Fables makes this one of my favorite Telltale games. The protagonist is my favorite protagonist among all the Telltale Games I have played and the game alone has made me want to read the comics.
3. Batman - A Telltale Series
If you have never heard of Batman there is something wrong with you. Batman has been one of the most prevalent comic book characters of all time. He's been in dozens of animated series, multiple movies, and a series of incredibly popular games. As much as I like the Batman, I was a bit sick of seeing him by the time this Telltale game came out. But as soon as I saw it I realized how good it could be, and when the reviews came back positive, I jumped right on the hype train.
The Batman Telltale series does something that I appreciate to the utmost extent. In most games and movies Batman is shown as a fighter first and foremost. And while Batman can definitely fight, his detective work, and his work as Bruce Wayne are often overlooked. In this game series you get to play as multiple characters and they are all the same man.
And in addition you get to decide what kind of Batman and Bruce Wayne you are going to be. You get to determine what this rendition of Batman is like. Even though I put this at number 3 I do have to say that I still found that I was a bit tired of Batman themed media.
2. Tales From The Borderlands
Tales From The Borderlands is the funniest Telltale game ever made. Telltale not only took the art style, but they took the great humor that the Borderlands game series is known for. If you have not played Borderlands 2 you could definitely enjoy this game. However you will be missing out on a lot. For the first time in a Borderlands game you aren't the ridiculously overpowered Vault Hunters who can single-handedly destroy entire civilizations and ancient alien gods. Instead you play as Rhys a Hyperion employee and Fiona a crafty con-woman. The way the story comes together and the intensity yet lightheartedness of the whole game is pure perfection. The game captured perfectly what made Borderlands 2 so good.
Tales from the Borderlands has a number of cameos of some of your old vault hunters, and fan favorites like Scooter and Claptrap. Tales from the Borderlands does cameos so much better than the Game of Thrones series did. Since the game takes place after the events of Borderlands 2 any of the cameos can be harmed. Those who are looking forward to Borderlands 3 have to play Tales from the Borderlands, because the story has impactful implications for the future of the Borderlands universe.
Tales also had something that none of the other games had. Tales from the Borderlands had some of the most hyped moments I've seen in a Telltale game. Typically you are torn between two difficult decisions or you are heart broken by the results of your choices, but in Tales you just have these moments wow moments where you become so giddy.
The Walking Dead - A Telltale Game
The Walking Dead Telltale Game is the first that got critical acclaim. And no other game has really gotten close to its level of popularity. Multiple seasons and multiple spinoffs have resulted in the masterpiece that is the first season of The Walking Dead. You play as Lee Everett a man who is living through a zombie apocalypse when he finds a little girl. She's scared, alone and looking for her parents, her name is Clementine. You meet up with fellow travelers and form bonds with them as you go through one impossibly horrid situation after another.
The Walking Dead is one of the most horribly heart wrenching games you will ever experience in your life. In the world of The Walking Dead you will lose someone. And it is up to you to do you best to help get as many people out alive as possible. In this Telltale Game it is not always apparent how your choices will affect the story. At times you want to get back and replay and episode because you didn't realize what you were doing.
The Walking Dead is a game that when I finished it, made me feel so sad that I almost wished I didn't play it.
If you are interested in a Telltale Game I suggest looking through the many worlds they create stories in and picking the one that appeals to you the most. While I haven't played every Tell Tale game these 5 are among the best that are out there.
-Vaaren
The walking dead and The wolf among us are really good games. ✨✌️
Let's put it this wayThese are basically the tell tale games out there
I would like to disagree with 5 but I think the back to the future games or the sam and max games were better than the game of thrones
Like everyone expected the walking dead on the first place
Sad to hear telltale games no longer doing those anymore, it's skybound games leading the team for now.
this is very good artical i hope beginners learn how to write one because i'm really tired of getting spammed
That was an interesting listing there. Heard/played a few and it's usually a hit or miss with those kind of game.
Personal opinions regarding your article:
(1) Paragraph indentions are very disorganized
(2) No proper image placement
It's still a well written article though. Walking dead is my personal favorite.
Telltale company is no more, I'll miss them.
@vaaren Ahh I understand what you mean. The article would have been better if I made it longer and included some of the lesser known titles. However not many people are going to play through more than a few titles and I wanted only to include those of the highest quality. Thanks for the feedback I'll keep it in mind for the future!
@vaaren yeah I know that they released more Titels but these 5 are on the mainstream