Love them or hate them, the folks at Telltale Games have a knack for giving us a big dose of nostalgia by rebooting beloved franchises with shiny new episodic adventure games. There’s no denying that they put a lot of love into their games, which makes this week’s announcement from them exceptionally exciting, especially for people who share my name and have my exact tastes in video games and other forms of media. Among the well-deserved sequels for Puzzle Agent and Hector: Badge Carnage, Telltale has announced projects involving two of the biggest titles from Image Comics and DC Comics’ imprint Vertigo: The Walking Dead and Fables, respectively.
After being in publication for more than seven years, The Walking Dead suddenly hit a growth spurt in popularity, spawning novels, a television series, and newly-announced highly detailed action figures from McFarlane Toys. And as Telltale announced, they are now working with the comic’s writer Robert Kirkman to develop a series—yes, a series—of games on the acclaimed franchise. Also getting its own series is the modern adult-oriented fairytale world of Fables, which is considerably more mature than what we usually see from Telltale. It is currently unknown if the content will be watered-down Saturday Morning Watchmen-like joke of itself, but hopefully fans won’t be disappointed.
Perhaps the most exciting announcement is that Telltale will be rebooting the classic King’s Quest franchise that so many of us older gamers grew up with years ago. Few details are known as of right now, but going by their use of the words “reboot” and “continuation”, it is hard to say if Telltale will restarting the game series with a brand new continuity or if they will give us the King’s Quest IX that never happened. Either way, it has been said that there will be multiple titles (and on multiple platforms). One has to wonder how they will manage to appease old fans while also bringing in newcomers. And of course, with Activision being in possession of the license, there are valid concerns about how this announcement may potentially affect fan projects such as The Silver Lining (which just released its third episode) by Phoenix Online Studios, Infamous Adventures’ Kingdom of Sorrow (based on the KQ novel of the same name), and various remakes.
One thing is certain: Telltale has some big shoes to fill. With all of these ongoing projects, in addition to the Jurassic Park and Back To The Future games, they’ve got a lot on their plates, especially with many of these releases being planned for this year. If they can’t hold themselves together and make these some of the best games they have ever produced, they are bound to lose a lot of fans and respect. It pains me to say that I have my doubts, but nonetheless, I’m rooting for them. If anyone can do it, Telltale can.
