In a doubly whammy of announcements that feels like Christmas come early to fans of point and click style games, developers extraordinaire Telltale Games have announced they are to release not one, but two new episodic adventure games in 2014, one of which we should probably have seen coming, but the other - well, what would life be without surprises?
Having been entrusted with many of the film and games industries most beloved franchises over the past few years, from Monkey Island to Jurassic Park, from Sam and Max to the incredible The Walking Dead, Telltale Games have garnered a reputation of something of a safe pair of hands, delivering accessible, moving, story driven games that stay as true to the source material as it's possible to get. Having been rumoured on and off for a number of weeks, the first announcement, that of an episodic take on George R. R. Martin's fantasy thriller Game of Thrones would seem to be a perfect match with what the studio are famous for.
The teaser trailer for the Game Of Thrones game didn't show any gameplay, but teased that the game would be a new chapter in the Game Of Thrones series. This may suggest that the game won't retell any previous story from the book/TV series and will instead be an original story, specifically written for the game. Telltale's previous game The Walking Dead featured almost no character from the comic/TV series it was based on, so it wouldn't be out of the question for this game to do the same. Other games Telltale have released, which have been based on film/TV properties such as Back To The Future and Jurassic Park have also moved away from the established stories they are based on by being designed as sequels or set in alternative time lines. Giving more room for artistic license, and freeing themselves from the shackles of having to stick to a predetermined storyline, it seems a given that the Game of Thrones series will follow the same path.
The announcement that came as something more of a surprise, however, was that loot based co-op first person shooter Borderlands would be seeing an episodic, story driven point and click style spin off entitled Tales From The Borderlands. Showing off more of the game than the Game of Thrones trailer, the teaser below gives at least some idea of what the game will look like (with an art style that's strangely close to Telltale's own The Walking Dead), but again, says little about the gameplay. As a game that's not exactly known for the strength of its storyline, plot, or characters, it's going to be interesting to see what happens with this one.
With release dates for both games set at some point in 2014, it could be a while until we see anything new about either game, although even at this point, we're incredibly excited. The only problem is, with Telltale's current episodic adventures, A Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead Season 2 still yet to come, and now two more in the works, it seems we'll have to wait that little bit longer for our next Sam and Max/Strongbad game.
