Telltale is shutting down — but don't forget what it did for gaming

Tardily last month, Telltale Games announced that information technology was shutting down due to financial bug after its near recent cord of titles haven't sold well. It's incredibly sad to meet such a popular and successful studio similar Telltale being shut down, but in the wake of the tragedy, nosotros should revisit everything that made it so exemplary in the first place.

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Making the episodic formula work

Earlier Telltale made Sam & Max: Season 1 in 2007, well-nigh people believed that at that place was no way that risk games released in an episodic format would work. It was asking a lot from players; only getting one function of a total experience at a fourth dimension was risky, as people might determine they don't want to expect any longer and thus go out the game entirely. When Sam & Max was released, though, the very first episode was so mannerly, detailed, and well thought-out that people could barely wait for the side by side release.

Virtually people recall of the Sam & Max series equally little more than nonsensical comedy, and to an extent, that'south true. But something I think a lot of folks don't consider is how high quality the world-edifice was. Fifty-fifty if the Sam & Max universe is wacky and over the top, it was withal a setting written with satirical nuance and depth. People came for the laughs, but I believe they stayed for the immersive world-building. Fifty-fifty if they didn't realize it.

This proved that the episodic release formula offered an advantage that a total release did not — a slower, more than methodical approach to world-building that allowed for a setting to be explored perfectly.

Read: Telltale should pay its quondam employees earlier trying to stop The Walking Dead game

Evoking emotion

The success of Sam & Max showed the world that episodic adventure games were feasible, but it wasn't until Telltale released games similar The Walking Dead: Season Ane or The Wolf Amid U.s. that it actually striking its stride. These two titles applied the aforementioned slower writing approach to each game's characters as well as their settings, and the results were two stories that had rich, developed characters that people grew to love and care about. It'due south not out of the ordinary for people to weep when characters in Telltale games dice.

Franchises like Life is Strange probably wouldn't even exist were information technology not for Telltale pushing the boundaries of the formula it pioneered. Cheers to Telltale, it became clear to the gaming customs that episodic adventure games could be both immersive and well written. As the studio closes for good, we should never forget how its games shaped the industry and brought this genre to life.

Your thoughts

What exercise you think about Telltale's contributions to the gaming manufacture? Are you going to miss its games? Let me know.

You can buy every Telltale game released on Xbox One now every bit part of the Telltale Mega Collection for $129.99.

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