The announcement that Telltale Games was closing its doors for good in 2018 came as a shock to the gaming world. The popular studio had been around since the early 2000s and had produced games that were infamous for their creativity.
A key aspect to Telltale games was the element of choice. Each choice you made impacted the story. A choice-driven point-and-click adventure hearkened back to the early days of gaming. Telltale Games hit a nostalgia sweet spot. But it wasn’t sweet enough to keep its doors open.
While retailers still sell used console versions of Telltale games, digital outlets like Steam have stopped selling Telltale entirely. Many Telltale projects were left incomplete when the studio closed, leaving us to forever wonder what might have been. Here are seven Telltale games the studio never finished and why we’re sad about it.
1. The Walking Dead: The Final Season
If a person is only familiar with one Telltale game, it’s usually The Walking Dead. While Telltale made plenty of amazing games before it, this was the game that really put Telltale on the map. Besides The Walking Dead popularity in the zeitgeist, the unique story told by Telltale was captivating. For three seasons of the episodic game, fans followed Clementine, a girl trying to survive in a zombie-filled world.
Unfortunately, Telltale announced its closure in the middle of the fourth and final season. This left fans and Clementine voice actor Melissa Hutchinson distraught that they would never get to see her story resolved. Luckily, Skybound Entertainment stepped in to oversee and release the rest of the final season in March 2019. Clementine’s fate is revealed here.
2. The Wolf Among Us Season 2
For everyone who knew about Telltale before The Walking Dead games were released, The Wolf Among Us is likely the game that pulled them in. Based on the incredibly popular Fables comic series, it picks up with Bigby Wolf — the big bad wolf. He navigates crime-solving in a world where fairy tale characters are simultaneously real and gritty. They live hidden from normal humans, so when crimes occur it’s up to their own community to solve them.
Like all Telltale games, your choices determine the direction the story goes in, and there are a lot of them to make. The game completed its release in 2014, and for years after its fans clamored for a continuation. Finally, in 2017 a second season was announced. But, the release was pushed back until 2019. Sadly, with the studio’s closure in 2018, fans will never get to see the second series come to fruition.
3. Stranger Things
One of the few new game series Telltale had announced, there was a lot of interest in seeing the studio’s take on Stranger Things. The hit Netflix series seemed to fit Telltale’s gaming aesthetic perfectly. Rumors had it that the game was meant to fill the gap between seasons one and two.
The game was originally planned for a release alongside season two of the Netflix series. Both Netflix and Telltale had confirmed the project, but with the closing of the studio the game was canned. Most of the season one script was written, but aside from that and a few character designs, the game didn’t make it far.
4. Game of Thrones: A Telltale Games Series Season 2
Much like the books and hit HBO series, each episode of the Game of Thrones Telltale game series came with plenty of intrigue. Sometimes it felt like there were no good choices to make for one of the many characters whose point of view you controlled. Then again, that’s not too surprising for a Game of Thrones chapter.
The story came to a dramatic head in its final chapter, setting itself up for a sequel where the choices you made in this game would impact the state of things in the second. While a season two was announced, it was put on hold indefinitely and eventually shelved with the closure of Telltale.
5. Tales from the Borderlands Season 2
Borderlands is another title that’s well known in the world of gamers. Its standard games are first person shooters that you can play solo or in a multiplayer online format. You don’t have to play those games to enjoy the new story spun in Tales of the Borderlands, though fans of the original may be pleasantly surprised by the appearance of Handsome Jack as a main character.
Tales from the Borderlands season 2 was never announced, but the end of the game left the possibility on the minds of many of its players. The primary story itself wrapped up, but some questions were left about the world and the direction some of the characters might find themselves moving in. Fans are currently hanging their hopes on the next standard Borderlands game, hoping to see some of these characters appear there.
6. Batman: The Telltale Series Season 3
Of all of the sequels and follow-ups fans never got, Telltale’s Batman series is the easiest to cope with. It would have been nice to see a third season and see the consequences of your final decision in the game. The second season, called Batman: The Enemy Within, ends with Alfred deciding to leave Gotham. As Bruce, you must decide whether to give up being Batman in order to convince Alfred to stay, or continue on as Batman without him. It would have been interesting to find out whether Alfred’s presence impacts what you can and can’t do.
But, at least the series ended on a high note. It was more critically successful than the first, and unlike other titles it wrapped up its storylines. There will be plenty of other Batman games to come, but none will tell the story quite like Telltale could.
7. Guardians of the Galaxy Season 2
By 2017, Telltale had taken on a couple of major pop culture titles. At the height of Marvel’s cinematic popularity, Telltale decided to take on Guardians of the Galaxy. While your choices always hold weight in Telltale games, in this series they determine who lives or dies on your team. The element of choice is uniquely impactful.
And with so much new material to work with as additional Marvel films featuring Guardians of the Galaxy were released, gamers were hopeful. They kept an ear out for an announcement on a second season tackling some of those changes. Unfortunately, like Tales from the Borderlands, no second season was announced before the studio went under.
What are your favorite Telltale games? Which Telltale games are you sad to see unfinished? Let us know in the comments!
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