Season 2 of Telltale’s Batman is underway and the second episode has now been released. Whereas the first episode allows you to play as Batman for the majority of the time, episode 2 ‘The Pact’ takes a different approach as most of the time you will be playing as Bruce Wayne.
In the first episode, Batman went toe-to-toe with The Riddler in one of the most action-packed episodes in Telltale game history. The story was excellent and there were many puzzles for you to solve and more. It was exciting from beginning to end.
Season 2 ‘The Pact’ is nothing like the first episode and this might annoy many people. The story takes a bit of a break and it also features a lack of action and puzzle solving. There is a LOT of talking in this latest episode.
Anyway, basically episode 2 starts off after the end of episode 1. The Riddler is dead, but he has some friends that are still planning to terrorize Gotham City. The first chapter of ‘The Pact’ is quite excellent because Batman takes on Bane in an action packed sequence.
Sadly though, Batman gets injured during his fight with Bane and then the episode becomes an infiltration mission. The rest of the episode forces you to play as Bruce Wayne and the Batman suit is never used again. This will disappoint some fans since the game is called ‘Batman: The Enemy Within’ and not ‘Bruce Wayne: The Enemy Within’.
Thankfully, Bane does not know that Batman and Bruce Wayne are the same person so Wayne is able to do some undercover work. Before he gets to Bane, Wayne has to gain the trust of both John Doe/Joker and Harley Quinn.
The interactions between Wayne, Joker and Harley Quinn are quite humorous in my opinion. You have the option to act like a criminal and you even get a chance to flirt with Harley Quinn on more than once occasion. Flirting too much with Harley Quinn makes Joker jealous though.
Acting like a douchebag doesn’t stop there either. Much like I did in the first episode, I chose to side with Amanda Waller instead of Commissioner Gordon. Gordon called me a “son of a b##th” for leaving him out of the investigation. Most players didn’t choose this option, but I thought it was funny to do something Batman would not have normally done.
Later on in the episode, Wayne is able to get inside Bane’s lair. A big plan is going down between the villains. Bane, Harley Quinn, Joker and Mr. Freeze have all teamed up and now Wayne is part of ‘The Pact’. Trying to gain the trust of all of them can be a challenge, but I thought it was fun acting like a criminal.
Much like other episodes before it, ‘The Pact’ features many different options for you to take that change the outcome of the story. There is a major decision that you have to make at the end of the episode that will affect the characters that will appear in episode 3.
It’s also worth mentioning this episode is slightly shorter than episode 1. I managed to finish this episode for the first time in 1 hour and 45 minutes. This is shorter than the near 2 and a half hours that the first episode offered.
Verdict
As a whole, Telltale’s Batman: The Enemy Within Episode 2 ‘The Pact’ is a mixed bag if you were a big fan of the first episode. The second episode feels slower in comparison and the lack of action and Batman is going to make some people annoyed. However, I enjoyed it mainly because Joker and Harley Quinn are my favorite Batman characters. Episode 2 is worth playing only if you like acting like a criminal.
