First Episode Of 'Batman: The Telltale Series' Now Available, Introduces Crowd Play Feature

Telltale Games’ latest series brings players to the streets of Gotham. The company released “Realm of Shadows,” which is the first episode of Batman: The Telltale Series.

In the studio’s take on the well-known character, you’ll have the chance to direct Batman’s actions as he fights the powerful Falcone crime family. A roster of familiar faces returns, including police commissioner Jim Gordon, Harvey Dent (who is a candidate for the mayor’s seat) and Catwoman.

Unlike Telltale’s past titles, this game will introduce a new interactive feature called “Crowd Play,” which allows other 4-12 people to vote on the game’s many choices, which have an impact on the story’s direction. As the main player, you can host a Crowd Play session from a PC, Mac or console. However, you’ll need to have a Telltale account before you start. For others to join, they’ll need the generated URL and unique game code that pops up on your screen. The studio said that the best way to experience Crowd Play is by using your smartphone’s web browser, but you can use a laptop, tablet or desktop computer as well. Your friends will vote on the outcome as each choice comes up in the game, and you’ll have to carry out their decisions as the story progresses. However, if you want to have some sort of control over the voting process, you can also change the Crowd Play settings so that you can veto the majority vote and make your own decision in the game.

You can buy the entire series digitally for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One for $29.99. However, it seems that only the Xbox Store is selling the first episode as a standalone purchase for $4.99 for now. If you prefer the physical version of the game, you’ll have to wait until September 13.