I know it's not the only iteration of the franchise that alludes to the Wayne’s having an unsavory background, but the Batman Telltale games are so fucking funny.
Bruce is straight-up having an existential crisis over his family having connections to the local mob and Alfred just looks at him sideways like, “Bruce, they were billionaires. No one becomes a billionaire honestly.”
And Bruce swallows that comment, runs through all the stages of grief in about ten seconds— inventing some new ones along the way—and you can see his brain making the dial-up noise in the time it takes for the player to pick his response.
And true, you can pick denial, anger, or something else, but in that pause you get a glimpse of the static buzz building behind his eyes.
This man is tired. He just got the shit kicked out of him. He is running on fumes. And you’re telling him everything he’s done, everything he’s achieved as Batman, has potentially been funded by crime???
“I could do it,” the look on his face says, “I could sink into the himbo persona, let it consume me. No one would ever know. I could take a nap. Billionaire playboys take naps...”
Understand that I am crazy and then read: This game changed what I thought games could be. This changed what I thought Batman could be, what the Batman and Jokers relationship could be. The take on them and making Joker a glorified Robin, showing the player the absolute tragedy that is their relationship, showing me how desperate and gross either side can become. Like Bruce has to prove to himself that what he’s doing, his code and his way is right and the Joker is the product of that… he’s the product of all of this - HIS CHARACTER is THAT. I was never the same after this, this rewired my brain. This will forever rival any Batman depiction I ever see. I’m new after this in the way that I have to mourn the person I once was before playing this. Call it a ship, a game, or a superhero story - I call this art. I’m gonna sit here for the next few months being upset at the fact that now that I’ve played this I’ll never find anything else like it.