Telltale Games has become known for their brand of episodic, narrative-driven adventure games to the point that they’re almost the namesake for their genre. If I say something is “like a Telltale game," you have an idea what I’m talking about. So far, Telltale has focused on games based off licensed properties, releasing them in multiple episodes. But now they want to try something new, with what they’re calling the “Super Show" concept.
As explained in this interview Telltale’s CEO did with noted gaming publication Entertainment Weekly, “a ‘Super Show’ episode combines one part of interactive playable content with one part of scripted television style content." Essentially, a TV show episode combined with a Telltale interactive portion, with the two interacting with each other, and choices in the game affecting what happens in the scripted portion. though the Telltale parts may become available as standard TV episodes on streaming and television broadcast. Telltale’s first Super Show will be based on an original concept, though there are plans to make both Super Shows and standard Telltale series down the road.
Will this work out? Who knows, it is a bold ambition, but Telltale has managed to make the episodic format take hold, and to do things with narrative that others have not. And with an investment from Lionsgate to help bring the Super Show idea to life, it’ll be interesting to see just what they can do with all this.
