Batman: The Enemy Within (2017) Review

After finishing Batman: The Telltale Series, I decided that I had to play the sequel Batman: The Enemy Within. It has taken me a while to get it done but I have now played through all 5 episodes including the final episode twice in order to get the different endings, here is my review for the game. The premise of the game sees after the aftermath of Lady Arkham's attack, a group of new villains attack Gotham with Bruce Wayne & Batman being pushed to his limit. 

Characters

Troy Baker once again reprises his role as Bruce Wayne/Batman and I really like his performance. We see even more of Bruce this season and the way the game forces Bruce into certain situations allows Baker to show more to his character. I don't think this is a really memorable portrayal but it definitely does the job here and he is effective in the role. 

Anthony Ingruber reprises his role as John Doe and he is given way more to do here. His cameo in the first season was a bit jarring but his development this season is fantastic, we all know where the character is heading but the game does a great job of making us question it throughout with two incredibly dynamic endings for the character. 

Iconic Batman Villains such as Harley Quinn, Bane & Mr Freeze are introduced here and I liked there portrayal, especially Harley as it adds layers to her character. It is just a shame that they have very few interactions with Batman and their relationships are with Bruce instead. 

Characters like Gordon, Selina and Alfred have smaller roles this season and to be honest they just didn't offer as much and they definitely fall foul of how many characters and plot points there are in this game. 

Story

The story is okay. It definitely is more of a Bruce Wayne story then Batman's but I think it is effective in showing Bruce's story and how he tries to balance everything going on in his life including being Batman. Also John Doe's story is superb and culminates incredibly well no matter what ending you choose to go with. But there is way too many characters and plot points here, they cram all these important characters into this game and they just fizzle out with no real definitive endings for them. 

Side Content

This game is no where near as Linear as the first game. There are actual branching paths here and different ways to play the game. There is less of a focus on world building because this is a sequel but it does add variety to the gameplay. However, there still isn't much you actually do except for the main narrative which I think is a bit of a missed opportunity here. 

Gameplay

The gameplay from the first game has been enhanced and made better. You do way more in this game and sometimes it can be a bit tiresome but I am happy to actually be using the controller more here. But there is no getting around the fact that it is just quick time events and is clearly not the focus here. 

Style

Probably the biggest improvement in the game is that it runs and looks a lot better. This game has way less bugs and glitches in it and has fantastic character designs. It just looks better then the first game and I am glad there was some improvement here. 

Overall

Overall, Batman: The Enemy Within is an Above Average Game that doesn't show too many improvements on the first game. It would have been interesting to see a third game in the franchise but we have to settle for this okay point and click adventure. 

Rating - 6/10