Batman: The Enemy Within - Episode 2: The Pact (Xbox One) Review

The hardest element of revisiting the stories of Batman in any of his films, TV shows, or videogames is knowing the huge plethora of villains that The Dark Knight ends up facing; therefore, with any new revival, such as the Gotham show or Telltale's Batman series, it is just a matter of waiting out the story for these reveals and introductions. Fortunately, some methods of introduction are successful, such as the introduction of the Clown Prince himself, John Doe or Harvey Dent from Season 1. However, Episode 2: The Pact from this second series commits the true crime that almost always backfires: introducing too many villains in one hit.

After The Riddler dropped the name of this super-group called "The Pact" right before he died, and John Doe's revelation that he was friends with this group, Bruce Wayne uses his friend to find and secretly infiltrate the group by pretending to be a "true" villain. Unbeknownst to the group, however, is that his alias Batman had a secret run-in with the first new villain of the episode: Bane, in the opening sequences. While previous Bane incarnations show him as the beast with little words, Telltale's version of him is a charismatic caricature of a Mexican wrestler. However, true to his nature, he almost kills Batman early on as he injects himself with Venom via a syringe. It is at this low moment for Batman when he realises that he cannot possibly bring him down by force, thus subjecting his Bruce Wayne persona into the investigation instead.

Mr. Freeze makes his frosty presence felt in the group, although seemingly dropping the freeze gun in favour of a more flexible hand-glove that gets the job done. While his presence is limited to being a generic stand-in for The Pact, his vast knowledge of technology is known and makes him useful to the group. The self-declared leader of the group, though, is none other than Dr. Harleen Quinzel herself, popularly known as Harley Quinn. While Batman buffs know her as being manipulated by the Joker into becoming the feisty hot-head, Telltale's version has reversed the roles; John Doe seems to be the naive criminal-to-be being manipulated by Quinn, which is an interesting take.

While these new villains add to this overall mystery of The Pact's purpose, the story goes into some uncharted waters that should have real consequences attached to them, but for some reason or another, is overlooked. Bruce Wayne playing the role of underworld criminal makes no sense when he has a public image to maintain due to his position in Wayne Enterprises. After the first season saw Wayne lose his position over the bad press brought on by his father, surely the younger Wayne committing acts should be cause for concern for the overly-sensitive board members; especially considering that chairwoman, Regina Zellerbach, has an aggressive run-in with Wayne's "friends." Maybe this scenario will be explored in the future, but it does seem like a messy way to progress the story, particularly if these actions go unchallenged.