Telltale Games became one of the hottest developers in video games for several years after launching the first season of The Walking Dead. That gave the team access to dozens of great franchises, letting them dive into massive properties and tell their own story. Telltale also had a life before The Walking Dead, where the developer cut its teeth on slightly lower-profile franchises. Below, I’ve ranked every Telltale series in the developer’s storied history. For the purposes of the ranking, I’m including every franchise, even if Telltale only delivered a single game. That lets us really dive into Telltale’s massive catalog.
With that in mind, here is every Telltale Games series ranked from worst to best.
19) Law & Order
The Law & Order franchise had several previous games from Legacy Games before Telltale took over for Law & Order: Legacies. Unlike previous games, this one didn’t try to adapt a single season; instead, it used a cast of characters from across the Law & Order universe. That meant pairing fan favorites like Lennie Briscoe from Law & Order with Olivia Benson from Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. Unfortunately, the big team-up didn’t amount to much, and Telltale quickly moved on to its most famous series soon after.
18) CSI
Telltale made four CSI games: 3 Dimensions of Murder, Hard Evidence, Deadly Intent, and Fatal Conspiracy. Telltale used these games to develop its episodic format, though the games were released as singular products. All four are middling games, and it’s fairly obvious that Telltale was still finding its footing. That said, seeing Laurence Fishburne in Deadly Intent and Fatal Conspiracy was always a treat!
17) Bone
Telltale’s stab at adapting Jeff Smith’s iconic Bone comic book was another early Telltale project. Unlike the four CSI games, Telltale released Bone as an episodic game. However, they only made two episodes before cancelling the rest of the project. You can feel the bones of future Telltale games in this one, but much like CSI, the team was still working out the kinks in making episodic, choice-driven gameplay work.
16) Game of Thrones
Telltale’s Game of Thrones does not have the benefit of the studio still being early in its run. In fact, this game was arguably released when the developer was at the height of its powers, as Game of Thrones dropped between Tales from the Borderlands and Minecraft: Story Mode. Unfortunately, the game is hamstrung by the very property it’s trying to adapt.
Game of Thrones can’t let you play as the characters you know and love from the books and TV series, so you play as several members of House Forrester. Sure, you can see all your favorites, but this side story pales in comparison to the main attraction. It’s not so much a bad game as it is a tediously boring one.
15) Jurassic Park
Telltale’s take on Jurassic Park is heavy on QTEs, which makes for mostly dull gameplay. The focus is instead on the story, which explores what happened to the dinosaur embryos that Dennis Nedry stole in the original film. This is Telltale’s rigidity at its worst. The developer is best when it offers players the illusion of choice, but Jurassic Park doesn’t even bother getting that right.
14) Wallace & Gromit
Telltale only made one Wallace & Gromit game, but the developers did a solid job adapting the classic cartoon. Importantly, Telltale worked directly with Aardman Animations to develop the standalone story, though Wallace’s main voice actor, Peter Sallis, is surprisingly missing. This was the first time he hadn’t voiced the character, and Ben Whitehead, the official backup Wallace, took his place.
13) Strong Bad
I’m tempted to place Strong Bad’s game higher so everyone knows that I love cool games for attractive people, but this is definitely a middling effort from Telltale. Strong Bad’s lone game from the developer isn’t bad by any means; it just feels a little up-and-down. Some of the mini-games work, but others leave quite a bit to be desired. That said, each episode gets progressively better, something proven tough to consistently replicate in future series.
12) Tales of Monkey Island
Seeing Telltale play with the classic Monkey Island adventure series was a treat. Tales of Monkey Island doesn’t quite live up to the LucasArts classics, but it captures the spirit of the series. That’s not too surprising when you remember Monkey Island creator Ron Gilbert helped plan the story arc. Similar to Strong Bad’s Cool Game for Attractive People, Tales of Monkey Island does suffer from uneven difficulty with its puzzles. Some are mind-numbingly dull, while others will leave you scratching your head for far too long.
11) Back to the Future
With Back to the Future, the Telltale team was starting to find its footing when it came to storytelling. It’s not breaking any new ground (the devs would get there soon), but it’s an enjoyable romp full of callbacks to the classic film series. Sure, there’s little gameplay, and the puzzles that are there are often too easy, but as an interactive movie, it’s not half bad.
It’s also worth noting how spot on A.J. LoCasio’s impersonation of Michael J. Fox is. Truthfully, the entire voice cast is great, but LoCasio slides into the shoes of Marty McFly with startling accuracy.
10) Puzzle Agent
The two Puzzle Agent games are Telltale’s only real attempt (outside of Telltale Texas Hold’em) to create its own IP. You play as FBI Agent Nelson Tethers in a linear adventure game. As you’d guess from the series’ title, you’ll be asked to solve tons of puzzles as you solve cases for the FBI.
It’s not Telltale’s best effort, but I loved the developer’s weird take on a Professor Layton-like game. The two also look phenomenal thanks to the effort of Graham Annable, a LucasArts veteran who helped design Puzzle Agent‘s look.
9) The Expanse
The Expanse is the latest Telltale game, which means it’s the only game the new version of the studio has released after reopening in 2018. Cara Gee’s performance as Camina Drummer stands out in a game filled with quality acting.
Like all the best Telltale games, the character-driven gameplay takes center stage. The developers tried to add zero-g movement and a collectible system, but The Expanse is at its best when Telltale focuses on the narrative. I like that you’re trying to grow, Telltale, but we don’t need any more zero-g challenges.
8) Minecraft: Story Mode
Nowadays, we have an entire Minecraft movie, but back in 2015, it was hard to imagine a story-based game taking place in the giant, blocky sandbox world. Telltale pulled it off and brought in big-name voice talent like Patton Oswalt, Corey Feldman, and Paul Reubens, among many others.
Telltale also brought in a few Minecraft YouTubers for a fun nod to the game’s popularity on the platform. Minecraft: Story Mode doesn’t do too much to advance the Telltale formula. Instead, it gives players family-friendly fun that fans could play on a console, mobile device, or directly on Netflix.
7) Guardians of the Galaxy
As usual, Telltale got great performances out of its voice cast, helping elevate an entry that could have been forgettable. Scott Porter’s take on Peter Quill is especially worth calling out, considering he picked up a few awards at the end of the year.
The one thing keeping Guardians of the Galaxy from creeping higher is that it feels very formulaic by Telltale standards. That was increasingly becoming a problem for the studio before it temporarily closed in 2018, but Guardians of the Galaxy felt like a true “by-the-numbers” game from the team.
6) Sam & Max
Sam & Max was the reason Telltale even formed. A group of LucasArts developers were frustrated when Full Throttle 2 and Sam & Max: Freelance Police were cancelled, so they left to form their own studio. The mission? Make an episodic Sam & Max game.
Telltale did just that, releasing three Sam & Max games: Save the World, Beyond Time and Space, and The Devil’s Playhouse. All three were successes in their own right, though Save the World is particularly notable as the game that proved the episodic game could work. The Sam & Max series proved so popular, all three games were remastered by Skunkape Games, who purchased the trio of titles when Telltale shut down temporarily in 2024.
5) Poker Night
Are the two Poker Night games just Texas hold ’em card games with different characters loosely associated with Telltale? Yes, but they’re both very good versions of Texas hold ’em with silly characters and great table banter. Look, there’s not much going on in either Poker Night, but Telltale does an incredible job at capturing the feeling of sitting around a poker table with friends. It’s perfect for what it is.
4) Tales from the Borderlands
Telltale doesn’t get credit (positive or negative) for New Tales from the Borderlands because that was developed by Gearbox. That said, the first game does an admirable job of capturing the vibe of the Borderlands series. And since this is a story-based game, the main narrative is actually fun to play through.
Look, I’m a big Borderlands fan, but I’m there for the shooting and looting, not the mid-2010s internet humor. That makes Tales from the Borderlands‘ relative restraint even more impressive. Telltale understands when to push the humor much better than Gearbox, making for a narrative-based game that any Borderlands head needs to play.
3) Batman
The first Batman game weaves a tense, twisting tale, uncovering the nefarious forces at play in the city of Gotham. However, that game is also plagued by technical issues. At this point, most of those problems have been ironed out, but it certainly left a sour taste in many players’ mouths at launch (yours truly included).
The Enemy Within, on the other hand, might be Telltale’s best game. It picks up a year after the events of the first game and explores the origins of the Joker. Your choices directly influence the type of villain Joker becomes by the story’s end, perfectly encapsulating the problem that is Batman. Would the villains be as dastardly if he never existed? It’s impossible to say, but Telltale does a remarkable job looking at the impact Bruce Wayne’s alter ego has on the city.
2) The Wolf Among Us
The Wolf Among Us is a triumph because it led me to spend far too much money buying every Fables comic that exists. If you’re comic creator Bill Willingham, you can’t ask for much more out of an adaptation.
The reason I dropped hundreds of dollars on a comic series I had barely heard of before playing The Wolf Among Us is that Telltale gave players a masterclass in how to make a compelling, narrative-driven game. The murder mystery format works so well here, and Telltale nails the characterization of Bigby Wolf. If The Wolf Among Us 2 ever releases and can live up to the hype, this series could quickly jump to the top of this list.
1) The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead Season 1 wasn’t Telltale’s first success, but it’s certainly its biggest achievement. The game has star-making performances from Dave Fennoy and Melissa Hutchison. It perfected the “illusion of choice” that’s paramount to making it feel like you have a say in the story, even if your choices only really affect the flavor, not the main dish. It was a sales and critical juggernaut, picking up dozens of Game of the Year awards in 2012.
Then, Telltale kept making The Walking Dead games. Between Season Two, Michonne, A New Frontier, and The Final Season, gamers have received more than a fair share of The Walking Dead. While none of them have captured the audience quite like that first game, they all have high-point episodes that prove Telltale can still hang with the best of ’em.
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