Holiday Gift Guide: Episodic Games

Instead of doing a customary awards article on Games Reviews, we have opted to pinpoint a few things you might pick up for yourself or other gamers on your Christmas List. Since awards are very subjective – especially with so many good games in the running – we are pinpointing our favorites from this year, and if the situation calls for it, previous years as well. For this article, we will examine the best Episodic Games that could find their way under your tree this holiday season.

Kings Quest

If you never played a Kings Quest game, than go back to the first and begin your journey. Each and every title has been better than the last – apart from Kings Quest 7 and 8, arguably the worst of the franchise. It has been a long time since the last Kings Quest, but this year developer The Odd Gentleman launched the first of 5 episodic titles. At the time of reading, two episodes are available. Kings Quest mixes adventure and puzzle solving in the point-and-click adventure genre. Mapping what ideally works with a mouse to a controller is not easy work, but the developers behind this gem have done and excellent job.

If you can only afford one Episodic Game this year, make it Kings Quest. It really is the best of them all in 2015. You can read our review of Episode 1 here.

Blues and Bullets

Blues and Bullets is a brand new property from developers A Crowd of Monsters. The game is full of twists and turns that you may or may not expect, and be ready for appearances from everyone’s favorite mob boss, Al Capone. This aesthetically pleasing title is in the Film Noire genre and does a great job of creating moods using black, white, and gray styling with splashes of red to indicate important features, objects, or people.

The game is incredibly well done, and deserves more credit than it probably has received. You can read more of our thoughts in our review of Episode 1, here.

Telltale Games – Game of Thrones / Tales from the Borderlands

Telltale Games is known for their ability to take popular franchises and turn them into excellent episodic titles. They have done this with The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and the Borderlands franchise, and have done so with great success. Both Game of Thrones and Tales from the Borderlands saw numerous releases this year, and all of them have been great in their own ways. While you might not always enjoy every single second of each episode, the overall story telling, plot twists, and extra lore you might find – especially from Game of Thrones – makes playing through these titles essential for episodic fans and fans of the aforementioned franchises.

Tales from the Borderlands

Episode 1 Review, Episode 2 Review, Episode 3 Review

Game of Thrones

Episode 1 Review, Episode 2 Review

I guarantee you that we have missed out on some great Episodic Games in this short list. With a small staff, we don’t have the resources or the man power to cover everything that is available. If you have something to add, feel free to drop us a note with your reasons why and we will add it to the list!