In stark contrast to this, however, was arguably the biggest decision the series has posed to players so far. No decision prior to this has felt like making the wrong choice could single-handedly screw up your chances at coming out on top. What’s more, this one delivers a choice you’ll have to make not from an emotional perspective, but from a tactical point of view. As the episode drew to a close and I faced the immediate repercussions, it’s clear that this will have a major impact on each player’s individual experiences in episode five, and overall conclusion to the series’ story.

For the first time in the series, too, I ran into a few technical hiccups that, while not breaking the game, do become jarring in a story-driven title. Lip-syncing seemed to be hit and miss throughout, and there was a moment where Harvey’s mask simply appeared way earlier than it should have done. This is nowhere near on the scale of the significant crashes that players suffered from with the release of episode one, but something I hope Telltale squashes in episode five to deliver the high-quality finale the series deserves.

Episode four is difficult to judge as a standalone game. On its own, it offers a fairly standard run through the latest events of Bruce and Batman, with nothing groundbreaking until the very end. When looking at it as part of the bigger picture of the series, however, it does a great job of setting the stage for one hell of an ending.

Clocking in at about an hour and a half, episode four did what it had to do to drive the story along without overstaying its welcome. While I would have liked a little more explanation from one of the plot points that was skimmed over way too quickly, Guardian of Gotham was otherwise a prime example of Telltale’s character development and relationship expertise. What felt like an episode that would be focused on the Joker and Arkham Asylum, turned out to be a general overview of how relationships and decisions had impacted the story so far, and how these will affect the events of the finale. My hope now is episode five neatly ties all of these plot points and relationships together in a neat little bow, and doesn’t leave me wishing that some of the action had spilled into Guardian of Gotham, instead.

Score: 3.5/5 – Fair