Batman Video Games

[godisawesome]

With Telltale being resurrected and of course the ubiquitous “Is WB Games working on an Arkham sequel or reboot?” rumors, I figured having one thread to discuss those possibilities, rumors, and the old games themselves would be useful.

Sooo...

What’s your favorite Arkham Game?

[Frontier]

City/Origins.

I am just ready for WB Montreal to announce this game already, be it a prequel, reboot, or whatever. E3's not going to happen this year so they don't have that excuse holding them back from announcing anything.

I think the new Telltale will have to find it's footing and release the new A Wolf Among Us before we get Batman season 3.

[godisawesome]

City/Origins.

I am just ready for WB Montreal to announce this game already, be it a prequel, reboot, or whatever. E3's not going to happen this year so they don't have that excuse holding them back from announcing anything.

I think the new Telltale will have to find it's footing and release the new A Wolf Among Us before we get Batman season 3.

I find City the better game... But I play Origins more because the story is awesome.

Seriously:

- Having Batman first learn about the Joker through a crime scene investigation? Brilliant!
- Batman actually growing to become the legend he is across the night, even having a moment of personal crisis when Alfred almost dies? Brilliant!
- Making Joker go through a plot arc that is basically about him developing his obsession with Batman apart from any revenge for becoming what he is and from the criminal business side (even to the point of seeming to get over a death wish as long as Batman’s alive)? Brilliant!
- The Firefly level? Awesome!
- EVERYTHING Bane? Awesome!
- Even the side missions feel better to me in Origins; especially the crime cases.

Really the only complaint I have is that Origins copies City in giving Enigma/Riddles too many damn trophies/Data packs to collect, but didn’t even have a good confrontation at the end, and that only Batman gets played in the open map.

*If* WB Games is developing a new Batman game... I wouldn’t be surprised or annoyed at a repeat using Arkham assets for a new purpose. As time went on, some of Rocksteady’s story decisions honestly became the only real liabilities to future stuff, and it actually makes sense to decide that Knight really should be the conclusion to that story.

I just hope that the writing team is all about making clever villains, and about exploiting the full Batman family if they can. Seriously, I’ve often thought you could make a game like this:

Baseline Batman family members (most balanced between Predator mode and combat mode)

Batman
Nightwing
Batgirl (Babs, with Oracle aspects as well)
Huntress (Bertinelli, though she’d be a distance focused fighter in both cases)

Predator specialists (still combat capable but more finicky in that role)
Red Robin (Tim Drake)
Spoiler


Combat specialists (still predator capable, but finicky there)
Red Hood
Orphan/Black Bat (Cassandra Cain)

The Crazy Ones (unique gameplay styles that are almost exclusively good at just one thing)
Robin (Damian Wayne, as a Predator masterclass player able to go anywhere and perform any ambush, but who can barely take any hits at all in combat)
Azrael (Valley/Lane, as a combat masterclass with immense strength and durability, but horribly awkward at sneaking around)

...Or some other thing like that where you could really tailor your strategies to whatever you want to do, and where you could maybe even make teams for dual combat section spike in Knight with unique dialogue (Dick flirting with Babs or Helena, Stephanie teasing Tim or babysitting Damian, Azrael and Cassandra having a bash brothers style chemistry, etc.)

The idea that they’ve been teasing some kind of “different villainous factions vs the Bat-family” game is really intriguing.

[Frontier]

I find City the better game... But I play Origins more because the story is awesome.

Seriously:

- Having Batman first learn about the Joker through a crime scene investigation? Brilliant!
- Batman actually growing to become the legend he is across the night, even having a moment of personal crisis when Alfred almost dies? Brilliant!
- Making Joker go through a plot arc that is basically about him developing his obsession with Batman apart from any revenge for becoming what he is and from the criminal business side (even to the point of seeming to get over a death wish as long as Batman’s alive)? Brilliant!
- The Firefly level? Awesome!
- EVERYTHING Bane? Awesome!
- Even the side missions feel better to me in Origins; especially the crime cases.

Really the only complaint I have is that Origins copies City in giving Enigma/Riddles too many damn trophies/Data packs to collect, but didn’t even have a good confrontation at the end, and that only Batman gets played in the open map.

*If* WB Games is developing a new Batman game... I wouldn’t be surprised or annoyed at a repeat using Arkham assets for a new purpose. As time went on, some of Rocksteady’s story decisions honestly became the only real liabilities to future stuff, and it actually makes sense to decide that Knight really should be the conclusion to that story.

I just hope that the writing team is all about making clever villains, and about exploiting the full Batman family if they can. Seriously, I’ve often thought you could make a game like this:

Baseline Batman family members (most balanced between Predator mode and combat mode)

Batman
Nightwing
Batgirl (Babs, with Oracle aspects as well)
Huntress (Bertinelli, though she’d be a distance focused fighter in both cases)

Predator specialists (still combat capable but more finicky in that role)
Red Robin (Tim Drake)
Spoiler


Combat specialists (still predator capable, but finicky there)
Red Hood
Orphan/Black Bat (Cassandra Cain)

The Crazy Ones (unique gameplay styles that are almost exclusively good at just one thing)
Robin (Damian Wayne, as a Predator masterclass player able to go anywhere and perform any ambush, but who can barely take any hits at all in combat)
Azrael (Valley/Lane, as a combat masterclass with immense strength and durability, but horribly awkward at sneaking around)

...Or some other thing like that where you could really tailor your strategies to whatever you want to do, and where you could maybe even make teams for dual combat section spike in Knight with unique dialogue (Dick flirting with Babs or Helena, Stephanie teasing Tim or babysitting Damian, Azrael and Cassandra having a bash brothers style chemistry, etc.)

The idea that they’ve been teasing some kind of “different villainous factions vs the Bat-family” game is really intriguing.

If we go by the last teased logo:



I've seen speculation that the core four holes are the Batfamily with the outer-holes being the villainous factions. So there might be four playable Batfamily members (Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Robin?), although there a few holes in-between there so it's anyone's guess what those could mean.

[godisawesome]

If we go by the last teased logo:



I've seen speculation that the core four holes are the Batfamily with the outer-holes being the villainous factions. So there might be four playable Batfamily members (Batman, Nightwing, Batgirl, and Robin?), although there a few holes in-between there so it's anyone's guess what those could mean.

I saw that too, and I want to speculate on who the different villain factions may be:

Shown Symbols
Checkmate/Task Force X (Government Symbol with crossed swords and crown for chess motif) - Boss Battles with classic Suicide Squad members?

Demon/League of Assassins/League of Shadows (Creepy Demon Face) - Ninjas, Ra’s, Shiva, etc.

Pure Speculation for Other Slots
Court of Owls (Owl Symbol?) - This faction feels like it will inevitably appear at some point in a Batman game, and exceptionally durable and acrobatic henchmen and villains would be a unique gameplay challenge. Maybe Nightwing and Batman focused villains?

Leviathan (Skull?) - I’d just love to have Talia leading her own faction in opposition to Ra’s, and having the Heretic as a boss would be cool, particularly if Damian is a major hero.

Joker Gang (Clowns?) - I don’t feel if I need to explain this...

Bane Army (Bane Symbol?) - I love the Venom-fueled Mooks from Origins, and Bane having a faction always seems fitting.

Arkham Escapees (“A” Symbol?) - Again, just a classic setup of Arkham villains.

Falcone Mob (Rose?) - Classic mobsters, and one of two faction ideas I have for good villains to be victimized by Catwoman.

False Face Society (Black Mask?) - The other classic monster group that Catwoman could rob from.

[Frontier]

I saw that too, and I want to speculate on who the different villain factions may be:

Shown Symbols
Checkmate/Task Force X (Government Symbol with crossed swords and crown for chess motif) - Boss Battles with classic Suicide Squad members?

Demon/League of Assassins/League of Shadows (Creepy Demon Face) - Ninjas, Ra’s, Shiva, etc.

Pure Speculation for Other Slots
Court of Owls (Owl Symbol?) - This faction feels like it will inevitably appear at some point in a Batman game, and exceptionally durable and acrobatic henchmen and villains would be a unique gameplay challenge. Maybe Nightwing and Batman focused villains?

Leviathan (Skull?) - I’d just love to have Talia leading her own faction in opposition to Ra’s, and having the Heretic as a boss would be cool, particularly if Damian is a major hero.

Joker Gang (Clowns?) - I don’t feel if I need to explain this...

Bane Army (Bane Symbol?) - I love the Venom-fueled Mooks from Origins, and Bane having a faction always seems fitting.

Arkham Escapees (“A” Symbol?) - Again, just a classic setup of Arkham villains.

Falcone Mob (Rose?) - Classic mobsters, and one of two faction ideas I have for good villains to be victimized by Catwoman.

False Face Society (Black Mask?) - The other classic monster group that Catwoman could rob from.

The Court of Owls being involved is all but a certainty at this point. It's even a rumored new title for the game.

[godisawesome]

The Court of Owls being involved is all but a certainty at this point. It's even a rumored new title for the game.

And that other badge is clearly government oriented in some fashion. I *could* see it being some special police task force, but the crown is so old world and unlikely to be an American symbol without a meaning, that I shoot to Checkmate because they have a motif that would fit a crown, and an MO that could easily fit capturing Batman just as easily as the cops.

[Mutant God]

What’s your favorite Arkham Game?

Knight because its the first one I played and after playing Asylum and City I still got more enjoyment out of Knight

I saw that too, and I want to speculate on who the different villain factions may be:

Shown Symbols
Checkmate/Task Force X (Government Symbol with crossed swords and crown for chess motif) - Boss Battles with classic Suicide Squad members?

Demon/League of Assassins/League of Shadows (Creepy Demon Face) - Ninjas, Ra’s, Shiva, etc.

Pure Speculation for Other Slots
Owl Symbol - Court of Owls

A Gate Symbol - Blackgate Penitentiary Gang (A mix of the crime families, street gangs: Penguin, Two-Face, Black Mask, and Ventriloquist, and regular criminals)

A Circus Tent/Skull with jester hat - Circus Syndicate (A mix of Joker, Professor Pyg, Dollmaker, and Mad Hatter)

Superman logo - just kidding

5 cards - Royal Flush Gang

Four Inner slots:
Bat symbol - Batman, Robin, Batgirl, employees of Bruce Wayne etc.

Bird symbol - Birds of Prey

Cat symbol - Catwoman

Police badge - GCPD

[Chubistian]

With Telltale being resurrected and of course the ubiquitous “Is WB Games working on an Arkham sequel or reboot?” rumors, I figured having one thread to discuss those possibilities, rumors, and the old games themselves would be useful.

Sooo...

What’s your favorite Arkham Game?

Arkham City! I think it's the game that most improved every aspect of its prequel and, while Asylum was the one that started the franchise, the few aspects I disliked in that game were "corrected" in its sequel. There were still things that I had a few nitpicks with, but no game in the franchise was without its "buts". And City is the one I have more fun with, but I like them all, even Origins despite its flaws. I didn't play Blackgate

[godisawesome]

Arkham City! I think it's the game that most improved every aspect of its prequel and, while Asylum was the one that started the franchise, the few aspects I disliked in that game were "corrected" in its sequel. There were still things that I had a few nitpicks with, but no game in the franchise was without its "buts". And City is the one I have more fun with, but I like them all, even Origins despite its flaws. I didn't play Blackgate

I just bought Asylum so I could play it again, and the evolution between AA and AC’s controls became suddenly and annoyingly apparent t when I kept on having my combos break. City clearly had them spend quite a bit of time fine tuning the controls more and more, and the story is a definite improvement over AA, which isn’t bad, just kind of par for what a decent video game story was at the time, while city has a sense of scale, epic quality, and a greater degree of stakes.

I still kind fo prefer Origins over City, but that’s strictly because I know I’m a bad gamer who likes story more than gameplay, so having most of City’s assets reused, the gameplay arguably made easier (the shock gloves really are overpowered, if you care about balance), and a story that’s just a bit more organic and dynamic hits my weak point. I’d probably recommend City first, but still prefer Origins for my own holiday play through.

The TellTale games were fantastic, story structure wise, but I actually prefer Season One to Season Two. Season One felt more focused while still having a scale I loved, while Season Two kind of felt a bit overstuffed, particularly with the villain roster showcasing how too many villains on a single team can sacrifice the effectiveness of some of them - Mr. Freeze was just sort of there, and Bane and Riddler, while good, both wound up feeling a bit wasted while we got yet another Joker story (though a good one). Season One was brilliant to have Two-Face be in opposition to Lady Arkham and Penguin, and kept enough space between Penguin and Arkham to make Oz an ally to her rather than a flunky.

[Mace Dolex]

Arkham City was my first and Im currently on Knight but truth is I like them all but I'm not forking over to buy the next gen console, seriously I have a PS3 and PS4 and money doesn't grow on trees.

[Frontier]

The TellTale games were fantastic, story structure wise, but I actually prefer Season One to Season Two. Season One felt more focused while still having a scale I loved, while Season Two kind of felt a bit overstuffed, particularly with the villain roster showcasing how too many villains on a single team can sacrifice the effectiveness of some of them - Mr. Freeze was just sort of there, and Bane and Riddler, while good, both wound up feeling a bit wasted while we got yet another Joker story (though a good one). Season One was brilliant to have Two-Face be in opposition to Lady Arkham and Penguin, and kept enough space between Penguin and Arkham to make Oz an ally to her rather than a flunky.

It's classic villain escalation. With the likelihood they won't be able to make a lot of these consistently, I can't blame them for wanting to get through as many major villains as they can even if they can't give all of them the kind of screentime and dynamic role they could have with a more condensed cast.

It's why I'm expecting season 3, if it happens, will probably have the major villains they haven't done yet (Ivy, Scarecrow, the Al Ghul's).

[Restingvoice]

I want to be able to explore Batcave and Wayne Manor freely as the base of operation, receive missions then go to Gotham for some open-world adventure. That's the number one thing I want from a Batman game. After that, selecting which family member I want to play, but first I want to freely explore Batcave-Manor for a true Batman simulation. They already have GCPD as the base of operation in Arkham Knight, do that but with Batcave-Manor.

[Frontier]

I want to be able to explore Batcave and Wayne Manor freely as the base of operation, receive missions then go to Gotham for some open-world adventure. That's the number one thing I want from a Batman game. After that, selecting which family member I want to play, but first I want to freely explore Batcave-Manor for a true Batman simulation. They already have GCPD as the base of operation in Arkham Knight, do that but with Batcave-Manor.

The closest we've gotten to either is in Origins where we're in the Batcave as a hub and the Manor briefly in DLC (although it has also been used as a Challenge Map).

[godisawesome]

I want to be able to explore Batcave and Wayne Manor freely as the base of operation, receive missions then go to Gotham for some open-world adventure. That's the number one thing I want from a Batman game. After that, selecting which family member I want to play, but first I want to freely explore Batcave-Manor for a true Batman simulation. They already have GCPD as the base of operation in Arkham Knight, do that but with Batcave-Manor.

The closest we've gotten to either is in Origins where we're in the Batcave as a hub and the Manor briefly in DLC (although it has also been used as a Challenge Map).

You could upgrade the Batcave into the ultimate hub, Easter Egg, challenge, DLC and interaction area if you invested enough resources into it - especially if you have an expanded playable roster and something even more akin to a free-roam play style, which would be a natural choice if that “family vs factions” tease is being interpreted correctly. If, say, each enemy faction is their own storyline that only occasionally interacts with each other and you can insert whatever character you want into it.

Like this:
- Batcave has all the hero characters inside when you visit, and you can basically switch out who goes where with a conversation/make a two person team if you’re switching between them like in Knight, and just have fun conversations (Bonus: Maybe Catwoman breaks in, and that’s a running gag.)
- Origins already had the challenge area there, but maybe it can be extended into character vs character challenges.
- Current missions displayed on the Batcomputer.
- Cold Case area - access extra side missions by digging through cold case files and evidence; solve some kind of detective puzzle first, then access the mission.
- Trophy Room - not just Easter eggs, but also other side missions like flashbacks or DLC.
- Armory Room - expand on the gadget table and costume switch-out from Origins, for all characters. Like, an entire room with different costumes on display for everyone.

Wayne Manor would have to be incorporated through more character interaction stuff.