I admit, I grew up not caring much about collectibles in video games. What I looked for was a well-told story and maybe even addicting gameplay to top it all off. Racing to reach that 100% mark wasn’t really on my list of priorities. Doing so simply felt like a chore, and for what? A trophy/achievement icon that stands as a testament to the hours you’ve spent in pursuit of multiple collectibles and challenges? Yes, a lot of people enjoy catching a glimpse of that elusive three digits and I understand the satisfaction they get from doing such a task. Collectibles just weren’t my cup of tea.

Batman: Arkham Asylum changed that.

This game received praise from every nook and cranny of the internet, and justifiably so—it had superb combat, terrific pacing, eye-popping graphics, and intriguing story. I’ve recently gotten a chance to replay this game thanks to Playstation Plus’ giveaway a few months back, and let me tell you, it is still a fantastic game that has barely aged; impressive considering it’s been out for close to six years now.

A feature I don’t hear a lot about, however, is Arkham Asylum’s addicting collectible system. Aside from the chaos Joker is causing at the Asylum, notorious Gotham baddie The Riddler has left a whole bunch of, well, riddles for Batman to solve and trophies to collect. This makes so much sense from a narrative point of view, a matter that most developers ignore when designing their game’s 100% completion scheme. Devs have to establish a concrete reason for players to deviate from the pace of the game to pick up some collectibles or perform side jobs, and not just throw some out there for the sake of expanding game content.

Being the so-called World’s Greatest Detective, Batman receives all these riddles which are vague descriptions of where and what he has to find in the nearby area. These aren’t simply objects to collect or challenges to complete per se (although that’s what the Riddler trophies are for), the player has to actually digest these riddles and scan the area for objects that match the descriptions given by The Riddler.

Here’s the best part: Each solved riddle is rewarded with a brief biography of characters from the comics. I am not a huge Batman fan but I sure do know a lot of Gotham’s most vile criminals now thanks to this. Reward the players not just with a sentence and flashy animations, but also with substantial objects and information. In Alan Wake, for example, the collectibles to be sought after are ripped pages from Alan’s unfinished novel which furthers the player’s knowledge of the events in-game.

We are, sadly, at an age when publishers relentlessly insist on the idea of quantity over quality. More content means happier gamers, they seem to think. That’s never the case in any form of art. Every aspect of a game must have substance, even the collectibles.

The riddler trophies in the rest of the games are pretty awful and extremely overabundant. I have about 15 in Arkham Knight and I have almost zero intention of going for more. They ruined a good thing, going for them in Asylum was a blast and actually rewarding.

I have 100% in Akham Asylum and Akham City... I enjoyed both, but the first game had pretty much the perfect balance in the collectibles. I'm unsure if I'm going to go through all of that with Arkham Knight.

@baillie: I think what made the Riddler Trophies work in Asyllum had something to do with the claustrophobic levels of the game. There was more of an effort to hide them rather than just scatter them throughout the map.

@zaccheus: Haven't played Arkham Knight yet but finding all those trophies in such a big space sounds daunting!

I've always really liked the Riddler trophies in all the Arkham games and I don't really get people's dislike of them. Yeah, there's a lot of them, but they have always been optional and compared to other collectables in games they are done really well.

You've got ways to show them on the map, you can clearly see your progress for each area, and there's lots of variety in the things you have to do to unlock them. I always spend 2 or 3 hours after I've beaten the main game collecting all the Riddler trophies and I like doing it.

I felt like Asylum did it best. I 100% that game multiple times. I felt like they said, "We have a bigger map, so I guess randomly salt shaker collectibles everywhere" for the other games. In Asylum they all felt intentional and well placed, and got you exploring alternate routes around the map. In City, I could not have cared less to get trophies, and I barely did any of the riddles either...