Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Knight Arrives This Year

hell yeah can't wait!

@mc_hify: Yeah I know right? If I lived in that city I sure as heck would be out on the streets every night. What is the worst that could happen?

I am so pumped for this! I love all things Batman both good and bad. I have yet to play Origins, I'll probably pick that up in the lull of summer. I hope Azreal and Hush come back since they hinted at them in the end of AC. Rumors are that Scarecrow is back as well! I loved all the Riddler challenges and hope he would become more of a main arc but oh well. Ra's could come back too if you know what I mean *wink wink*. The idea of having Red Hood makes me giddy but I dont think it will come true. Without Bane, Joker, Freeze, and some of the other well known names, this is a great time to get creative for Rocksteady. I am on board!!!

I like how they've made the characters a little less chunky this time, more in line with the Nolah movies. The voice over in this trailer is a bit painful though, hope it's good!

This trailer is like a Civ 5 opening.

another empty city?

Wait, so is this a reboot or re-telling or something? Is thiseven in the Arkham canon of the other games?

I'm excited!

edit-purty bad lady.

@charlee_coco: I think they could definitely make it work if they made it more like Catwoman's outfit in Arkham City - which I thought looked pretty good despite the plunging neckline.

This is a quick and dirty sort of mockup I think it looks alright

Wheeezers.

Wheezers. Got to be Hush I would guess.

Origins was actually a good game in the series and I liked it better than Arkham City, story wise. Bane in Origins was actually a better characterization than the one in Dark Knight Rises. And Joker's characterization was the strongest in Origins as well as Batman's. People were too quick to disregard Origins before really playing it.

With that said, I'm always ready for another Batman game using the current engine or an improvement of it.

Here is why this game will be amazing: It's made by Rocksteady.
Here is why Origins was shit: It wasn't made by Rocksteady.

Best series of action adventure games made to date with still the single greatest melee combat ever. Nothing absolutely nothing compares as far as I'm concerned. And if this one is even more open world with vehicle gameplay fucking yeah it's going to be that much more amazing.

I wish I skipped Origins, Christ that game was boring.

Also, I know brand recognition is important and all but does this really have to be called 'Arkham' anything?

It's the car isn't it? Chicks dig the car.

@humanity:

Putting a Harley coat of paint on that design or something similar doesn’t work.

In the comics everybody basically wears the same thing, ie spandex. Everybody’s “super suit” is basically composed the same way. The problem with these (spandex) designs however is that when you put them in a more detailed environment they look weird and/or out of place, which is (part of the reason) why they’re constantly redesigned for movies, show, video games, etc.

The thing with HQ’s traditional design is that even when you “detail it up” it still doesn’t look good/right. It’s why games like Arkham and Injustice never use the design. There’s concept art for both Arkham and Injustice with a more detailed version of her jester outfit and it just doesn’t work, especially when contrasted against the rest of the game’s art/designs.

I will say this though. I don’t think Arkham or Injustice have gotten HQ right yet in terms of a redesign. There are some good ideas, and maybe some mixing and matching would do some good but the problem is that she’s just a difficult character to redesign.

The entire speak by his father makes no sense, his father was gunned down in a street, when did he had time to write up this thought provoking will??

Well, that looks nice.

@charlee_coco: I think a leather outfit would work just fine. She's a gymnast of sorts and in videogames stretchy materials don't look nearly as out of place as they do in movies.

Rocksteady needs to make a Batman movie.

@humanity: Harley is an ex-shrink. She was never a gymnast. You also have to keep in mind that the Arkham series is set in it's own universe. It is similar to it's mainstream counterpart in a number of ways but also very different. For instance they originally never planned to include Robin in the series at all. That was going to be one of the things that helped set it apart. That's why the character isn't mentioned in any capacity (dialogue, character bios, etc) in the first game when nearly every other Batman related character is. My point being that HQ doesn't need to look like the traditional Harley, because she isn't the traditional Harley.

Saying that the classic Harley wouldn't look out of place is like saying the Animated Series costumes, or Adam West Batman costume, etc, don't look out of place in the Arkham games when infact it's a very stark contrast when placed against the dirty world and characters that make up the series.

Also take note of the fact that almost nobody wears an actual costume in any of the games. Nobody is rocking their traditional spandex outfits. The majority of the villians are all wearing something that was either hobbled together, body armor, or a very specific type of outfit (nurse uniform, etc) instead of a proper costume. Even Batman himself falls into this. If you removed the horns and cape he'd look like some future solider with all that body armor he's got on. Not to mention everything in the Arkham-verse looks really dirty and grungy. Nearly has either got stains, frayed edges, tears, or scrapes on their clothing/armor.

Rocksteady seemed to go out of their way to design a world in which traditional elements (or looks) of comic books would seem out of place.

Is it just me or do the characters look kind of young? At least Batman looks way younger compared to the other Arkham games, Twoface also looks really young.

But the new Batmobile design doesn't sit well with me, looks way too high for it's short size, making it look way too bulky.

This trailer is a marvel of technical and artistic skill, but it's a little "uncanny valley" for me. The photo-realism is some of the best I've seen, but when it comes to the midshots on humans like Bruce and Harley, something just looks... weird.

Project Gotham City Racing

What is Ratman?

Nice CG trailer but that's all it is, need to see how the actual game looks. Batman Arkham Origins was an ok game but was buggy, I'm guessing the bat mobile is going to be a main feature as it was shown a fair amount unless that was just for trailer purposes.

one to keep an eye on but wont get to excited until more of the actual game is known

Origins was tedious and glitchy and unrefined. It added almost nothing new of interest gameplay or design wise and the story while having some high points lacked the "wow" moments of the previous games. This is what Rocksteady brings to this franchise; a unique sense of going the extra mile and doing more than most studios would do which is why this game deserves hype because of that high expectation. Its what separates the average game devs from the greatest of the great and Rocksteady is easily among the top 10.