Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham Knight Arrives This Year

@thethirdrlm: That game came out. It's called Arshad Origins:Blackgate. It's a 2 1/2D sides rolling adventure game. Not bad if you like the other games combat mechanics.

Personally I loved the melee combat in Origins. It was definitely a change, but I appreciated the more deliberate feel of all of the movements, and the tweaked pacing allowed me to use more gadgets in combat than I ever did in the other games.

About it being a buggy, I actually only experienced two problems, but I know others had a terrible time (I played it on PC). There's no excuse for game-breaking bugs, and creators should always be held accountable, but it's a bit unfair to blame the devs outright. The game was clearly rushed out to keep in their overall release schedule, so at least blame WB games for not allocating WB Montreal the time to polish it.

But all that is besides my main point. From the time Origins was announced until it was released and even after, all I seemed to see here was a general groan of indifference. But for this one, people are excited again without really knowing anything about the game. As Alex pointed out, that could just be that folks are now interested in another Arkham game and simply weren't at the time Origins came out. But the sudden shift in sentiment just seemed a bit weird to me.

@warmachine said:

I'm curious, what about this says "prequel" to you? Harley acting without the Joker is a BIG indicator that it takes place after Arkham City. Besides, that game was full of hints that the next game, chronologically, would be about Scarecrow getting revenge against all of Gotham, and lo and behold, this trailer opens up with Scarecrow declaring war on Gotham.

EDIT: I forgot to even say, as someone who thought loved Asylum and City and thought Origins was actually pretty rad, I am stoked for this game. n_n

@joshwent said:

The problem with Origins was it was more of the same but badly executed. While the story was fine WB Montreal screwed up the melee combat and did a piss poor job of QAing the game.

You have to consider that Arkham City was mostly more of the same when compared to Asylum, but it was still great fun. If this game can return to that level all's good in the world for me (and probably most Arkham fans).

Is it my imagination or did they make him skinnier and more Ben Afleck-like?

Anyone else think that the Bruce Wayne in this trailer looks like Ben Affleck? Some promotional synergy with Legendary perhaps? Maybe that's similar to the bat-suit design that Kevin Smith saw a while back

If this Batman will sa good as his previous parth I want play on it.

Green Goblin Batman

I forgot it has been since 2011 since Rocksteady put out their last game. With three years of development and a new set of consoles it's time to colour myself excited.

A ninja

I think they can finally drop the Arkham in the title of these games...I think people know it's a Batman game in the same vein as the previous ones. It's not like someone will see it and think, oh there's no Arkham in the title, it's not the same.

I would have shit myself if they made a Justice League game or something. That said, I'll gladly take more Rocksteady Batman.

It would be really nice if we could move past the whole "Force Arkham into the name" thing.

Also can we not get stupidly hyped over pre-rendered CGI trailers?

I'm down for more of The Dark Knight.

Batman owns.

I know there's a slight anti-CG trailer sentiment nowadays, and to an extent I agree with it, but this got me really pumped up.

Not to be a complete bummer, but could we PLEASE stop having everything be open world and have games with some actual pacing? Pretty please?

Also is it just me or does Two Face's face look exactly like Tommy Lee Jones? Because that's pretty great

It's going to be a car combat game clearly.

So glad they aren't releasing on last gen!! Rocksteady continues to produce the best iteration of Batman ever.

Huge fan of every Arkham release, Origins included. This looks and sounds even better than anything that has come before. Just need some gameplay now...

Side note: I really hope Red Hood (Jason Todd) is in this, and hopefully a playable challenge map character.

Well, I mean it is a will. So he's already considering his own death when writing it.

@hashbrowns: I guess, but it still sounds like it was written like he knew he would be gunned down in a random alley shooting with no warning

The Dope Knight

Pretty CG, I'll wait for actual footage though.

Thomas Wayne would probably have amended the Will later on. That's not too unheard of, particularly considering he would have plenty of time and resources to do so. Bring in one of the hundred lawyers he has on retainer and punch the will up every few years, easy.

Are you implying that Batman is the new Link? That each story is not just a continuation of the last, but each one is totally different and exists in parallel universes? And if it was, the title wouldn't be Arkham Knight(s), it would, of course, be Batman, Batman, Batman; As Ryan intended.

My other question would also be since this is targeted for current gen and not split-gen, are they using Unreal 4 and not UE3? Pretty excited for some gameplay footage which will probably come out in E3.

Rocksteady didn't make Origins, they made that tight well designed one.

@shortbreadtom In some comics it's alluded to that Thomas Wayne had connections to the mafia, and threats from the other business forces in Gotham that saw him as an obstacle, so him worrying about being killed isn't unwarranted. Also, you can change your will at any time, so it's conceivable that Thomas wrote that sentimental bit intentionally when Bruce was young with all hopes of later changing it if he survived to truly see his son grow up.

But of course, you're right, and it's probably just a dumb oversight by the writers.

Darkham Knight.

I could be on board with next gen Batman. Skipped Origins but this could work well, especially going back to Rocksteady. It will continue to be weird having these annualized series cranking out games, such that quality can fluctuate wildly between them. Assassin's Creed, Call of Duty, now Arkham.

Though beyond the novelty of next gen, it's going to be hard to be happy about Rocksteady continuing with Arkham after this, not to look too far ahead.

He juiced those two-face grunts.

I agree with this sentiment.

@oni said:

Ah.. I see what you did there. Clever. =)

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck, that looked pretty.

The fact that Thomas Wayne's will doesn't make sense unless he knew he was going to die while Bruce was young bothers me way more than it should. What run of the mill will and testimony says shit like "my only regret is I won't see you become a great man"? Doesn't make any sense!

I genuinely loved Arkham Origins, almost as much as City or Asylum. The story I thought was the best of out the three games by a mile, and I personally didn't encounter any bugs.

@taxes: we're both old.

@draxyle said:

Likely it's more challenge maps which let you play as Harley. Maybe they'll have some story side to it like with Catwoman in City.

Cautiously optimistic about this and if Rocksteady's back i guess we can assume this game will have some more polish to it.

I am effin down for some next generation Batman. I played through both of the original Rocksteady Batmenses last fall. I don't usually replay games anymore, but those two kept me entertained for another run.

I have completely enjoyed every arkham game up to this point(yes, I loved origins) and I'm super excited for this one.

@atary77: I think that they consider Arkham to be the brand at this point.

I really hoped we'd get that rumored silver-age take on Batman, not just Rocksteady making their own prequel.

I think it's cool that they're going full next/current gen on this game. That's a very cool Batman video, but I'm so tired of non-gameplay trailers. Origins had a lot of good things going for it, it's a shame it was such a broken mess at launch.

I thought for a second that was the 60's tv Batmobile that had a mans head inserted through glass into it.

I'll be honest, I'm more than a little disappointed Rocksteady is still making Batman games. I was really hoping they'd do something new in the DC Universe, especially with other developers having already taken up the Arkham series.

Videogames, huh. What a way to deflate what is otherwise a fantastic teaser trailer.

What does, "Play as Harley Quinn" even mean without any shred of context.

I'm ready for more Batman. I will buy it but honestly, the same "oh my parents died" Batman fighting the same villains plus using the Batmobile doesn't excite me all that much. Going to need more to get me to preorder.