3D models moving on a 2D plane?

Blackgate could be interesting. It's been the year of 3DS games for me, so far.

A Superman game makes sense. He's never been done well, and is an incredible challenge for Rocksteady. He should be the ultimate game character, a brawler who is also a fighter jet.

I would love an open world RPG style format, where you could begin with a low powered Superman, similar to his earlier appearances (leap tall buildings, but not fly) and level the characters power set to suit the player's style.

It'll be fine, probably getting both. Blackgate mainly so I have something for Vita.

New developer is worrying, but I'm still excited. The Arkham games are among my all-time favorites.

I have no real interest in the Batman games but I am curious to see what a studio like Armature can do.

Also, per a recent Fatman on Batman(Kevin Smith's excellent Batman podcast), Paul Dini isn't writing for this one either. So... Hmm.

While the main game doesnt exactly interest me that much the idea of all the metroidvania style elements of Arkham Asylum being 'brought home' into a 2.5d Shadow Complex style game for 3DS is much more exciting.

Given the staff are from Retro, this might be Metroid Dread by the back door!

I'll withhold judgement until we actually see the game, after all, no one said Arkham City could be as good as it was, but my initial reaction is to be disappointed that it really is a prequel and that the rumours were true. I am glad, though, I gotta say, that this isn't the zany/campy take on the Golden/Silver age Batman that a lot of people thought it might be. Dark and brooding may be kind of overdone, but I'll take it any day of the week over "ironic".

I also understand, incidentally, that the reason Rocksteady isn't doing this one isn't that they're working on something else, it's just that they don't want anything to do with the corporate-mandated prequel, and would rather wait until they're allowed to make the Scarecrow-focused sequel to Arkham City they peppered that game with hints and clues about.

No Rocksteady? -shrug- Still interested.

Got a baaaad feelin' about this...

@tinygrasshopper: yes

All the right people are involved in these games, so hey, as much as it sounds like we're getting a B-side track here, that doesn't mean it can't be enjoyable. Looking forward for some actual footage of these games.

I'll say this, though: a Batman game capturing the spirit of both the NES and SNES Batman games AND of Metroid could be a winner without needing a stellar heritage. As much as Prototype and Hulk are some of my favourite superhero games ever, that's the one I'm more intrigued about.

Superman game...? i'll pass, give a game where i can punch sharks or just give an Aquaman game.

I'm just interested that is actually set in the streets of Gotham on Christmas Eve, giving me vibes of Batman Returns which I thought was a superior movie to Batman.

@patrickklepek actually in an interview from GameInformer, Rocksteady said they are working on a Silver/GoldAge Justice League Game, targeted for PS4 and "Durango" and possibly "WiiU" ... and apparently they are trying to get Burt Ward and Adam West, be the voices of Batman and Robin. So as far as the Arkham games, RockSteady said they are done for now, but might come back, depending on how the Armature Studio games turn out. Peace Duder - DC3 BombSquad4Life WolfPac

What happened to that Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles game that Rocksteady was rumored to be working on? I still feel like that would be a perfect fit for the combat system in the Batman games...

Is not the case that Rocksteady and WB Games are rotating on development duties, ala Infinity Ward/Treyarch? If that's the case then perhaps Rocksteady have already started development on a next gen Batman game. Although we could do with a decent Superman game for once.

I was under the impression Rocksteady were working on a silver-age era batman game, at least heavily rumored to be

Not to be a "um ACTUALLY" Internet douchebag, but the Game Informer reveal says it's set during Christmas Eve and not New Years Eve, which IMO way cooler (see: Die Hard, Gremlins).

Yesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyesyes!

I don't know that I really want to play another Arkham game, the shine had worn off by the end of City. However, tell me that you have another Arkham game dressed up in vintage trappings and voiced by my favorite versions of those characters and I will snap your fucking arm off to get at that game.

Well played, Rocksteady, well played.

Hopefully this will turn out the be the AC Brotherhood of the Arkham franchise.

What about a PS4 version?

Going by the reaction here, I would hate to be on the team making this game. Literally nothing more than a title, a brief description, and a handful of screens are released, and everyone is already shitting all over it. Jesus christ, could video game fans be any more pessimistic? Its totally fine to be uninterested or burnt out of the franchise, but how about waiting until you know more about it, are able to see gameplay, or, god forbid, actually play it before chastising it and calling it a cash in.

this

Rocksteady weren't exactly a beloved team when they were making Arkham Asylum, and even then, Batman games were spotty at best.

Being so immediately dismissive for no good reason is fucking retarded...

You forgot "UNLEASHED". Cause, you know, video games always throw that word in there eventually.

And don't forget the sequel that is set in the future:

Batman Begins Returns Origins: Rises Unleashed BEYOND.

Shitting all over games after they're released is so last-gen. Now we do it immediately despite knowing next to nothing about them! GAMERS ON THREE!

You know they still put Arkham City on sale at some ridiculous price on Steam once every couple months. You should totally snag it. :P

does arkham really have to be in the title? why not just batman origins.

Man, I just totally bought that game from the psychic shop in your head. Installing it now. Very excited.

@mindchamber said:

Because the 'Batman: Arkham ______" series is already popular so theyre going to ride the marketing on that. Plus, without knowing any real details about it, you can assume that it will have similar gameplay and art design, etc to the other Arkham games.

I thought the same thing until I saw this:

Heading up the vision for Arkham Origins is creative director Eric Holmes, known for being the lead designer of open world action hits The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction and Prototype.

It already is, just in 3D. Seriously, how else would you describe the Arkham games?

'don't judge a book by it's cover' is certainly apt, but in this case, it should be modified to read, 'don't judge the latest book in this series by it's cover. by the way the author's moved on and left it to someone else.' there's always a good chance that this game will be great, but i'm not much one for unbridled optimism when it comes to someone trying to sell me a $60 sequel. but that probably reveals more about me as a world-weary individual than anything else.

The director of this game worked on The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction and Prototype, both of which were super fun, so I don't mind the developer switch. Let Rocksteady work on the next big thing, which I really hope is a Superman game, too.

My only worry is that Paul Dini isn't writing it.

@mindchamber said:

It's the Batman Arkham series, so kinda yeah.

I think he's never been done well because he isn't really a very interesting character gaming wise (and all-other-wise in my opinion).

He is massively overpowered (can fly at supersonic speeds, catch bullets, even reverse time as in Superman 1, hold up buildings and bend steel, has eye lazers and x-ray vision) and this makes any encounters with anything other than huge simillarly over-powered beings pointless. You couldn't have the kind of encounters seen in Batman where he takes on teams of enemies in hand-to-hand because Superman could just crush knuckleheads like this in seconds.

Of course you could nerf his powers as you suggest but at this point he is not really Superman anymore and you may as well tell another story with a different character as the world of Superman is pretty straightlaced compared to most other comic book heroes.

I would be interested to be proved wrong, and I will admit I don't know that much about Superman outside of the movies which I loved as a kid (first film I ever saw in the cinema was Superman 2) but I can't see how they can do it and stay true to the character.

Hey, guys. I really like comics. I don't know if you knew. This made my day. And a Metroidvania Batman? Sweet.

@williamhenry: It reminds me of the reactions we got from Bioshock 2, which wasn't great but it was, by all accounts, decent; or Portal 2, which was incredible; or even Arkham City... In some way, I expect something similar in the case of this game: It might not be a masterpiece, but I expect it to be, at least, decent.

Looking forward to some gameplay. After what happened with Arkham City, its weird to have the next game announced so close to the release date.

I was thinking about replaying on of the others soon, so I guess I'll just wait for this instead

An open world Gotham City sounds like fun even if this is a prequel, I hope the Wii U version will also have some care taken this time.

Finally we know the answer to that question the goons were asking in Arkham City: "What's next, Arkham county? Arkham world?" Guess they really are gonna milk the name "Arkham" dry. Plenty of younger fanboys are gonna be surprised to learn it was borrowed from Lovecraft.

That said, I understand why WB would hang on to a respected IP like that.

Not to mention that when they announced Arkham City 5 months after the release of Asylum, many people complained about it being a cash in, as well...

We'll see. Won't have to wait long.

give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Franchise that fish and the man will start to eat chicken

I really can't see this being anything but "ok" and "ok" isn't good enough for a batman game anymore.

More Batman? Hell year!

Eh, this will most likely be one of those games I will pick up as a time-filler at some later point in time. I had two fantastic journey's with Batman, and this just feels like they are pushing the money out before next-gen pops. That is only personified by the fact that another studio is creating it.

Hopefully it's good, though.

@ghostiet: except its not just arkham but all of gotham. seems weird

Cautiously optimistic. I just hope they can expand on existing mechanics in better and more meaningful ways than what they did with that mostly pointless AC WiiU port (which is the only other thing they've worked on besides some F2P Scooby-Doo licensed thing).

To be honest, the 2.5D game from Armature sounds way more intriguing and I don't even own a 3DS or Vita.

Isn't Rocksteady supposed to be working on a Silver Age Batman game?