Batman Arkham City Presents the Short of It in 2023

Rule laying: Sixty-buck ceiling and thousand words bottom-line

Bethesda open world epic, Mortal Kombat reboot, Assassin’s Creed going back to its “root”, MGS re-release, and of course, Call of Duty Modern Warfare Three. Alas, 2023! While here in miHoYo’s country of origin, we consider you and 2011 both Years of Rabbit, do you really have to be this uncanny on the front of video game? Oh well, had you laid off on layoff front, you just might have pulled that trick, you lousy year! While I had touched all the 2011 outings fitting the description above (Seen credits roll in all but Mortal Kombat Nine. I don’t trust anyone who says that story mode has a good story.), their 2023 counterparts are not on this list.

Batman Arkham City is another 2011 game I think a lot about. On the downside, I wonder if I could have become a more productive (Actually, just better paid.) member of society had I not started the vice of gaming until four in the morning since playing that game on its launch day. On the upside, I looked at all 5 listed here and they all remind me of Arkham City in one way or another. And no, yet another Spider-man Two is not here either for A I am so tired of comic book adaption nowadays and B the incentive to purchase a PS5 still evades me.

Or maybe it’s the price. 2023 is a time when I decided to take a break from “rooting for the little guys”. Since like in the case of Dave the Diver, the little guy might have big parent. Then Dead Space remake was the only 70-bucks game I paid full price for and I might go as far as to say I regret the purchase. So, all 5 games here are sold at the “low, low” price of $ 59.99 in id Software’s country of origin, physical still on the menu.

But more importantly they provoked more than a thousand words out of me respectively. I always think playing video game is a vice while writing about them is closer to a hobby. It’s like finding meaning in something that can be utterly meaningless. Oh well, numbers can be meaningless when it comes to vindicate video game, but they are useful after all.

So sorry, Hi-fi Rush. You failed to rank here for both your lower price and the 3-digit word count I barely managed. But fear not, the one added here instead of you is a follow “Gamepass fodder”. Despite being a spin-off, that one actually did something more interesting with its genre than you did with character action.

Number 5 Bayonetta Origins Cereza and the Lost Demon

The relatively long of it word count: 1331 words

Batman Arkham City is my first experience with the Zelda style game in 3D space. The whole overworld dotted with dungeons structure started with A Link to Past and was the backbone of the series until Breath of the Wild changed things up. In a time when Nintendo went all hands on deck for Tears of the Kingdom, clearly it takes someone else to deliver a more linear Zelda-like. Enters Platinum with Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon.

The news of Hideaki Kamiya leaving Platinum still links to this game. It’s hard to determine whether “Bayonetta creator” left on a high note after supervising a surprisingly good game or he was asked to leave because this game sold poorly despite a “commercial spot” at the 2022 Keighlyes. No matter to me, I am just the people who made Okami finally made another one like Okami. Since Okami HD is still the only 3D Zelda game I saw through on Switch.

Number 4 Fate Samurai Remnant

The relatively long of it word count: 1346 words

The titular Arkham City in the 2011 Batman game is all about cutting a video game playground out a grand established fictional world. While seventeenth century Edo city in Fate Samurai Remnant is not an action-packed shenanigans like Arkham City, this Yazuka game style patchwork of blocks is lively for its own merits. Peaceful shops and crowds provide the living place vibe Rocksteady would never get. Kudos to both for crafting action adventure out of their respective multiverse.

Number 3 Persona 5 Tactica

The relatively long of it word count: 1580 words

This is more about Arkham Knight, the less sequel to Arkham City. In the rainy summer days of June, 2015, the amount of Riddler Trophies Knight was so high that I gave up earlier. By the time I saw the full credits roll in that game, I felt burnt out on the whole idea of video game. If I was to continue to have interest in the media form, a plate cleanser was needed. Entered Fire Emblem If, which would not come out in English as Fire Emblem Fate until early, 2016.

Early 2015 was a time I tried the turned-based with X-Com Enemy Unknown and Invisible Inc. But Fates’ Birthright campaign was the only one I saw credits in. The X-Com type simply got way too variables so Fire Emblem’s lacking Fog of War is a plus. More than 8 years later, Persona 5 Tactica “finally” moved Fog of War in a fire fight game. Its spin on the genre warrants it as the token “Gamepass Fodder” on the list, even though I played it on Switch.

Number 2 RESIDENT EVIL 4

The relatively long of it word count: 2851 words, 1792 reviewing the main campaign and 1067 about the Separate Ways expansion

2005’s Resident Evil 4 is not exactly a sequel to anything while the 2023 remake is a direct sequel to a 2019 game titled Resident Evil 2. Well, the 2019 and 2023 titles did share a largely consistent work force and the story is adjust so they would feel like 2 connected chapters in the life of player character Leon Kenedy. But they are quite to each other with higher body count being a must in 4. Still there is a from Die Hard to Die Harder kind of thing going on here as Asylum to City did. I was just happy to see them stick the landing.

Number 1 Armored Core VI Fires of Rubicon

The relatively long of it word count: 3265 words, 1265 on the first playthough plus 2000 on the second and third.

Here in the city hosting miHoYo global headquarters, we have a funny way to say “on foot”: take the Number Eleven Bus. Because how the Arabic numeral “11” resembling the 2 human legs. Or so I was told. It’s ironic that Number Eleven Bus is about the only way one had in Genshin Impact and, if I heard currently, Starfield’s open worlds. 2011’s Batman Arkham City would seem like the future compared to those products of the 2020s.

I still remember Brandon Jones saying that Batman gilding “would make Superman eat his heart out” in Gametrailers’ (r.i.p) review for Arkham City. While Rocksteady marketed the Batmobile as “fast travel” for Arkham Knight, gliding and grappling in City is the best they had done. Funny how only boasting a big mech in Fires of Rubicon can match that.

Fromsoft’s beautifully rendered wastelands are still present in Armored Core VI and missions usually take one to a corner there since things need to be killed. Journeys are inherently better than destinations as the wasteland past one’s hulking war machine by in breakneck speed.