I CAN’T WAIT TO HEAR MORE ABOUT THE NEW BATMAN GAME – I’VE GOT HIGH HOPES FOR IT.
The Dark Knight will be rising again on PlayStation, hopefully building on past strengths
Fresh from a Saturday morning viewing of the new Joker movie, it just feels like a great time for a new Batman game. It’s fair to say that Bats in games, just like the movies, has been something of a mixed bag. But the titles in the Arkham series are gold-standard entries that make Batman Vengeance feel like a Scarecrowinduced nightmare.
With a cryptic tweet from WB Montreal on Batman Day, it seems that there may be a brand new Bat-game on the horizon from the same team that brought us Arkham Origins. It’s rumoured to be based upon the Bat-family generally, with many playable heroes. A co-op title, perhaps? Oh yes, the Dark Knight is rising again.
But I hope Warner
Montreal doesn’t try to reinvent the Bat-wheel.
My biggest hope is that this new entry will incorporate what made the comics so original. I hope for a more mature, nuanced exploration of the dual identities of Batman and Bruce Wayne, and the many relationships around him – something the Telltale games did really well. Finding that perfect balance between a deep dive into the psyche of Bruce Wayne and highoctane, action-packed events as the Bat, I believe, is a must. But it’s a tough tightrope to walk. Often even Arkham Knight struggled with balancing story and action.
RETURN OF THE BAT
Warner Montreal, however, succeeded before in this respect. Its Arkham Origins is arguably one of the best, and most Christmassy, Bat-scripts in the series. It may have lacked Kevin Conroy but it made up for it with stellar set-pieces, inventive boss fights, and a story confident enough to slow the action and let the characters breathe.
I also hope this game doesn’t try to override the Arkham legacy with a smattering of new ideas that drag us away from the core mix of combat, puzzling, and metroidvania.
A reimagining of Batman’s rogues’ gallery too wouldn’t go amiss, and if we are to walk in the Bat-boots of Robin,
Batgirl, The Huntress, and more we’ll need a healthy lineup of villains. But perhaps the real reason to get excited is that we’re all Bat-fans.