There have been many comics over the years that have made an impact and spread their influence worldwide. One of the big names of the comic industry is known as Detective Comics, but is now shortened to DC. There have been many superheroes over the years that have been seen as iconic, such as Superman, who was the start of it all and the face of superheroes, but the only thing that he didn’t have was a proper game that was adapted. There is one hero that does have a game that is seen as the face of DC, but is also the other half of the duo that is known as the world’s finest with Superman. This superhero is known as Batman, and his iconic game is “Batman: Arkham Knight.”

Background Details

The first appearance of Batman himself was back in 1939 in Detective Comics #27. Since then, there have been many more comics that have been out, as well as shows and movies that are recognizable. This game is part of the Arkham series and is considered the 4th installment of the series. Its reveal trailer came out in 2013, and later on released the game on June 23, 2015, and is said to this day to be ahead of its time.

Story

It starts with the incineration of the Joker after the events of Arkham City. It leads off with Gordon saying that these are the events of how Batman died. It then cuts to a police officer in a diner who confronts a guy who is smoking and is hit with fear toxin and sees people who turn into creatures, but that’s the real effect of the fear toxin. Scarecrow then says that it was only an ounce of fear toxin, and he could spread more of that across Gotham. It sends everyone into a panic, desperately trying to get out of the city, and the population decreases significantly to where only crime remains. Batman is the only person who can stop this. He goes to a location where a cop needs help and saves him from almost getting run over, which, after saving him, Batman evens the odds and gives us the introduction of the Batmobile that can basically turn into a tank when it’s in battle mode. A little bit forward, we get the introduction of his new suit, which works with his Batmobile and is made out of titanium plating that is so light that, alongside all of his skills and martial arts, he can take down a room of people in a second. We are then introduced to someone named the Arkham Knight when we go to Ace Chemicals to confront the Scarecrow, and in turn get hit with the fear toxin as well. And now has to deal with the inner Joker inside of him that he had when Joker hit him with a blood transfusion in Arkham City. You now have to stop all of the crime while dealing with the inner Joker in this heart wrenching “conclusion” in this action-packed game.

Combat/Transversal

One of the most memorable things about the Arkham games is the combat. For a game that has followed the same formula and just slowly improved on what was already there, they made other improvements to the combat as well. While there is only one attack button, the Square or X button, you also have a button to counter enemies, being the Y or Triangle button. Another cool thing about the combat is that you can use your cape to help out, but you can also use the various gadgets at your disposal to take down your enemies, as well as being able to do various takedowns like using the environment. Something else to note is that in this game are Stealth missions, and the thing that makes these fun is that you can do all types of planning to take down your enemies. But also, there are little things known as stealth takedowns, corner takedowns, inverted takedowns, and much more in order to take down people in the stealth section. You also have something called a multi-fear takedown, where you get multiple enemies in a few seconds. There’s also combat in the Batmobile, which in all is a 2-for-1 deal. You have one car that is fast, and it can be used in combat as a tank. Transversal is one of the other things of this game as well, and is one of the main points of the game that isn’t its combat. You glide around the city and can grapple from building to building and even increase how fast you glide if you grapple onto the building and spam X or A. The other thing for transversal is also the Batmobile, which is the most fun, in my opinion, but I would also say there could be too much of it because of how many times you have to use it in the story.

Gadgets/Detective Vision

These things are gonna useful throughout the game because you can use them in or out of combat. Some of them have been in the game since the first game in the franchise. One of them is known as explosive gel, and the way that it works is that you spray some of it on a surface, usually it’s in the shape of a bat symbol, press a button, and it explodes. Then you have something called a remote controller device that you can use to control the Batmobile remotely, but only for a certain distance. Another one is known as the Remote Electrical Charge (REC), which you usually use to figure puzzles, but can use to send a shock to your enemies. All of them serve a purpose in some way throughout the game, and you will at least use one of them once. Detective Vision is one of the key things in Batman’s entire kit, being able to see enemies through walls, but it can be tracked, which can lead enemies to your location, depending on the type of enemy that you are dealing with. This is also used in situations where you have to figure out a crime scene and what happened to cause certain conditions, or to just figure out who was murdered and how they died.

Side Missions/AR challenges

These, for the most part, are gonna take up most of your time in this game besides the main story. There are a lot of side missions, some of which you run into during the main story, to introduce them. A great point of reference that is a staple in the Arkham games is the Riddler missions. You have to solve a great deal of riddles and missions to set Catwoman free after she is taken captive. The thing is that you also have to collect 243 Riddler trophies around Gotham to get to the final point of the Riddler’s mission, and then take him into the GCPD. There are also missions like finding bodies strung up along Gotham and examining them to take down someone known as the Pyg, who was experimenting on them, making them basically immune to physical pain. AR challenges are something that challenge the fundamental mechanics that you have of the game and make you cycle through them, or make you do stealth sequences and do certain things that you maybe wouldn’t normally do. They also have things for the Batmobile, gliding, and combat ones that you can pick different characters to play as, like the Red Hood, Catwoman, Harley Quinn, etc. It allows you to really test how good you are at this game.

Bosses

The bosses in this game are the only bit that are underwhelming because they didn’t really like boss fights like the other Arkham games portray them as. They feel more like just beatdowns than actual boss fights without anything really unique about them. I will say that the only boss fight that really did feel like a boss fight was the fight against the Arkham Knight. The boss has you constantly on your toes. He takes a sniper position on a perch and each time that you get the arkham knight he disappears and you have to escape the room as fast as you can and while you fight him, you also have to deal with enemies that are immune to your detective vision and have a drone that will shock you and alert everyone to location that you are at. This is a very good boss fight, unlike some of the bosses that are also in the game that really lack that punch to them, unlike the Arkham Knight and the other ones in the 

DLC/Gotham’s Most Wanted

Downloadable content consists of many things, one of them being skins, the other is the DLCs where you play as the other characters, and the last one is an addition to the main game known as Gotham’s most wanted. The skins have some of the most memorable suits for Batman in the comics. New 52, the classic Batman, Arkham City, Flashpoint, anime Batman, etc. You can also customize the characters of the other people that you play as well, and put a skin on the Batmobile, but the only one that I wanted to use was the Jokermobile, but you can’t use it at all, which is something that really sucks because it is awesome. DLCs are played as the others, like Catwoman, and they take place at different points in the game. Harley Quinn’s DLC takes place before the events of the main game, and Batwoman’s takes place before that as well, and before the events of something called The Killing Joke, a very popular Batman comic. The others take place after the events of Arkham Knight are basically people that are associated with Batman who are tying up loose ends. Gotham’s most wanted adds three more villains that Batman has to take down, and they are Ra’s al Ghul, Mad Hatter, and Mister Freeze. One I’ll go over is Mister Freeze and where, after you take down people invading his ship, he goes to help save his wife, who was in a cryogenic stasis, to stop her from fully succumbing to Huntington’s disease. Basically, it gives a conclusion to the rest of the villains in Batman’s rogues’ gallery.

Opinion/review

This was the first Batman game that I’ve ever played, and I’m really grateful that it was. It really does grab your attention, and I love the fact that whatever happens in the story really affects Gotham and cancels certain activities that were happening in the city. The suits are great, and I think that my favorite is the Batsuit V8.03, which is the suit that you get when you have to take out a room of enemies. Honestly, it’s an amazing game, and the only thing that really lacked was some of the bosses, but regardless of that, it gets a really good 9.5/10. Even if this game was made in 2015, the fact that it’s been able to hold up so well in this current day is wild. I suggest that anyone play this game because it’s one of the games that will give you a time that you will never forget, and while you are at it, play the other games, and become invested in them as well.