We’ve had some fairly good superhero games the previous couple of years, and it feels just like the style’s in a largely solid place these days. That didn’t at all times was the case again within the ’90s and early 2000s, notably when it got here to Batman. Like different video games on the time starring high-profile heroes, there have been some first rate ones, however they didn’t at all times seize the character’s full essence or enchantment. Spider-Man and X-Males had semi-foundational video games in Spider-Man 2 and X-Males Legends II, however the Darkish Knight’s didn’t actually come till Batman: Arkham Asylum.
The sport was initially launched August 25, 2009 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and Rocksteady Studios and Warner Bros. went out of their strategy to promote it as definitive for Batman within the medium. With an authentic story and universe as an alternative of being primarily based on the movies or the traditional Animated Collection, and the inclusion of that present’s author Paul Dini and its voice appearing trio of Kevin Conroy, Arleen Sorkin, and Mark Hamill, Asylum appeared to be doing every thing proper. And on the time, it just about did: crucial and industrial acclaim adopted, together with quite a few finish of yr awards and a Guinness World Record for the best-reviewed superhero recreation ever. Unhealthy boss fights couldn’t steal its thunder, and it’s well-regarded as considered one of (if not the) greatest superhero recreation of all time.
Video games launched throughout the PS3/360 period can both be pretty timeless or dated as hell, and Arkham Asylum is unquestionably the previous. I replayed the sport over the previous couple of weeks (thanks, Return to Arkham!), and it’s as nice now because it was again in 2009. You wouldn’t know this was Rocksteady’s second recreation; it carries itself with outstanding confidence. From the very starting, it paces itself fairly properly. The mix of fight and stealth nonetheless works, and it’s at all times satisfying to clear a room or get a brand new gadget that opens up the asylum just a bit bit extra. Biased as it’s to say, yeah, Batman: Arkham Asylum is admittedly that good and nonetheless holds up 15 years later, minus the boss fights and the dated designs for Harley and Poison Ivy.
Arkham Asylum launched at a key second within the character’s historical past as a model. When the sport got here out, it’d been over a yr since The Dark Knight turned one of many greatest Batman motion pictures ever, and Batman: The Brave and the Bold was airing its first season on Cartoon Community. He’s at all times been a well-liked character, however the late 2000s positively gave him an enormous profile enhance. The world acquired Bat-fever yet again, and Rocksteady’s Arkham collection turned a key a part of that entire endeavor. (There’s even a subreddit dedicated to a nonexistent fourth mainline recreation.) Its affect on its supply materials might not be as simply mappable as Spider-Man after his 2018 recreation, however even simply having Tara Robust change Sorkin as Harley from 2011’s Arkham Metropolis onward exhibits the waves these video games have been making.
In a bigger online game context, Asylum solid a a lot bigger shadow. Practically each action-adventure recreation (main or in any other case) previously 15 years has one thing that might be traced again to Arkham Asylum. Whether or not it’s flowing, counter and stun-heavy fight, a imaginative and prescient mode that lets characters see by means of partitions, or sneaking round and doing silent takedowns, all of them share some DNA with Rocksteady’s collection. The obvious examples are Insomniac’s Spider-Man video games, which borrow sufficient on a mechanical and intent stage from Arkham that they’re contemporaries, and Monolith’s Center-earth: Shadow duology. Even latest Batman video games like Gotham Knights and Rocksteady’s personal Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League from this yr drew comparisons to the Arkham video games, simply with means much less grace given.
Even with all of the imitators that adopted in its wake, parts of Arkham Asylum and its bigger collection stay wholly distinctive to itself. The sport’s not missing in environment, and even with Batman being who he’s, there’s a continuing sense of unease as he makes his means by means of the asylum. When every thing is clicking and in its greatest moments, the sport actually does really feel such as you’re studying a very good comedian ebook arc or watching a excessive collection of episodes. By some means, different superhero recreation haven’t borrowed my favourite a part of these collection: recreation over screens the place the villain taunts you after you die. Irritating as it may be to fail, it’s typically value dying simply to see these taunts, and so they go a good distance in promoting the immersion of being Batman.
There hasn’t been a brand new mainline Arkham recreation since 2015’s Batman: Arkham Knight. Whereas Rocksteady is sticking with Suicide Squad by means of its first (and sure only) yr, WB’s making its first non-Batman solo recreation in years with Monolith’s Wonder Woman. The collection is constant with Camouflaj’s Batman: Arkham Shadow—a Meta Quest 3 sequel to 2013’s underrated prequel Arkham Origins—however its non-spinoff future is unclear. Batman by no means stays down: whether or not from Rocksteady or one other studio, WB will pull that set off, and we’ll all be residing in Batman’s world as soon as extra.
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