The day is finally here, the day where a new Batman Arkham game has been divulged. And believe it or not, the game is not titled Arkham universe, Arkham hell, or Arkham sandwich. It is called…. Arkham Knight. Here’s a trailer:
I want to give you an full analyze over the trailer, but to tell you the truth, there isn’t much to tell in terms of what’s in the game. But if you chose to read on, they’re facts of what we know so far about in terms of story,characters,and gameplay. But if you don’t have time to read because you have better things to do here is short list of things to know:
- Game is coming sometime in 2014
- Game will be available for the Xbox One, PS4, and PC. ( Sorry last gen, handheld platforms, and Nintendo)
- If you pre-order now you’ll receive the one and only Harley Quinn as a playable character within 4 challenge maps. ( Don’t worry, she’s not emo this time nor is she pregnant)
- Game Informer main cover story for April will focus on the new Batman Game. (It won’t be an April Fool’s joke)
- You get to drive the Batmobile.
- What the reported box cover is to look like is below:
Okay you can go now “people that have something better to do”, but if you want to stay for the details, read on.
Story:
Scarecrow, one of Batman more crazier villain, returns to the 4th installment of the series alongside other villains such as Two-Face, Penguin, and Harley Quinn to kill the Batman for good. How they going to do it? Oh I don’t know, just cause total havoc across the entire city of Gotham. Sounds reasonably. If you don’t know already, Scarecrow wasn’t in Arkham City technical. He was believe to be eaten up by Killer Croc from the events in Arkham Aslyum, but it was unconfirmed. You could find traces of Scarecrow’s presence in Arkham City such as his mask laying on top of a pile of hay.
Scarecrow’s symbol can be found throughout Arkham City sprayed on tank canisters, possibly with Scarecrow’s FEAR gas held within them.
If Batman takes out his fancy-pansy cryptographic sequencer, he can listen-in to certain broadcast. When an certain signal is tracked down and pinpoint, he can hear what is supposedly Scarecrow counting random sets of numbers. After tracking down all three messages and decoding them all by matching each letter to it’s corresponding number (A=1, B=2, C=3, D=4, etc.) the messages reads:
I W I L L R E T U R N B A T M A N
Y O U W I L L P A Y F O R W H A T H A V E D O N E T O M E
F E A R W I L L T E A R G O T H A M C I T Y T O S H R E D S
The last reference to Scarecrow in Arkham City, and the most notable, is that there is an ship parked on the docks by Sions Industries (Joker’s territory in Arkham City). If Batman decodes the password of the ship, he’ll gain access to it. The password is “City of Terror”.
Within the ship itself, there are cockroaches roaming about, released from their cages. Further down the ship, the player can find an dead Joker thug laying on a chair. If the player zooms in, the thug will jump scare the player and yell a cry for help, before he final deceases. Right next to the dead thug is a shipping note which reads the cost of shipping and other taxes. Below that is an Custom declarations note that reads:
“Live insects for medical research purposes.”
Further down the shipping note, Batman can find a small letter written down which reads:
Jonathan ( original name of Scarecrow)
“I hope you find everything to be satisfactory. Mr. Fine was very specific about the shipping details and we have followed them to the letter. But now you will have received the initial 15 shipments. The rest are in transit and will be with you shortly.”
( Unidentified Signature here)
If your wondering about who Mr.Fine is, he is known as The Broker throughout the Batman universe, but has been rarely featured in any of the comics nor as been featured in any part of the Arkham games (aside from this note). The Broker provides hideouts and maps for many of the villains within Gotham City.
The synopsis of the other villains featured in the trailer are not as compelling as Scarecrow’s. Two-Face and Penguin both got their butts kicked in Arkham City, but Harley Quinn is an different story. In the Arkham City DLC, Harley Quinn’s Revenge, you learn that Harley has been psychologically broken due to the Joker’s death in the main game (Spoilers). She returns in Arkham Knight, this time a little bit clean up and not so emo this time compare to the DLC.
You also can’t ignore Azrual warning made in Arkham City. Mention by fellow site writer Ivans Quantic in his article about the Batman Arkham rumors, Azrual gives a warning to Batman about the coming events. The notable quote is below:
Azrual: “Dark days are coming, Batman. The Prophecy is coming true, you are the warrior who will close the gates of Hell, you are the one who will save this day, and in doing so, events will occure that you cannot stop, from the Ashes of Arkham the fires will rage and Gotham will burn, and you, you will burn too.“
Batman: ” I don’t believe in fairy tales.”
Azrual: “Believe what you will, the message has been sent. We will meet again.”
The events stated by Azrual obviously point to the Arkham Knight, because let’s admitted, Gotham City doesn’t look like it having a great night in the trailer. How Azrual and the Order of St. Duma (who Azrual works for) will play a role in Arkham Knight is unknown. Primarily because both Azrual and the Order of St.Duma play a much more diverse role in the Arkham universe than they do in the comics.
Gameplay:
It’s more than confirmed that Rocksteady will keep on trucking with their signature style of gameplay seen in the other 3 games. The real hype surrounding this game is not the ability to “Be The Batman”, but the ability to get behind the wheel of the Batman’s one and only ride, the Batmobile. It’s still unclear how driving is going to work within the context of this game’s enviornment. Will you be able to drive your sweet ride willy-nilly like in Grand Theft Auto. Or will you have to work with the restrictions on where you can and can’t drive, and only be able to drive in certain sequences. Similar to the driving mechanics in Jak 3, where your only allowed to drive in certain areas ( in Jak 3’s case, the desert) and be used more as an transportation method than actual driving sequences.
Last Thoughts:
Rocksteady has said that this will be the last Arkham game in the franchise, which most fans are tearful about, since this is the end to game that has up ante on everything video game superhero related. But people forget that there will still be more Batman games to come after this. And since Rocksteady is an independent video game studio, Warner Brothers Entertainment could easily fork over another contract to them to keep making more Batman games. Which I and many others wouldn’t mind one bit.
Sources: http://www.youtube.com/user/BatmanArkhamVideos GameInformer.com
