With the Arkham trilogy, Rocksteady have crafted perhaps the three greatest superhero-centric titles in gaming. Before Arkham Asylum, we were all too used to terrible movie spin-offs and sub-par games which didn’t harness the hero’s powers to their full potential. While Batman may be lacking in supernatural abilities, his intellect and combat skills were wonderfully crafted to create brilliant mechanics and systems.
Although Rocksteady are perhaps keen to move away from the Arkham series – and even Batman as a character – there’s no doubt that the dark knight is extremely popular, something which can only be boosted by next year’s Batman vs. Superman movie. It’s likely that Warner Bros. will want to capitalise further on the film with another of these commercially and critically successful games, perhaps in a similar way to their Mad Max game this year – a title which appears to be only related in name and setting to the film, which should lead to a better end product.
Perhaps Rocksteady won’t be the ones to carry on the mantle, though. Warner Bros. Montreal proved themselves well enough with the solid if unremarkable Arkham Origins, with reports flying around that they’re developing a new open world IP and the rumours pointing towards a Superman title in the works, off the back of the above image.
While their talent might not match that of Rocksteady, and with them yet to prove themselves of creating a project from scratch rather than incrementally advancing what came before, as they did with Arkham Origins, this could be a likely future for Warner Bros.’ superhero video game output. But that’s definitely not where the story will end.
With Warner being very focused on their film franchises, it’s likely they’d want to see some representation of the Justice League in video game form, and it’s here where they could finally gain the upper hand on Marvel. The Marvel Cinematic Universe has had years to develop across number sequels and offshoots, boasting success after success along the way, but they’ve remaining quiet on the games front, with characters instead appearing in Disney Infinity.
If the Montreal studio does go ahead with a standalone Superman game, then it’s not too hard to imagine Rocksteady working in tandem to bring their Arkham universe Batman into the fold. Incidental dialogue from thugs in Arkham Knight already discuss “that flying freak from Metropolis”, and Gotham city features buildings and posters with a LexCorp – that’s Lex Luthor’s company, naturally – logo on them, which pretty much place those heroes in the same universe.
With Arkham Knight’s brilliant dual play combat system, in which you can switch between and combine the powers of multiple heroes in one battle, Rocksteady already have the basis for a game which could really pull off a multi-superhero adventure. If the switching character mechanic was expanded to be something more akin to Grand Theft Auto V’s system, rather than that of the LEGO games, it could be something extremely exciting.
It’d certainly have to be a change from the usual crowd of Batman villains, with a plot which threatens the world rather than just Bruce Wayne’s neighbourhood. It would be hard to see where to go after such a large scale event, but a video game universe off the back of the success of the Arkham series could be a brilliant way to keep that fantastic combat system and open world gameplay without oversaturating a single character.
Despite all of this being quite enticing, another route – and perhaps one which makes more sense – would be to reboot the series entirely, keeping the gameplay systems and characters but setting them in a less grim and more fantastical universe. This would let them bring other characters into it without having to answer the question where they’ve been throughout the events of the Arkham series, and let’s be honest, does the current, world-weary Batman seem like the guy who’d work with other superheroes?
This is something that links back to an open-ended rumour from a few years ago, where Rocksteady were said to be developing a Silver Age, 1950s-set Batman title rather than Arkham Knight. It could be that this project was put on hold, and it could therefore soon see the light of day, bringing back characters which the Arkham series killed off and being a much more refreshing affair.
Whether Warner Bros. and Rocksteady feel as though they can continue with the Arkham lineage or whether they want to reboot it, the clear next step is to see more DC comic book heroes and games spring up alongside Batman. Let’s just hope it’s anything other than a mobile trading card game or match-3 puzzler…
BrendanCalls
A really good Superman game is quite literally my video game dream. I’ve been wanting one for years, I thought that someone should have taken the concept that Heavy Rain introduced and applied it to Superman, but I’d bleeding love it in the hands of Rocksteady
BrendanCalls
ps. DC Online Heroes or Injustice:Gods Among Us don;t count as really good games in my eyes :-)
I want a proper Superman centric story like the Arkham series
Forrest_01
Now when you say about applying heavy rain concepts, I assume you mean in things like choices rather than gameplay? As I think wandering around looking at stuff as superman (heat vision or no) would get pretty dull! ;)
Plus that whole ‘R2 to walk mechinic’… *shudders*
Forrest_01
*mechanic
BrendanCalls
Yeah, making important choices that affect the story, but also using similar ,but not those exact movement mechanics, I agree “R2 to walk” was a bit excessive.
The difficulty facing any Superman game (or medium really) is that he is all-powerful, so it’s a difficult thing to bring any real danger too him, so moving it into a Heavy Rain like genre where the narrative is king and you guide yourself through that with real consequences is the only way I see Superman really working in a video game, how appealing that would be to a wide audience is very questionable though
Forrest_01
Yeah, I kind of agree – He is a bit of the indestructible side & that being the case, it would seem strange to see a game over screen from being shot/stabbed/whatever. Unless whatever anyone was using was somehow kryptonite infused of course, which has the potential to become a little silly in itself.
But a choice as to whether to save either Perry White or Jimmy Olsen from death (for example) & you could only choose one, could actually work quite well. Although, past that character not being in the game anymore, am unsure of how much of a knock on effect that may have – Perhaps one of them becoming crippled due to your actions (or inaction more likely) & so their reactions to you & the way you are perceived change as a result… Or something.
Although that is now kind of sounding a little Infamous-y.
Starman
I think a Green Arrow series would be ideal for them next. He has the batman style gadgets via his arrows and a great set of allies & enemies.
A Suicide Squad game could be good too, and would help with the movie on the way too.
gaffers101
+1 for Green Arrow. The TV series is great.
JustTaylorNow
Season 1&2 but not so much 3&4, the show couldn’t go any lower than that
Starman
I’ve enjoyed all the series so far, actually thought they got better each one.
Ps Taylor season 4 hasn’t aired yet!
beeje13
I just hope they can do what they want. Maybe a completely new IP?
SamBeThyName
Yep they’ve shown they’ve got the skills, now I’d like to see them do something completely original
Foxhound_Solid
Wish they’d do a Spiderman or Cap game ..
They’re a very talented studio.
Steviepunk
I can’t be the only one that would love to see them do a Ninja Turtles game?
Though given that Activision has the Turtles licence (as far as I am aware), I guess it’s not very likely.
I do also agree with the above comment on a Green Arrow game, that could be good.