On July 31, 2025,Batman: Arkham Knightturns ten years old. After 2013’sBatman: Arkham Origins, fans were looking forward to the next true installment in the series made by Rocksteady themselves, as WB Games Montreal developed the last game. Even the back of the box ofArkham KnightdismissedOrigins, claimingKnightwas the finale to theArkhamtrilogy.
Warning: The following article includes spoilers for Batman: Arkham Knight and Batman: Arkham City.However, all these years later, it’s safe to say thatArkham Originsgot a bad rap and shouldn’t be skipped when deciding theorder you should play theBatman: Arkhamgames in, asArkham Knightwas actually worse for a lot of fans.Batman: Arkham Knightis still a very good game, with gorgeous graphics that still hold up and improved gameplay, but the story and side content belong in the rookie league compared to the master league quality ofArkham City. After the greatest superhero game of all time,Arkham Knightdoesn’t even compare.
Rocksteady Pushed The Envelope With Batman: Arkham Knight
It Looks Like A Game That Could Have Been Released Today
By far, the best and most impressive element ofBatman: Arkham Knightis the graphics. It’s ungodly, with the rain detail hitting Batman’s cape as he glides across Gotham and the satisfying destructible environments when riding in the Batmobile. The character models are stunning, too, andarguably look superior to future gameslikeSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice LeagueandGotham Knights. It’s still impressive to this day, especially on PC.
While the PC version ofBatman: Arkham Knightwas notoriously broken at release, it’s thankfully fixed now.
The gameplay was also improved fromArkham Citywith the introduction of Dual Play. Several moments in the story and side content allow you to play as Batman and another character in a single encounter, andit was a great time in both melee combat and stealth. For stealth, it added more of a tactical element, as you could take down the heavy-duty enemies, which was great and majorly useful, but it would cause some noise, so you had to pick your moment.
Tag-team fights were incredible, as you could chain combos when switching characters and do awesome double-team moves, making the Riddler boss fight one of the best in the game. Even though many disliked the over-reliance on the Batmobile during the story, I loved riding it around and enjoyed the DLC racetracks.Batman: Arkham Knighthas some big positives, butwhat kills the game for me is the story and side content.
The Story Still Frustrates Me All These Years Later
Why Can’t The Joker Just Stay Dead?
Right behindGod of War 3,Arkham Knight’sstory has to be the worst ending to a trilogy in modern gaming. First off, the titular Arkham Knight. While Scarecrow’s the main villain, Arkham Knight also plays a big role, and the game hypes up his mystique quite a bit. However, the person behind the mask isthe most obvious choice Rocksteady could have picked. Anyone familiar with DC heroes that havedied but come back to lifewould think that it’s Jason Todd before even pressing start on the title screen.
Most of the side missions present inArkham Knightfeel like busy work.
Killing off the Joker inArkham Citywas a bold move, but Rocksteady couldn’t let go becauseMark Hamill’s Joker comes back in the worst way possible. Early on, Batman gets infected with fear toxin, making the Joker appear in hallucinations throughout the rest of the game. Batman’s entire character arc inArkham Knightis him mentally putting away the Joker, which is too weak for a finale.
To see why this doesn’t work, it’s best to look at another franchise that won’t let a villain go, and that’sSaw. Jigsaw dies early on in theSawfilm series, but his later appearances are done right. All of his appearances are actually happening, whether in flashbacks or new tapes; moreover, what Jigsaw does in those scenes has relevance to the ongoing conflicts in the present.Batman: Arkham Knight, on the other hand, features theseJoker hallucinations that have no real relevance to the core conflictin the story.
The other big disappointment that let me down significantly was the side content. What madeBatman: Arkham Cityone of thegreatest video games of all timewas its brilliant map design that made all the additional content, whether side missions or collecting Riddler trophies, immensely fun. I 100% completedArkham Citytwice, andyou didn’t need to 100% the game to unlock the true ending, unlikeArkham Knight. Most of the side missions present inArkham Knightfeel like busy work.
Arkham Cityactually made the Riddler content a lot of fun because you needed to do little challenges to collect most of the Riddler trophies, like gliding to wall panels or controlling a Batarang through an air vent. Those fun challenges aren’t nearly as present inArkham Knight, and it feels so disappointing when you finish all the Riddler side missionsonly for the boss fight to be called offbecause you didn’t find all the collectibles. It’s not surprising thatthere’s a mod to skip this annoying part.
Arkham Knight Is A Phenomenal Game, But A Disappointing Finale
It Should Have Been Better
Ten years later, I do respect many aspects that Rocksteady put intoBatman: Arkham Knight. you may’t tell that this is a ten-year-old game from the visuals alone, as the character models, vehicle models, and practically everything looks incredible. The DLC implementation was also really cool, featuring suits and vehicles from theBatmanmovies with that same amazing level of detail. I personally enjoyed the gameplay additions, with the Fear Takedowns and tag team fights, butmuch of what madeArkham Cityso great was absent here.
The side content pales in comparison, most of the boss fights were atrocious, and the story was so bad that I think the writing toSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguewas an improvement, to be frank.Batman: Arkham Knightreally let me down, but after the commercial and critical failure ofSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, it appears that a newBatman: Arkhamgame is more likely now than ever, and hopefully, it’ll fix the problemsArkham Knighthad.
