Rocksteady continued that trend of excellence with Batman: Arkham City and now fans eagerly await the final installment, Batman: Arkham Knight. One of the reasons for the high-level of fan anticipation is that Rocksteady includes allies and villains from the Batman universe as playable characters, each with their own unique style, mechanics and personality.
Harley Quinn, a psychiatrist turned super villain, will likely play a large role within Batman: Arkham Knight given her new status and ties to the Joker after the ending of Batman: Arkham City. It appears that Poison Ivy will also return to trouble Batman since her debut in Arkham Asylum, as the rescue mission DLC story takes place before the main campaign in Arkham Knight. During Arkham City, Ivy was a villain within the Catwoman DLC story missions instead of an opponent to the world’s greatest detective.
Speaking of opponents, given that Poison Ivy is held in Blüdhaven instead of Gotham, players should expect for Harley to fight the original Robin turned solo-vigilante, Nightwing. In the comics, Nightwing is the only hero in Blüdhaven – a city considered more corrupt, tarnished and hopeless than Gotham (maybe all these people should just move to Metropolis instead).
Either option of retailer exclusivity or pre-order bonus would be in keeping with the release strategy of Batman: Arkham City. During the Arkham City release Catwoman was a pre-order DLC character and there were alternative Batman costumes available at differing retailers.
The Arkham City costume variants limited players’ choices within the initial launch, as some content would remain unavailable depending on where the game was purchased. Eventually, all exclusive content for Arkham City was released as DLC or bundled with the game of the year edition but it was still initially off-putting for diehard fans to be forced to choose where to purchase their game based upon variant content. Batman: Arkham Knight might follow its predecessors and force players to make a choice between Harley Quinn story content or Red Hood.
Already completionists must purchase Batman: Arkham Knight on the PS4 due to an exclusive story mission on the Sony console centered around Scarecrow. The Scarecrow Nightmare DLC differs from the Harley Quinn DLC story mission as players still control Batman in this one-off mission as Gotham is “at the mercy of Scarecrow, the fate of the city hangs in the balance as he is joined by a huge roster of other infamous villains.”
In the end, despite a day one DLC release strategy that will infuriate some gamers, expect to see Batman: Arkham Knight continue the strong sales of its predecessors and be a contender for game of the year 2015.
Whose story would you rather play, Red Hood or Harley Quinn? What other heroes or villains from DC Comics do you want to see in Batman: Arkham Knight?
Batman: Arkham Knight will be available for PC, PS4 and Xbox One on June 2, 2015.
