Set a year after the events of "Arkham City," Gotham is now under siege from the likes of Two-Face, Penguin, Harley Quinn, and Scarecrow. There's also a new villain in the mix, a new character created for the game which Rocksteady and DC's Geoff Johns have reportedly been working on together. Dubbed 'The Arkham Knight', he has an outfit that appears to resemble a blend of the Batsuit and Iron Man.
Story-wise Scarecrow plans to unleash a chemical weapon on the city, thus most of the civilian population has been evacuated. What's left are an outnumbered police force and hundreds upon hundreds of gang members. Events of the previous games are taken into account, specifically the Joker's death. The character will NOT be back, but his passing has had an impact on the city and the game explores how the villains now fill that power vacuum.
Gotham in the new game is "five times larger than 'Arkham City'" and is spread across three different islands throughout the city. However, Rocksteady's director Sefton Hill says: "As we've said before with Arkham City, it's not about scale as much as detail. We want to make sure the world is rich and full of interesting things to do. We're not trying to create the biggest open-world game ever. We are trying to create a really rich, vibrant, dense open world."
A big part of getting around that world is the Batmobile. Hill says: "We wanted to make the best car in any game ever. That was our mission statement right from the start." Fans will be able to summon the Batmobile to their location, and the car is said to serve as the basis for the Riddler's challenges.
The game is single-player only, the new consoles are powerful enough that cutscenes and gameplay switching are seamless. Combat has been diversified, and gadget use is said to be "more dynamic". Finally, Kevin Conroy is confirmed to be returning to voice The Batman in the upcoming game.
"Batman: Arkham Knight" hits Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC this October.
