Batman Arkham Knight is a 2015 action adventure game developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, it is the successor to the 2013 video game Batman: Arkham Origins, and the fourth main installment in the Batman: Arkham series. Written by Sefton Hill, Ian Ball and Martin Lancaster, Arkham Knight is inspired by the long-running comic book mythos. Set nine months after the events of 2011’s Batman: Arkham City, the game’s main storyline follows Batman as he confronts Scarecrow, who has launched an attack on Gotham City, causing a citywide evacuation. Scarecrow, with the help of the mysterious Arkham Knight, is also able to unite Batman’s greatest foes in an attempt to finally destroy Batman.
The game is presented from a third-person perspective, with a primary focus on Batman’s melee combat, stealth abilities, detective skills, and gadgets. Batman can freely move around the open world of Gotham City, interacting with characters and undertaking missions, and unlocking new areas by progressing through the main story or obtaining new equipment. The player is able to complete side missions away from the main story to unlock additional content and collectible items. Combat focuses on chaining attacks together against numerous foes while avoiding damage, while stealth allows Batman to conceal himself around an area, using gadgets and the environment to silently eliminate enemies. Arkham Knight introduces the Batmobile as a playable vehicle, which is used for transportation, puzzle solving and combat.
Development on Arkham Knight began in 2011 after completion of Arkham City and took place over four years. Rocksteady opted to use its own writers for the main story with collaboration by comic book writer Geoff Johns, choosing to replace Paul Dini who had worked on Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. The introduction of the Batmobile required a change in the team’s design methodology, as the previous games’ city designs were too narrow and confined to allow smooth travel for the vehicle.
Arkham Knight was released worldwide on June 23, 2015 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows. The console versions of Arkham Knight received generally favorable reviews, with praise directed at its narrative, visuals, gameplay, combat, and world design, with the most criticism directed at the overuse of the Batmobile and the portrayal of the Arkham Knight. The Windows version was subject to significant criticism for technical and performance issues that rendered it unplayable for some users, prompting Warner Bros. to temporarily withdraw it from sale. At release, the game was the fastest selling game of 2015, and the fastest selling game in the Arkham series, reaching over 5 million units sold globally by October 2015. The game also received several accolades, including Best Game and Best Action-Adventure Game, before and after its release and it was featured in many lists of the best videogames of 2015. Post-release content was released for the game, including story-based missions, challenge maps, and skins for Batman and his allies, different historical Batmobile designs, and racetracks. In 2016, a Game of the Year edition was released containing all of the game’s downloadable content. In 2019, the game was included in the Batman: Arkham Collection, containing all three games developed by Rocksteady.
Batman: Arkham Knight is an action-adventure game set within an open world Gotham City, which can be explored freely by the player from the beginning of the game, allowing them to travel seamlessly anywhere within its boundaries.[2] Many of the gadgets and the gameplay elements from the previous Arkham games return, including the grapnel gun, line launcher, batarangs, the countering system, Detective Vision, and the Remote Hacking Device.[3][4][5] The Disruptor receives upgrades from previous games, becoming a rifle that can be used to disable or detonate enemy weapons and drone turrets, boobytrap weapon crates to shock enemies who attempt to arm themselves, and tag vehicles for Batman to track.[6] The remote controlled batarang is upgraded as well to include a scanner that can be thrown out to gain additional information on the surrounding area.[7] New gadgets include the Voice Synthesizer, which can be used to imitate other characters’ voices such as Harley Quinn and the Arkham Knight to manipulate thugs into traps.[8][9]
The player can fly Batman throughout the city using his cape, with gliding now allowing for faster, longer sustained flights, steeper dives, and higher climbs. Batman can use some gadgets while gliding, such as batarangs or the line-launcher. The grapnel gun can now be used to instantly switch directions during a glide,[4] as well as being fired twice while in the air to chain grappling moves together.[10]
The game’s “FreeFlow” combat system allows for basic attacks, including strikes, counters, and dodging, which can be combined to keep Batman attacking while moving between enemies, and avoiding being attacked himself.[11] Basic enemies include enemies armed with shields and shock batons,[8] while others are armed with guns, which significantly damage Batman.[12] These enemies can perform a charge and tackle attack only used by larger enemies in previous games; precision-timed dodging, and a batarang can instantly defeat some charging enemies.[13] The system adds the ability to combine attacks on prone enemies without interrupting a combo streak.[4] Batman can counter enemy attacks, and throw them into other enemies for increased damage. Batman is also capable of disarming enemies wielding items like baseball bats, and using the acquired weapon on several foes before it breaks.[12] Arkham Knight introduces “Dual Play,” in which players can seamlessly switch control of Batman to one of his allies during certain events of the game: Robin, Nightwing, or Catwoman while in FreeFlow Combat, which the player enters when they have accumulated an uninterrupted combat-streak. Each successful, uninterrupted attack adds to the player’s combat score, which carries over between each controlled character, and unlocks double-team takedowns on opponents at higher scores.[14][15]
Arkham Knight introduces enemy medics who can shield enemies in electrified fields and revive unconscious ones,[8] sword-wielding enemies, and brutes who are resistant to damage and must be stunned before they can be attacked; brutes wielding Gatling guns, tasers, and blades require additional steps to defeat.[5][8] Enemies are capable of employing tactics to counter Batman’s various skills, including deploying landmines, controlling hovering drones, disabling vents if Batman is found using them, and detecting his location if Batman uses Detective Vision for too long.[8]
Throughout the city, Batman encounters enemy watchtowers, guard posts, aerial drones, and explosive mines embedded in the city streets. Some drones can be hacked and turned against their allies by using the Remote Hacking Device.[5] Arkham Knight introduces the “Fear Takedown,” where Batman can subdue up to five enemies simultaneously as long as he remains undetected; time is slowed after each takedown, allowing the player to target the next enemy.[16][11] Hazardous items such as power generators can be used in combat for environmental attacks.[3][4] Combat is rewarded with experience points, which are used to unlock gadget abilities, combat moves, and health upgrades.[11][17] Batman can now access grates from afar, allowing him to roll forward and immediately get under the grate if in range, instead of having to be right on top of them, while also initiating multiple takedowns from within them.[16] Some enemies carry devices capable of blocking Batman’s Detective Vision.[5]
Arkham Knight features side missions, known as “Most Wanted” missions, which can be attempted at any time and feature prominent characters from the Batman universe.[14][18] One such character, the Riddler, provides 243 optional “Riddler challenges” to solve. These challenges consist of collecting trophies hidden throughout the city, through the use of gadgets or Batman’s car, the Batmobile, to disable traps and barriers, and completing timed races.[19][20] The player can mark Riddler trophies on the in-game map once found if they do not initially have the necessary equipment to complete the puzzle,[5] and learn of additional locations for collectables by interrogating the Riddler’s henchmen.[5]
Batman can investigate crimes such as murders, using his Detective Vision to reconstruct the crimes to locate clues and identify the perpetrators,[20][21] or use his Tissue Scanner to investigate a victim’s skin, muscle, and bones for clues.[11] Completing the story mode unlocks a New Game Plus mode, enabling the player to replay the game with all of the gadgets, experience, abilities, and Riddler collectibles that they have obtained.[22] The completion of some tasks is reflected in the Gotham City Police Department, with thugs and supervillains becoming incarcerated, and criminal memorabilia from missions and previous games being collected in the evidence room.
