Batman: arkham

Main Series

Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009)

The plot of the game was written by Paul Dini - the author of numerous scripts for comics and animated series in the DC universe. The game takes place in the psychiatric hospital " Arkham " and its environs. At the beginning of the game, Batman brings the Joker to the hospital, but the latter manages to escape. It turns out later that the Joker had previously developed a plan to capture the hospital, and Batman’s capture was just part of his plan. The Joker needed a formula of a dangerous chemical called “Titan”, the production and study of which was done by Dr. Young, a young and very ambitious girl whose plans were to cure all patients of the hospital. At some stage, the production of this drug stopped, since studies revealed a negative reaction of the chemical to the human body - his body changed, and his mind “clouded”, turning him into a bloodthirsty monster. The Joker, who finances the project under the pseudonym Jack White, liked this course of events and he wanted to create his own army of mutants, so he decided to personally “drop by” the samples of the drug. Batman has to stop the crazy villain, simultaneously confronting such his accomplices as Victor Zsasz , Bane , Harley Quinn , Poison Ivy and others.

Batman: Arkham City (2011)

As in the first part, the plot for the game was written by Paul Dini. Voice actors of the main characters also remained the same ^[9] . However, Mark Hamill , who voiced the Joker , said that Arkham City would be the last project for him in this series ^[10] . The game takes place a year and a half after the events of the previous part, in a prison called Arkham City, which is a part of Gotham , separated by a high wall. By order of Hugo Strange, the chief overseer authorized by Mayor of Quincy Sharp himself, Bruce Wayne was seized by the hired Arkham guards from the Tiger organization for trying to close the prison. During Wayne’s interrogation, Strange mentioned a project called “Protocol 10,” which he said should eradicate all crime in Gotham City. Once in jail, Bruce wears a Batman costume and tries to find out what Strange is actually up to. During the investigation, he meets his long-standing enemies, who are not at all happy about his appearance. Batman understands that fighting crime alone is too risky, so he needs the support of a strong ally - Catwoman . Trying to learn something about Protocol 10, Batman makes his way to the steel mill, where the Joker settled with his gang, but suddenly falls into the trap set up by the villain. Waking up, Batman discovers that the Joker is seriously ill due to the remnants of the "Titan" in the blood and will soon die. Moreover, while Batman was unconscious, the clown made a blood transfusion and poisoned him. The Joker reports that there is a medicine that Mr. Freeze has been manufacturing for a long time, and that Batman needs to get it. The dark knight will have to go through many dangerous tests in the struggle for life and truth.

Batman: Arkham Origins (2013)

The plot for this part was written by Corey May and Duma Wendshu, known for their work on such series of games as Assassin's Creed and Prince of Persia ^{[11] [12]} . The development of the game took up the studio WB Games Montreal , unlike the previous parts, where the developer was Rocksteady Studios . Also changed the composition of the actors who voiced characters in past games of the series ^[13] . The game is a prequel to the first part and talks about the still young Batman, for whose murder the Black Mask appointed an award. The action takes place on Christmas Eve . The hero has to fight with many hired killers, including: Killer Krok , Detstrook , Deadshot , Mednolovka, Shiva, Firefly and Stun gun. Batman decides to find the Black Mask and force him to withdraw the killers, but when he meets, he finds out that the real “customer” was a previously unknown criminal named Joker . The dark knight will have to face the most dangerous villains of Gotham City and defend his hometown. The game includes a multiplayer mode ^[14] .

Batman: Arkham Knight (2015)

The final part of a series of games about Batman ^[15] . The company Rocksteady Studios again took up its development. The game was released in 2015 for the PlayStation 4 , Xbox One and Microsoft Windows ^[16] . The plot of the game tells about the events that occurred a year after the action of Arkham City . The scarecrow created a new type of toxin, causing fear, and deployed bombs throughout Gotham , forcing citizens to evacuate ^[17] . He also brought together Gotham's greatest supervillains , including Penguin , Two-Face, and Harley Quinn , to help him destroy Batman once and for all ^[18] . The game does not include content for multiplayer games ^[19] .

Other games

Batman: Arkham City Lockdown (2011)

A game for mobile devices on iOS and Android , developed by NetherRealm Studios , known for its work on fighting game Mortal Kombat . The plot of the game tells about the events that happened some time before the action of Arkham City and is not connected with the main game. Batman needs to stop the criminals who escaped from Blackgate Prison and riot in the streets of Gotham City ^[20] .

Batman: Arkham Origins (mobile) (2013)

A game for mobile devices on iOS and Android , developed by NetherRealm Studios . The plot of Arkham Origins (mobile) follows the scenario of the main game and has almost no plot differences with it ^[21] .

Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate (2013)

A game for the PlayStation Vita and Nintendo 3DS handheld game consoles , developed by Armature Studio . The game takes place three months after the events of Arkham Origins . Batman will investigate a mysterious explosion that occurred in Blackgate Prison, after which the prisoners seized control over her. The game was released on PC , PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 and Wii U under the name " Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate Deluxe Edition " on April 2, 2014 ^[22] .

Batman: Arkham VR (2016)

Spin-off series "Arkham", developed by Rocksteady Studios for helmets of virtual reality . The release took place on October 11, 2016. The game was originally released on the PlayStation VR , and on April 25, 2017 became available for HTC Vive and Oculus Rift ^[23] .

Collector's Editions

On September 23, 2013, a collector's edition for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 was released in North America under the name Batman: Arkham Bundle . It included the GOTY editions of Batman: Arkham Asylum ( DLC : Insane Night , Nocturnal Hunter , Crime Alley and Scarecrow Nightmare ) and Batman: Arkham City ( DLC : Catwoman , Nightwing , Robin , Arkham City Skins Pack , The Challenge Map Pack and Harley Quinn's Revenge ) ^[24] .

November 22, 2013 in Europe was released a collector's edition for the PlayStation 3 , Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows under the name "Batman: Arkham Collection". The collection included downloadable copies of Arkham Asylum , Arkham City, and a disk version of Arkham Origins . In addition, the Knightfall add- on for “ Batman: Arkham Origins ” was present in the PlayStation 3 version, and Arkham Asylum and Arkham City were delivered as GOTY editions in the Microsoft Windows version ^[25] .

Continuation

After the final credits in " Batman: Arkham Origins ", Amanda Waller comes to the Detstroke camera and offers to join the "Suicide Squad", which may be a hint at the continuation of this series of games, or the beginning of a new one ^[26] . This is comparable to the fact that Jeff Jones , an American comic book writer and screenwriter, announced in 2012 that a game about Suicide Squad was under development ^[27] (released on August 6, 2016 along with the film’s premiere).

Kevin Conroy, who voiced Batman, said at the Wizard World Comic Con festival in Nashville in 2017 about Warner Bros. plans. The following: “You know, I can’t believe that they are not going to make another game in the series. Amazing right? In these games, literally earned billions of dollars. But no, there are no plans for another game. Sorry ” ^{[28] [29]} . In 2019, he directly turned to Rocksteady, wanting to see a new part, in this he was supported by numerous fans of the franchise ^[30] .

Comics

Batman: Arkham City (comic book)

In early May 2011, DC Comics released five comics called “ Batman: Arkham City ”. The mini-series tells about the events that occurred between the games Arkham Asylum and Arkham City . It was written by Paul Dini, screenwriter for the first two games, and Carlos D'Anda became the artist. The action takes place a year after the events of Arkham Asylum . Quincy Sharp became mayor of Gotham and ordered the closure of Arkham. He created a prison called Arkham City, which is located in the heart of the city. All prisoners are under the watchful eye of Hugo Strange and can do whatever they want. The Tiger organization, which suppresses any attempt to escape, is on guard. The comic describes the power struggle between prisoners and their attempts to seize control of the prison ^[59] .

Batman: Arkham Unhinged

A series of digital and printed comics released in October 2011 along with the game Batman: Arkham City . The script was written by Derek Fridolfs, and many artists worked on the drawing. The story revolves around Arkham City and gives the reader the opportunity to find out what the villains did before the events in the game. The story mainly describes Batman's adventures, but sometimes focuses on secondary characters. The series consists of 20 parts ^[60] .

Batman: Arkham City End Game

Comic released in May 2012. It was written by Derek Friedolfs and painted by Jason Sean Alexander. The comic book describes the events after the game Arkham City and before the start of the downloadable add-on " Revenge of Harley Quinn " ^[61] .

Batman: Arkham Origins (comic book)

The first digital comic based on the game Batman: Arkham Origins , which is its prequel . It was released by Madefire Studio to demonstrate the technology “ DC ² Multiverse ”, which allows you to integrate soundtrack, special effects and dynamic slides into the comic, and also gives the reader the opportunity to independently determine the fate of each of the characters and choose one of the proposed endings of the storyline ^{[62] [ 63]} .

Movies

Batman Assault on Arkham

July 20, 2013, during the Comic-Con in San Diego , Warner Bros. Studios Animation and DC Comics have announced that they plan to make an animated film based on the Arkham series of games called Batman: Assault on Arkham . The release of the cartoon is scheduled for the end of 2014. It was announced that the voicing of some of the characters in the cartoon will take on the actors who voiced the heroes in the games of the series ^{[64] [65]} . On April 18, 2014, the first trailer for the cartoon appeared on the Batman Arkham Videos YouTube channel ^[66] . In the trailer, in addition to Batman and the Joker, characters such as Harley Quinn , Deadshot , Killer Frost , Black Spider, Captain Boomerang and Shark King were also shown.

Link to other games

Injustice: Gods Among Us features a set of skins from Arkham City that contains downloadable costumes for Batman, Catwoman, and the Joker ^[67] . A Harley Quinn costume is also available for download, but, unlike others, it requires activation through the iOS version of the application ^[68] . In addition, the game has a battle arena called “Arkham Asylum”, where Hugo Strange, Scarecrow, Killer Krok, Two-Face, Riddler and Penguin are present as non-player characters .

The game received mostly positive reviews from critics. Arkham Asylum holds the Guinness World Record as the most successful superhero game in the history of video games ; its weighted average rating on the Metacritic website is 91 out of 100 points, based on 1141 user ratings and reviews from 29 professional critics ^[5] . The developers of the game received a large number of praises for the excellent transmission of the atmosphere of the Batman universe, as well as for a well-developed combat system and stealth mode . A wide selection of various Batman gadgets and multiple references to other heroes of the DC universe were also positively appreciated. Not ignored was the fact that the main characters of the game - Batman and the Joker - were voiced by actors from the original animated series about Batman - Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill, respectively.

Arkham City has also received wide acclaim from critics and has won several awards, including the title of Game of the Year. ^[6] The PC version of the game on the Metacritic website is rated 91 out of 100 based on 1297 user ratings and 27 professional critics' reviews. Positive feedback received new gameplay elements and a significantly expanded map compared to Arkham Asylum . Critics and fans reacted well to adding new villains and heroes to the game, such as Robin , Catwoman , Calendar Man , Penguin and Hugo Strange.

Arkham Origins was not as successful as the previous games in the series, but nevertheless its rating remains above average - the PC version of the game on the Metacritic website received a rating of 74 out of 100, based on reviews from 791 users and reviews by 17 professional critics. Basically, users who left negative reviews reproached the game for its lack of innovation in the gameplay, which completely duplicates that in Arkham City . This is largely due to the replacement of the Rocksteady development team with new ones - from Warner Bros. Games Montreal. Arkham Origins has been criticized due to frequent "bugs" and crashes during the gameplay, as well as due to many errors in multiplayer mode. Most critics noted that the game itself is pretty good, however, when compared with other parts of the series, it clearly did not reach the bar set by Arkham Asylum and Arkham City .