Batman: Arkham Knight "No one knows what it's like... TO FIX THE BATMAN!"

[Willsy]

Yeah....I can now definitely see why it's not coming to Wii U. This is far beyond what that console can do, in fact, this is impressive even for the new hardware. They even said that they were pushing the PS4/Xbox One hardware, hell, I can see the Xbox One version having issues or worse performance. As for a watered down version for Wii U....well....why would you want a vastly inferior version? It's pointless in every way. Not to mention, the bad version that would have worse graphics and would be missing features wouldn't sell. Why not just get the proper experience when you get something that you can play it on?

But I mean....those screenshots look gorgeous. Character models are extremely detailed, the Batmobile is extremely detailed, and everything is just....wow. This game alone is what's driving me to buy a PS4 this year. I'm really excited for it.

[PSI Wind]

Okay, now we finally see in-game screen instead of a CGI Trailer.

[Emmett L. Brown]

With so much armour on the Batsuit I'm curious how it's gonna look when it takes the obligatory amount of clothing damage through the course of the game.

[Toby]

Really wish they had kept the same suit from Asylum and City, but I suppose the multilayer armor suit is to show off the power of the new gen systems.

[KrazyBean]

That's some hot stuff. 

[Brad]

All I need now is in-game footage and my hype will feel justifiable 

[Autosaver]

Yes, "screenshots".

 

Please don't use this as your judgement of the game when it finally is released. There's a trend going on where screens are being done on very powerful machines and then modified after as seen with Watch Dogs and Dark Souls.

 

Highly doubt it'll look like crap, but be careful.

[KrazyBean]

Yes, "screenshots".

 

Please don't use this as your judgement of the game when it finally is released. There's a trend going on where screens are being done on very powerful machines and then modified after as seen with Watch Dogs and Dark Souls.

 

Highly doubt it'll look like crap, but be careful.

Dark Souls 2 is on previous gen hardware and Watch Dogs is multiplatform. This is current gen and PC only so it has a much higher chance of looking like this on the consoles.

[PSI Wind]

There have been many games with graphical downgrades compared to what's shown before release. Though, I doubt this game will be one of them, there's that small possibility.

[Silencer226]

Considering this game is being made with PC, and Xone and PS4 in mind I doubt there would be any graphical downgrades. I think its graphics are part of its selling point honestly haha.

[Chaos Warp]

Even if the graphics have to be downgraded I have faith in Rocksteady to maintain the fantasticness of the gameplay, and even then I don't think the chances of a graphical downgrade are very high. 

[Kuzu]

Wasn't Watchdogs only downgraded so it can run on PS3 and 360? I highly doubt that's gonna be the case with this game.

[PSI Wind]

We already know that Ubisoft does the whole "E3 Showcase looks better than final release" crap. I doubt Rocksteady will do it, but just because something like Watch_Dogs is Multi-plat doesn't mean it was the reason it got a graphical downgrade. Far Cry 3's E3 Build looks better than the final PC release.

[Wraith]

Some shots of the villains.

 

 
 

 

[Toby]

Wow, wonder how much time has passed since City. Penguin's not looking that good.

[Agie]

Doesn't this game take place a year after City? A lot can change in a year alone.

[Dantemustdie00]

Two Face really didn't change much.

 

Penguin seems to have shaved his head completely, always he's without his iconic Black wardrobe here, reminds me of his appearance in Batman Returns a little.

 

Riddler looks like he's been through heck, can't blame him, must take freaking forever to build those traps of his and place trophies all over Gotham

 

Can't say much on Harly yet, But is it me or does she look a lot like her voice actress Tara Strong now?

 

Scarecrow likely gonna have a new, threatening look to him, he did left his old mask back in Arkham City after all.

[TheOcelot]

Croatian gaming mag Reboot has an interview with Rocksteady Studios’ marketing manager, Dax Ginn. Here he talks about Arkham Knight:

 

 

"“We always wanted to create our own trilogy of Arkham games which will lead you from the claustrophobic halls of Arkham Asylum to openness, which this new vision of Gotham gives us. We left Scarecrow out intentionally from key events of Batman: Arkham City, which let us completely focus on Batman’s relationship with Joker, which culminated with Joker’s death. Batman: Arkham Knight is a story about different, post-Joker Gotham City and Scarecrow is in the center of it. He is one of the supervillains of Batman’s universe and in this story he uses the opportunity and takes the abandoned place of power over criminals, putting Gotham in danger when he gets a new chemical weapon. This dark and chaotic version of Scarecrow unites other villains in Arkham Knight with only one goal: destroy Batman.

 

We revealed that Two Face, Penguin, Harley Quinn are important to the story and we are excited to announce that we worked with DC Comics to create a completely new character… Arkham Knight. We’ll talk about him in the upcoming months.

 

Next gen platforms gave us freedom to built this awesome vision of Gotham City with unseen level of details and to bring rich atmosphere that Rocksteady’s games are known for. Bringing Batmobile as key element of gameplay was most important in design and technological decisions. For right implementation of this legendary vehicle we had to wait for next gen platforms which will give us raw technical power and in combination with our own technological resources will make wild driving around Gotham City come to life. In Arkham Knight we developed completely new lighting and rendering system, time condition effects and destruction effects and other technologies which together make incredibly convincing virtual world in our ultimate Batman experience.

 

Decision to include Batmobile in Arkham Knight was central focus of design. That is Rocksteady’s vision of legendary vehicle, we want to make players feel like Batman and completely deliver experience of that fantasy: experience of driving Batmobile must give you feel of power of destruction. Also we wanted to achieve that uniqe feel of connection between man and machine. We won’t talk about restrictions for now.

 

Size of Gotham City in Batman Arkham Knight is 5x bigger that Arkham City and 20x bigger than Arkham Asylum. Our focus was always quality of gameplay experience and details and atmosphere of virtual world. Players will have access to Batmobile from introductory chapter. Game is designed to encourage you to leave safeness of Batmobile every now and then and to move around it’s world gliding like a bat high above city’s streets, knowing that you can by just pressing a button call your vehicle at anytime and anyplace.

 

Various gadgets are key to the gameplay experience of Arkham Knight and we continued to develop Batman’s arsenal with new gadgets, and upgrades for old ones. The biggest upgrade is Batman’s suit, the Batsuit Mark 8. It upgrades Batman’s abilities in new ways… The way that Batman communicates with Oracle is also upgraded and in Arkham Knight he will use a holographic communicator. It enables players to see the person Batman is talking to through a holographic projection from his gauntlet.

 

Our vision was always to create trilogy of Arkham games. Batman Arkham Knight is epic conclusion of a story that began by bringing handcuffed Joker at Arkham Asylum’s doors. With his death and return of Scarecrow we created epic finals which will decide about fate of Gotham City. Adding Batmobile was final part in completing Batman experience which is being built for last 8 years. Arkham Asylum gave you chance to be world’s greatest detective, Arkham City delivered a promise about experience of playing as masked crusader and Arkham Knight is ultimate, complete Batman experience for all of us in Rocksteady and we think that time has come to bring the story to it’s epic climax.

 

[Oracle is] such a strong character in the universe that we really wanted to bring her to life in this game rather than have her as just that voice… What does she look like? Where does she work? How does she have all of this information? What’s her relationship like with Batman? She’s one of the only people who knows his identity, so it gives that sort of human side to Batman. We spend so much time seeing him kick ass it’s nice to see the emotional side of him underneath, and she’s one of the few characters who help us bring that out."

 

 

 

Can't say much on Harly yet, But is it me or does she look a lot like her voice actress Tara Strong now?

 

I know what you mean. Compare this picture of Tara to the picture of Harley in my signature:

 

[Dantemustdie00]

Oh crap, Tara Strong really is Harly Quinn.

 

And jeez, 5x bigger than Arkham City, And I thought Arkham Origins was big,through problem with that game was getting across that bridge again and again between the same area from Arkham City and the new area in Origins.

[Pawn]

It's not a lot, but this snippet from OXM has a few interesting details:

 

- From this opening reveal, it’s a near seamless transition from CG cinematic to gameplay.

 

- We can’t help but ogle the way the rain patters off Batman’s cape as he glides, or how the city lights twinkling through the rain bounce from the puddles collecting on the slickened streets.

 

- The act of getting around the city seems more effortless than before, thanks to Batman’s new suit and superior gadgets.

 

- Gotham City --  looks more vibrant and alive. It does look like a real city this time, and not a smaller, closed-off version of one that’s been left to rot. Gotham proper, the main setting for Arkham Knight, is a far more built-up and densely populated area than Arkham City.

 

- Once you’re fully into combat, things will feel familiar, but there are a few new systems being introduced to ensure that the classic Rocksteady combat still feels fresh. for example, when you’re countering, you can push the thumb stick in the direction of the thug attacking you, and Batman will throw him, rewarding you with double damage. You can also pick up and smash your victims into other enemies – if you’re fast enough.

 

- The Batmobile -- It’s a beast of a thing, looking a bit like a cross between the Tumbler of the Christopher Nolan Dark Knightfilms and the more classic-looking Batmobile models of old. The car itself can smash through pretty much any obstacle or material – from stone and steel to street lamps. It’s clear the team have spent a fair amount of time and effort on getting every aspect of the Batmobile just so, from the squeal of the tyres to the crack and burst of nitrous flames from the exhaust every time you use the car’s rechargable boost to accelerate. It’s also invulnerable to machinegun fire.

 

- While you’re inside the vehicle, there’s no world mini-map – a deliberate design choice, we’re told, as Rocksteady wants you to be paying attention to what’s going on around you, rather than using a map display to navigate. “We’ve done a lot of work to ensure that the information for the objectives is within the city,” Hill reassures us. You can, however, set waypoints, and tyre tracks will periodically appear on the ground to highlight the way ahead.

 

- Hill claims the game has been designed so that there wouldn’t be just one main storyline and a lot of optional side objectives. “The city is full of all these different, co-ordinated attacks by the various supervillains,” he says. “They’re all designed to push Batman to his limit. We wanted it to feel like there isn’t one key main path and [then] all these side missions; all of these different components and attacks by the supervillains have their own really interesting story that you can follow.”

 

- The developer isn’t talking about any other villains or characters at the moment, but it does concede that certain storylines begun or teased in Arkham City– such as hush’s ‘Identity Theft’ sidemissions or Azrael’s mysterious prophecy that “gotham will burn” – will likely be further explored and concluded in Arkham Knight.

 

- Barbara Gordon -- She’s just as feisty and razor-sharp as you’d expect her to be. There are some brief references to The Killing Joke during Babs and Bats’ back and forth.

 

- The Arkham Knight -- A figure stalks into view. He’s wearing a kind of robotic Batman-like cowl that covers his entire face, and there’s a stylised ‘A’ symbol emblazoned on his heavily armoured chest. There are shades of Prometheus and Wrath about him, even a touch of Jason Todd’s Red hood in the pseudo military get-up he wears.

 

I particularly like that they're putting more into the supervillain side missions. Here's hoping for a much larger rogue count than ever before that includes some more obscure villains.

[Emmett L. Brown]

Ohmigodohmigodohmigod SCARECROW's gonna be a main!!

 

And there's no Joker to upstage him like what happened to Black Mask! What, too soon?

[TheOcelot]

Rocksteady’s audio director and composer, Nick Arundel (who worked on Arkham Asylum and City) talks about his previous work in the series, and how Scarecrow has influenced the Arkham Knight soundtrack:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7rDNdfsOcg&feature=player_embedded

[turbojet]

Ohmigodohmigodohmigod SCARECROW's gonna be a main!!

 

And there's no Joker to upstage him like what happened to Black Mask! What, too soon?

Don'r worry. Ra's Al Ghul is just around the corner.

[Solkia]

Is there going to be more stupid fucking Riddler Trophies? Because if the game is going to be 5x bigger than City then this is going to piss me off.

[Johnny Boy]

Is there going to be more stupid fucking Riddler Trophies? Because if the game is going to be 5x bigger than City then this is going to piss me off.

I think riddler trophies returning is inevitable at this point.....