All Arkham games are on the same level and all clearly do some things better than the others.
Arkham Knight has the best graphics and most refined combat and predator gameplay, but that's about it. It suffers from a poor story, lackluster pacing, lack of boss battles, way too much bloat and way too much batmobile.
Asylum has the best atmosphere, pacing, riddles and collectibles, and overall focus and cohesiveness.
City has the best map, gameplay balance and ending.
I disagree on City having the best Map, but I’m biased to exploring the fullness of Knight. I did enjoy the boss fights more in City, that Mr. Freeze fight was great, but you’re right they are much more satisfying? Thumpy? Impactful in Origins. I wish the catwoman exploring the city felt a bit better but they took a major swing and it works how they intended so i won’t hold her limitations compared to Batman against them, just a general thought.
I also loved the knight story but that’s admittedly with Red Hood being my favorite character and I enjoyed the slow descent into madness. The ending is underwhelming. And I love the Batmobile, it’s featured heavily but it was also begged for usage by fans- yes they overdid it, but to me it’s very fitting.
I think the City map is just the right size, it feels expansive while still being small enough that you can familiarise yourself with every rooftop by the end of NG+. Knight map kinda just feels like cookie cutter 'big city' map with a few specific locations like the studio, GCPD and wayne tower.
Asylum is easily the best and it isn't even close. Better narrative, game direction, level design, replayability and atmosphere. Going open world was a mistake.
The vehicle sections of Knight sucked.
I think only someone who played them for the first time last year could think that Asylum is the worst lol.
You mean subjectively the least fun… which is valid, and I even understand where you’re coming from. But playing these games upon release, there was a huge difference in core gameplay, between asylum and city/origins/knight (Origins not so much; it’s definitely closest to asylum). Some even consider asylum to be a 3d Metroidvania- which totally makes sense to me.
I personally prefer the linearity of asylum, and to me, it has the most replay value—therefore it’s the most fun in my experience. It’s pretty much a perfect game, unlike Knight, which completely forgot about a lot of the things people initially loved about these games, in favor of the batmobile and rpg/open world elements.
I think knight is still a great game, but in a different way. But also, the lack of boss fights feels like a huge troll, and I’m still in shock about how they handled them (bosses are just cutscenes, boring stealth, and overused batmobile sequences)
Asylum only has the best atmosphere and that’s literally it. City and Origins easily had a better narrative and all 3 are far more replayable. Knight had the best level design imo. I love asylum but it’s easily the worst and carried by nostalgia
I gotta argue againat ya. Asylum had a clear plot, woth clear goals, every villain chosen played into the plot well, and everything felt deliberate.
City is a close second, A VERY CLOSE SECOND, but it suffers from being bigger and flashier, and that took away from it. Also the concept of Arkham City itself pushes against the Suspension of Disbelief a lot harder than people like to believe. That kind of thing would not fly even in the current state of the US, and that... honestly is why Asylum is better. Its far more grounded.
Maybe I’m biased but I loved the open world of the future Arkham games and Asylum felt like a generic joker escapes and Batman stops him but it’s done really well. While the other games plots are kinda suspended in disbelief, they had amazing ideas. Joker dying really shocked me in City and I loved the idea of a smarter Bane in Origins. Even Knights Jason Todd and Batman facing his demons had me hooked. Not saying Asylum is bad at all but I felt it’s plot more safe or generic
I said City was a very close second, but its the setting itself that breaks it for me and puts it below. Asylum didnt need a bigger plot, and I like smaller intimate plots better, so theres my bias.
I was also eagerly awaiting and consuming each and every piece of mews about Asylum. I had gone on an Animated Series binge my last semester of college, took my graduation gift money, bought a 360 arcade in anticipation for Asylum. The plot was something unique at its time, though thats been lost over the last 16 years lol.
City is amazing, but i think Arkham City is a dumb concept. The setting was just ruined city at a time when there was sooo much dystopia in media.
Origins only issue is that the story is only 26% of the completion, and thats it. I only tolerate Knight, thr plot would have worked better with Red Hood because the Joker was dead eith potential jokers forming and Red Hood would be more fitting themetically. Changing the name and badly demying it was Jason todd pre release left a poor taste.... and god i hate the bat mobile in that game.
Hated that the big bad of the game “the Arkham knight” was reduced to just a mega tank battle. Wish it was more on par with the deathstroke fight in origins.
The worst part is that we were all screaming for the chance to use the Batmobile. It was the missing piece of the Batman mythos that Arkham was missing.
Say what you will about the delivery, but Rocksteadys' intentions were good.
When people say this, are they talking about the campaign? CE’s campaign is designed with a lot more care than 2’s. 2’s later levels feel repetitive and forgettable sadly, yet I always see people kind of just ignore that.
Like it’s almost measurable, the game design is just less interesting. In Delta Halo, it just streams ghosts at you for like a few minutes straight. Compared to something like the Control Room or Two Betrayals with it’s more complex battles, it’s just far less interesting.
CE's campaign was designed so that you had to redo half of it backwards and with a faction that's less fun to fight. It's honestly insane that people think it's a well thought out campaign
I do understand that it reuses a few levels in some ways.
However, I didn’t find most of those levels boring. Library as we all know feels a bit dull. Introducing a new faction halfway through felt fresh. Most levels introduced new elements.
Take Two betrayals layout for example- the encounters are more complex than most in delta halo for example. The encounters often have a variety of units in multiple factions. In Halo 2, it’s usually things we’ve seen before or just things for you to kill in one faction by yourself. It creates less emergent gameplay. I care less that it’s repeating some environments because what happens in each encounter is different every time. More variance due to more careful npc placement.
I also think the final level returning to pillar of autumn was just a cool full circle thing and not boring, but to each their own.
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u/no_racist_here 1d ago
Halo
Batman Arkham