Batman: Arkham Knight Set for 2014 Release on PS4, Xbox One, PC

[John Keefer]

Batman: Arkham Knight Set for 2014 Release on PS4, Xbox One, PC


The Arkham series of games will come to a conclusion with this final installment from Rocksteady Studios and Warner Bros. Interactive, maybe by October 14.

Batman: Arkham Knight has been revealed, and developer Rocksteady Studios is hoping to take the series out with a proverbial bang.

The single-player-only title, revealed today for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, is set about a year after the events of Batman: Arkham City, and will include such villains and Two-Face, Penguin, Harley Quinn and Scarecrow, judging from the accompanying video. Rocksteady, which created Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, said it will be devoting all its time to making the finale its best effort yet.

"We kind of feel like this is the natural end for this story," said a developer in a video accompanying the announcement on Game Informer [http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2014/03/04/april-cover-revealed-2014-1039752374.aspx]. "We really want to go out in style."

The game could be coming on October 14, according to an ad at GameStop, but Warner Bros. would not confirm that date. supposedly, a pre-order of the game from GamEstop will give you for extra challenge maps and let you play villain Harley Quinn.

Check out Escapist News Now [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/escapist-news-now/8856-Batman-Arkham-Knight-Coming-2014] for more info.

Source: Polygon [http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2014/03/04/april-cover-revealed-2014-1039752374.aspx]

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[CJ1145]

I'm really hoping this follows up everything Arkham City set up. That thing with Jean Paul Valley warning Batman about the city being consumed with fire (though the logo suggests that will be a thing.) Also hoping to see more of the Batfamily this time around. Quinn's Revenge suggested a lot about Batman alienating those around him after the Joker's death, so I'm hoping this will deal with the fallout from that.

 

[BrotherRool]

This is probably one of the first big non-exclusive games to ditch the last generations consoles right? It might even be the first. Times, they are a-changing

 

[Brian Tams]

So, Arkham is going to be on a yearly release schedule?

I really hate it when Publishers copy the piece of shit CoD release schedule and expect to be successful.

Also, how the fuck do they plan on having Scarecrow? Croc ate his face for breakfast in Asylum.

 

[CriticalMiss]

Since Rocksteady are behind this it will hopefully be leagues ahead of Arkham Origins. Judging by the new suit and Batwheels I would have guessed it was set more than one year after Arkham City but I suppose they could just say he had some shinier gadgets hidden away. I look forward to finding out more about this one. And correct me if I am wrong but didn't they say they were going to be making a silver age Batman game and not another Arkham title?

So, Arkham is going to be on a yearly release schedule?

I really hate it when Publishers copy the piece of shit CoD release schedule and expect to be successful.

Also, how the fuck do they plan on having Scarecrow? Croc ate his face for breakfast in Asylum.

Well, since they've said it's the last Arkham game it's not going to become an annual franchise. Although WB might just run it in to the ground anyway with other developers cougharkhamoriginscough

 

[Darth Sea Bass]

Looks spiffy though i doubt i'll get to play it for a while. I doubt my PC will be up to the job and i don't have either next gen consoles.

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

looks like I could be skipping Warner Bros Montréal's Origins completely. Rocksteady are back at the helm.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Man. Knowing all the things that AC left unanswered I can tell that AK story will be huge.

I think that scene in the trailer where Bats is chasing Harvey is a hint that the Batmobile will be a thing in the game. How huge is the world they're building this time?

 

[suitepee7]

So, Arkham is going to be on a yearly release schedule?

I really hate it when Publishers copy the piece of shit CoD release schedule and expect to be successful.

Also, how the fuck do they plan on having Scarecrow? Croc ate his face for breakfast in Asylum.

well they said this is the last one, and it's actually being made by rocksteady again which - if they've been working on it for some time - would explain why origins was outsourced to a different dev.

no idea about scarecrow though, didn't one of the endings reveal scarecrow on a train anyway?

but anyway, pleased to hear this. didn't want a prequel, and wanted rocksteady to make it again, both of my issues with origins solved right there. a conclusion to this would be pretty awesome, that way i can regard the series as a trilogy >_>

 

[Roxas1359]

So, Arkham is going to be on a yearly release schedule?

I really hate it when Publishers copy the piece of shit CoD release schedule and expect to be successful.

Also, how the fuck do they plan on having Scarecrow? Croc ate his face for breakfast in Asylum.

Except that it says in the OP that this is the conclusion of the Arkham series, and Arkham Origins wasn't made by the people who did the first 2 Arkham games. Rocksteady didn't release this new one last year because Warner Brothers wanted to give Rocksteady time to make the game.

Now if let's hope that WB doesn't decide to make it a yearly series though, but I could see that damaging DC, who have historically already had some pretty shitty games based off of the characters (MK vs DCU, Superman 64, Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis).

As for Scarecrow, I take it you never got the hidden message that Scarecrow leaves you in Arkham City on one of the frequencies nor the riddle you get that shows that Scarecrow was somewhere in Arkham City. It's by the Steel Mill on top of one of the cranes. You'll find a pile of hay and Scarecrow's mask.

 

[Zaydin]

I'm skeptical as to whether Warner Brothers will really let the Batman: Arkham franchise rest after this. It's likely far too profitable to let it rest, much like Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, and the like. Still, if Rocksteady can approach Arkham City-level quality with this, it'd be the first big game that would have me really wanting to get a next gen console for.

 

[Rooster893]

I was already going to get this game, but having Harley Quinn as a bonus is going to make me preorder. I love that crazy little jester.

I do hope to see more of the Batfamily. Playing as Red Hood would be badass, but I don't think that it's going to happen. Still, a man can dream.

I'm very excited for Scarecrow being the main villain, seeing as he's my favorite Batman villain (next to Harley, of course).

 

[Callate]

So, wait... In his will, Thomas Wayne gave everything to his son, Bruce, without any stipulation as to whether or not Martha Wayne was still alive?

What a dick.

Anyway... Yes, good to see the Arkham series back in Rocksteady's capable hands.

 

[RA92]

Am I the only one seeing a bit of the Lamborghini Egoista in the new Batmobile design?

http://www.zercustoms.com/news/images/Lamborghini/Lamborghini-Egoista-13.jpg

 

[gigastar]

This is probably one of the first big non-exclusive games to ditch the last generations consoles right? It might even be the first. Times, they are a-changing

Im fairly certain that Witcher 3 is launching before Arkham Knight is.

I'm skeptical as to whether Warner Brothers will really let the Batman: Arkham franchise rest after this. It's likely far too profitable to let it rest, much like Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, and the like. Still, if Rocksteady can approach Arkham City-level quality with this, it'd be the first big game that would have me really wanting to get a next gen console for.

Well, its not like the DC Universe doesnt have any other heroes with mainstream exposure that are worthy of their own game.

They could do a game based on Green Arrow, especially if they bring in the grimdark that the TV series is managing to get away with.

 

[Therumancer]

So, Arkham is going to be on a yearly release schedule?

I really hate it when Publishers copy the piece of shit CoD release schedule and expect to be successful.

Also, how the fuck do they plan on having Scarecrow? Croc ate his face for breakfast in Asylum.

Maybe not, if they are serious about letting the series end here, there might be other Batman games, and other titles that play similarly to this, but there won't be any more "Arkham" titles.

As far as how they bring back various characters... well, Arkham has kept just enough of the cheese from the comics where you kind of expect improbable resurrections to take place.

To be honest I am sort of hoping that their plans might be to end "Arkham" here but continue the whole "Bat-games" in a different vein. Perhaps by doing different titles focusing on other street level vigilantes or villains as playable characters. To be honest a big part of the problem is that to do things right you really need to write for each specific character, and they seemed to have enough trouble just handling Batman and Catwoman where actually doing a single player campaign where you could switch characters to other members of the Batman family on the fly wouldn't feel quite right since there is no way they could constantly personalize things and make them feel fluid.

Perhaps they will move on to something like giving Green Arrow, Nightwing, or The Huntress their own game. Likewise if they decide to keep Joker dead, it might be interesting to do a game focusing on Harley as a protagonist trying to rebuild or hold together his gang, perhaps with the ultimate objective being to find some way to resurrect The Joker (via a Lazarus pit or whatever). That said the whole "Arkham" version of Harley is basically just a nutter with some gymnastics so far. She'd mostly only work as a protagonist if they empowered her sort of like her comics counterpart was for a while, where she had physical abilities (granted by Ivy) well above the norm, which is the actual reason why she was so dangerous. It's been a while I believe they mentioned that she'd probably be tougher than just about anyone else on that level if she ever actually learned how to fight as opposed to just winging it (that said she's not on that uber a level, as Ivy put it her abilities weren't going to give Superman anything to worry about). She'd actually work better than "The Joker" because at the end of the day The Joker is kind of a wuss himself, just being an insane dude with a handgun and a few gimmicks, a lot of the time his actual fight scenes where he's taken Batman down and put him in a death trap or whatever have involved telling a couple of 7' 4" tall 400lb ex-prison inmates dressed as clowns "get him" (and yes kids, Batman has been taken down by thugs before, though he typically escapes and turns the tables). The point is that I've always felt "The Joker" felt like an awkward addition to fighting/brawling games no matter how they have tried to do it, he's more of a mastermind, making him actually the focus of a game like this (as opposed to a cool little hidden feature in a trial mode) just wouldn't work because I just can't see The Joker leaping off of a building an pulverizing half a dozen swat team members in a huge brawl. On the other hand... Harley (in the comics) can do things like that, and has presented that kind of an actual, physical threat, not to mention being a genius in her own right (no matter how she acts) and a psychiatrist. Part of the later joke always seemed to be that she's probably actually more dangerous than The Joker if she didn't have the obsessive hangups.

 

[SilverUchiha]

While I love how this game looks and am really excited for the return of the glorious Scarecrow, I must admit I'm very disappointed in the lack of a WiiU release. Guess I'll be buying this for PC unless that changes since I'm not dropping another $400-$500 on another console I really don't have room for at the moment.

inb4 people hating on WiiU for shit graphics: DON'T CARE! My console of choice. Don't like it? Fuck off.

 

[Tahaneira]

I'm skeptical as to whether Warner Brothers will really let the Batman: Arkham franchise rest after this. It's likely far too profitable to let it rest, much like Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, and the like. Still, if Rocksteady can approach Arkham City-level quality with this, it'd be the first big game that would have me really wanting to get a next gen console for.

Probably not. However, from the sound of it it will be the last game Rocksteady will be working on. So if WB continues to pump out Arkham titles, and they continue to decline in quality, it shouldn't be too hard to regard Asylum, City, and Knight as 'canon' and wash your hands of the rest.

I am incredibly excited about this. Little to no information as of yet, of course, but the tidbits so far sound promising. I especially like the idea of taking down three guys at once as an opening move in Predator encounters (and then taking out the rest the old-fashioned way).

 

[Objectable]

Fuck off Origins. Now THIS IS BATMAN!

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Looks good to me. Glad that the whole "Gotham will burn" warning from City wasn't completely forgotten about. So...does this mean we need to go tear through city again and see if there are any other hidden rooms that we've all missed over the years? We already know about the Scarecrow boat. Anything else?

Yay! Twilight gets to be Harley again. Good times.

And we get to finish Hush off this time, right?