Batman fever is still higher than ever outside of the comic book world. Between comics, the upcoming film starring Robert Pattinson, and several TV shows taking place in Gotham, it’s clear that everybody still adores the world of Batman. But while film and television might be getting its fair share, gaming has taken a backseat lately.
For the longest time, gaming’s share of the caped crusader came from the popular Batman Arkham series. These games are the fundamental Batman experience, letting you experience the heroic skills of Batman while exploring the world of Gotham for yourself. If we were to finally get a new game, these are some of the things we do and don’t want to see.
10 Do: More Color
The series is undoubtedly iconic through its dark tones and rainy cityscapes, but a slight flaw with the style is how indistinct each game looks among its peers. While a full shift in style wouldn’t be necessary, shifting and adding to the color palette would easily help a future game stand out from its peers.
This could easily just be done by changing the time of day. Batman might thrive at night, but forcing him into the daylight or having a longer timeline than a single evening might add some diversity to the game’s appearance, and provide the feeling of a much newer adventure.
9 Don’t: Endless Riddler Trophies
There are obscene amounts of objects to collect and find through the open-world entries to the series, but very few players truly have the time or interest in collecting all of them. Completionists might miss these, but shrinking down the mass of neon question marks would make the world of Gotham far less cluttered.
They don’t need to be eliminated, though. The biggest nuisance of these is that they’re everywhere, and in the case of Riddler’s puzzles often require items you haven’t unlocked yet. Players might appreciate them more if they were harder to find, or if they didn’t show up until after you’ve beaten the game.
8 Do: Open-World
Batman: Arkham Asylum kicked off this franchise brilliantly, with an exploration of Arkham that no other piece of Batman media has truly provided. While this was great, later games have only grown bigger, expanding into the prison town of Arkham City and the fuller world of Gotham.
Not all fans are fond of this format, but the freedom to travel and protect the city is now a staple of the series. It would perhaps do good to have fewer side ventures distracting you, but being able to protect and explore the city is an important part of these games and would be a shame to lose.
7 Don’t: Movie Inspiration
The Batman Arkham series takes mostly from the comics, but there’s no doubt that Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight films were a big influence on these games. Batman: Arkham Origins was perhaps the biggest victim of this, making Bane more humanoid to likely reflect Tom Hardy’s Bane in The Dark Knight Rises.
At the moment, we don’t know much about the upcoming film starring Robert Pattinson, and the quality of Ben Affleck’s portrayal is still greatly debated by fans. It wouldn’t be the worst to take some inspiration from other Batman media, but if we’ve had more than enough movie-style Batman in this series so far.
6 Do: TV Inspiration
If a future Batman Arkham game had to take much more inspiration from other Batman media, the world of television would be a much more interesting source. Shows like the CW’s Batwoman and Adult Swim’s Harley Quinn have given a lot of fresh ideas to the Batman series and could make great resource pools for developers to take from.
While these shows are certainly more lighthearted than the Batman Arkham series, both provide tons of new looks to famous characters and give fresh takes to the social world of Gotham. The series tone of the game series wouldn’t have to go away, but building from these show’s ideas might help make a new entry feel especially unique.
5 Don’t: Continuity
The Batman Arkham games are fairly independent stories, but they’ve nonetheless had a heavy overarching plot surrounding Batman’s relationship with the Joker. This has been a gripping story, but with Batman: Arkham Knight this story is complete, and a new game in the series doesn’t need to add more to this completed arc.
This could easily be an opportunity to tell a new story, from somewhere in Batman’s history or even going further into the future. This series is not defined by this story, but by its gameplay and style, and it would be lovely to see something get away from this
4 Do: Deeper Stealth
The gameplay is absolutely the foundation of this series, with an incredibly fluid combat system and a huge emphasis on Batman as a well-equipped sneaky detective. Maintaining these would be key in a new game, and are the primary things that need to remain and grow more complex.
There have been tons of great stealth games since Batman: Arkham Asylum, and show there are plenty of new ideas that could add to the gameplay. It could be especially to bring in more living and time-sensitive environments like in Hitman 2 or Metal Gear Solid V, and might even give better opportunities for Bruce Wayne to have some gameplay.
3 Don’t: Batmobile
The decision to put the Batmobile into Batman: Arkham Knight is alright on paper, as it gives a new way to traverse the city and tons of new gameplay and combat situations. Unfortunately, its application is quite rough, and your famous vehicle feels more like a slow and awkward tank.
The Batmobile doesn’t have to be nonexistent, but having it show up as it did before would be a huge detriment to the series. People play this game to be Batman, not to sluggishly drive his car, and there are far better games and places to get a dramatic driving experience.
2 Do: New Protagonist
Anyone who knows about comics and television can tell you how there are tons of caped crusaders beyond just Bruce Wayne. With Wayne’s story arc complete, this might be a good opportunity to make a game in this series centered on someone totally new.
It could be exciting for a pre-established character like Robin taking the mantle. But this series could easily step into the future by using Batman: Beyond’s Terry McGinnis, or move elsewhere in the family by using Batwoman’s Kate Kane. The original Batman might be the face of the series, but a new game would be a great opportunity to let the rest of the family shine.
1 Don’t: More Joker
This is definitely not to say the Joker hasn’t always been a massive highlight in the Batman Arkham series. Any opportunity to hear more of Mark Hamill’s wonderful voice is a blessing, but these games don’t need him to make a great story.
Even in Batman: Arkham Knight, where Joker has passed away, the story still surrounds how Joker has affected Batman. If this series is to go somewhere new, it needs to move into new territory and take a break from the Joker, or at least make him less of a dominant presence.
NEXT: 5 Things That The Next Arkham Game Should Carry Over From The Previous Entries (& 5 It Should Forget About)
