Batman: Arkham Knight Review

As hard as it is to believe, Batman: Arkham Knight has just turned 10! So, in celebration for this brilliant title we have decided to release a retrospective review of how the game holds up after all this time. The Arkham series is loved by so many, myself included, so it was tough to give a non biased critique but I powered through, took my time, and concluded with something I am sure all fans will agree with. Without further delay, lets get into our review of Arkham Knight.

Since Batman: Arkham Knight is 10 years old and this is a revisit review, expect spoilers below. If you are a first time player, proceed with caution.

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The Review

Image by Rocksteady

It really does not feel like it has been 10 years since Arkham Knight released. This might be due to Rocksteady adding a skin of Matt Reeves’ Batman in December 2023, along with the Nintendo Switch release dropping at the same time. This brought a lot of fans back to the game, including myself, and even some new fans who never had the chance to play before.

The thing about Arkham Knight is, it felt so final – and unfortunately there has not been a good Batman universe game out since then. Characters get their send off (Poison Ivy being one of those in what might have been the most beautiful and saddest endings out of all the characters, and the Arkham series had a solid conclusion), although some characters had a far less meaningful ending than others. Despite the series being concluded, there was still hope amongst fans (correction, still is) that another sequel would emerge.

Arkham Knight did not just stop at the main game though, Rocksteady really packed content into their season pass, including the Season of Infamy DLC which adds Killer Croc, Ra’s al Ghoul, Mr Freeze and Mad Hatter who all have their own storyline which runs alongside the main game. Then there are of course the Arkham Episodes, a set of slightly shorter stories that focus around Harley Quinn, Robin, Nightwing, Red Hood, Batgirl and Catwoman. The Arkham Episodes are spectacular, in particular the Red Hood story pack and A Matter of Family DLC. 

The Red Hood story pack is set after the events of Arkham Knight but focuses on Red Hood taking down Black Mask just as he did in Under the Red Hood, then A Matter of Family hints towards the The Killing Joke. These are two iconic stories in the Batman universe and having Arkham Knight pay homage to them was nothing short of brilliant and was executed so perfectly – myself and Alex even agreed that these stories were potentially the most fun part of playing this game again.

Image by Rocksteady

Arkham Knight was however far from perfect. There were of course those repetitive Batmobile battles, along with subpar story elements, some of which see Batman’s greatest foes casually being carted away in the back of the Batmobile to the GCPD, and most disappointing of all, some questionable character redesigns. This is more noticeable if you play through the Season of Infamy DLC in which Killer Croc had a massive remodel and looks like a complete abomination. As for the main game, The Riddler’s redesign stuck out like a sore thumb and felt completely out of character. In Arkham Knight, The Riddler was not this sharply dressed confident mastermind as he is often depicted, he was just an unhinged psychopath who looked like he stopped using a shower.

On the topic of The Riddler, in order to get the games true ending, the player must collect all Riddler Trophies, a tedious task which most would just give up and see how the game ends on YouTube, but as someone who is persistent on maintaining 100% completion on all Arkham games, I was forced to proceed – this really did not make sense considering the ending didn’t even relate to The Riddler.

Moving on to the Batmobile battles. At the time of it’s initial release, this was such a cool part of the game, but on a replay you notice just how repetitive and tedious those parts can be. Completionists are forced into doing way too many of these battles, with Deathstroke’s entire side mission being centred around the Batmobile and the tanks we face off against. Don’t get me wrong, it is still pretty fun messing around in the Batmobile, but the novelty wears off very quickly and the contrast from the rest of the game just makes these parts feel slow.

Image by Rocksteady

There were some choices I cannot get my head around looking back on. For example, The Arkham Knight being Red Hood who is actually Robin aka Jason Todd just feels lazy, and that comes from Red Hood’s biggest fan. It was just so predictable to anyone who was spent anytime reading a Batman comic. It made sense, but the reveal would have been much more compelling if Rocksteady did not centre the story around the Arkham Knights revenge and to point out Batman’s flaws – that’s just Under the Red Hood… come on Rocksteady.

Although there is a lot to pick on in Arkham Knight, there is also a lot to love. The overall story, the environments, the entire game mechanics and those parts do often outweigh the bad. It felt like a true Arkham game, and is worth every second spent in it even 10 years later. I do think a lot of my negative points come from replaying, so if you still have not dived into the world of the Arkham series, I can say with absolute certainty you will just love this game.

The Arkham trilogy (yes we’re excluding Origins here, sorry WB Montreal), paved the way for other superhero games to succeed. Just look at Insomniacs Spider-Man for example – the combat, the open world, even the collectibles, the Arkham trilogy contributed hugely to the overall game. Although there has not been any particularly well received Batman games since, I am glad Arkham Knight concluded the Arkham trilogy the way it did – as explosive and story heavy as the series started.

Image by Rocksteady

Overall, Arkham Knight is a solid game that has not only stood the test of time, but has only grown its audience over the last 10 years with its long awaited Nintendo Switch release and by being added to the expansive Xbox Game Pass catalogue. The story is compelling, the graphics are incredible even by todays standards and the game mechanics feel as smooth as ever.

What are your thoughts on Batman: Arkham Knight? Has it stood up against the test of time? Whatever your thoughts and feelings, share them with us in the comment section of this article. As always, thanks for reading!

See also: Must Read Batman Comic Books

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