New Batman: Arkham Knight details, no multiplayer, and getting the best out of Xbox One/PS4

Batman: Arkham Knight will take place one year after the events of Arkham City, developer Rocksteady has confirmed, along with a slew of other information about the game's drivable batmobile, increased city size, and combat mechanics.

Rocksteady spilled the beans in Game Informer's April 2014 issue, talking about how Gotham City's open world will be five times the size of the one in Arkham City. Streets will also be wider to accommodate for the drivable batmobile. The batmobile! It's described as an "unstoppable force" by game director and studio co-founder Sefton Hill, one that players can summon with the press of a button--only to have it arrive at high speeds, smashing through any nearby vehicles, traffic posts, or even the corners of buildings.

Batman can also eject himself out of the car at a moment's notice, flinging our hero out of his vehicle and up into the sky, where he can maintain his momentum by gliding and grappling. The Dark Knight has also been spruced up a bit in combat, including new moves and takedowns, although Rocksteady says the simplicity of the brawling is one of the game's signatures. Rocksteady should know: Batman's counter-focused gameplay has been borrowed by plenty of other titles since its release.

Batman: Arkham Knight will also feature a new villain built specifically for the game, and described as a "formidable" foe. A silhouette of the new antagonist shows that his outline makes him look quite similar to Batman--what are the chances that it could be Hush, who popped up briefly (and teasingly) at the end of one of the side quests in Arkham City? Scarecrow also features, having cooked up a new batch of fear toxin and planting it in bombs around the city.

Fans will also be delighted to know that Kevin Conroy will reprise the role of Batman, having been replaced in Arkham Origins by Roger Craig Smith. Conroy is, if you ask me, the definitive voice of Batman--his smooth-but-grizzled chatter trounces all over Bale's comedy snarl.

Hill also confirmed that the game won't feature a multiplayer mode, unlike last year's Batman: Arkham Origins.

"We don't have the time to do multiplayer," he said. "We want to focus on making the best single-player experience we can. We don't feel that it needs a multiplayer element."

Publisher Warner Bros. is said to have "backed up" Rocksteady's decision on multiplayer from the start of the project.

Hill also spoke about creating a game exclusively for the new consoles (and PC). "It's not a challenge moving to next-gen," he said, "the real challenge is making sure you're getting the best out of the machines."

"You see a lot of games that are cross-gen and they feel a bit reined in because of that."

The GameSpot team also scrubbed through the game's debut trailer to see what info was buried within.

Batman: Arkham Knight is due to be released for the PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 sometime in 2014, with US retailer GameStop pegging the date for October 14.