How should Rocksteady improve the next Arkham game?

I've been wondering about this ever since Arkham Origins came out. I know that it wasn't made by Rocksteady, but I've seen some improvements in it, such as the inclusion of fast travel or how you can access the challenge maps in the story line.

So what should Rocksteady do to make the next Arkham even bigger or better? I mean, obviously people are split about Asylum and City for different reasons. For me, Arkham had a better story going for it, as it was cohesive and easy to follow, but City made excellent improvements with the combat system and had more variety in missions. That game made me think about Assassin's Creed 1 and 2 and how the second game blew the first one away due to its numerous improvements and additions that just made it better in every area.

So what about you guys?

Most straightforward way to expand on the universe would be to go true open world, full Gotham with civilians, and include one or several of Bat's vehicles like the Batmobile, Batpod and perhaps the submarine. If you want the full Bat experience that's what needs to happen.

That being said I don't think it would necessarily be a better game. OW games typically have pacing problems and the world cany feel bareboned/empty after a while when you see through the illusion. Rocksteady is a fairly small studio compared to the big boys. A little over 90 people worked on City. Compare that to Assassin's Creed or GTA, franchises with over 900 developers. I'm not convinced RS would be able to pull off a full Gotham game. City had some of the typical OW problems allready imo.

We know Rocksteady are full at work on some game (could be a different IP ofc), let's hope they have figured it out :)!

Customizable quickfire gadgets.

I'd like to see all of the gadgets get a quickfire function and be able to set up quickfire loadouts for both combat and predator segments.

I'd also like to see them shift back away from unlockable upgrades- nothing to me is more frustrating than seeing an ability I need locked away behind "Capture X Villain." Disarm and Destroy is Batman's single greatest advantage over all the other characters and the batclaw disarm is absolutely invaluable in getting you out of tight spots, but both are locked away by villains(at least one of whom I still haven't even glimpsed yet) instead of by levels, skill trees or even campaign progress. It's infuriating.

One last thing- I'd like to see a New Game + that was available from the start- unlocking all the abilities in the next game that you had in the last according to your game save from the last game.

After Origins i dont even know if i want another one. Unless it was like Batman Beyond or something.

custumization and perhaps more RPG elements. Do i also dare to say more streamlining of main story and quests and a bigger world

How should Rocksteady improve the next Arkham game? By making it.

Firstly Bigger isn't always better so i think a return to a more Asylum style , where its more focused on telling a story then openworld craziness that has no real meaning and feel like its there just to be there. Also i think it would be very refreshing if they dont included the Joker and use some of the tons of other villains there is in the batman universe.

But i dont think Rocksteady is going to come back.

I wouldn't go so far to comparing the two to AC 1 and AC 2. AA wasn't broken or repetative, but was a little more linear and wasn't as big or ambitous. But it's still a milestone in gaming. Arkham City is bigger with more variety. Different people like different things. I haven't played the entire City game, but Asylum was awesome

Easy !..... Just add Splitscreen !

I don't think that is going to work unless it's online or has a confined space

it was kind off in Asylum :3

I'm sorry you had to see this Rocksteady, do not be influenced by this man. He didn't mean it.

Go back into your cave dvader, you're drunk.

I don't really care... The games are fun, but to me, they get bland after awhile... So I don't know what they could do for improvements... I guess different villians, and like someone said, maybe make it Batman Beyond or something... of maybe even The Dark Knight Returns or something...

Haven't gotten around to Origins yet so I can't make a fair comparison but I will say that I hope Rocksteady doesn't go back make another Batman/Arkham game. They're obviously a talented studio and one of the surprises of this gen but I hope they take that talent and work on another or new IP.

It would really suck to have them stuck to just one IP.

That's not a bad idea at all. Grizzled old Bruce and young Terry McGinnis, but with the Rocksteady aesthetic. That could work really well. And the constant earpiece connection they shared in the animated series would allow for plenty of Kevin Conroy speechifying through the course of the game. That's always a plus.

The big problem with that route, as far as I can see, is that there just isn't a main villain on par with the Joker, Penguin, Two-Face, etc. Don't get me wrong, I really liked Beyond. Heck I still do (yay Netflix). But telling the tale of Terry learning the ropes of Batman and his valiant struggle against... that crappy splicer street gang. It's just not as potent as donning the cape and cowl to do battle with Joker's machinations. I'm sure if Rocksteady did decide to go that route, however, they would make it work. Those guys are masters of their craft as far as I'm concerned.

Linearity doesn't bother me at all. I Would really love to punch thugs in the dark with my boyfriend ! But thats me.

While Assassin's Creed II had more "stuff" in it, it lost the focus of the first game, and started the franchise trend towards fluff and away from what the first one really started: well-planned, satisfying assassinations.

I'm only a few hours into Origins, and while there are some pretty glaring bugs (the Burnley tower really annoyed me), it seems an improvement on the whole (but does have that "expansion pack" feeling). Where it could go from here is up to Rocksteady. They need to take the time and really work on the little details to make it feel new and fresh again like Asylum was to the genre, and then City was again to the franchise.

The main thing they should work on is probably going to have to be a larger, more detailed Gotham City, like the one in Origins. Maybe even do a "Batman Incorporated" game, and give the player access to more characters, or even make one of their own.

Playtesting it for gamebreaker bugs would be a good start.

not kill off the best villain ever created.. wait they already did that

who is that?

by making it batman beyond game!!! enough said

The IGN review of this game says the map could be better and fast traveling is better than traversing certain parts. Is that true?

I have not played Arkham Origins yet. If that was not obvious a moment ago, I clarified. That said, I would like a story with other superheroes from Batman's perspective. Playing as him during a Justice League level threat could be awesome to experience.

Hmm, in what way could the map be better?

But i cant agree with IGN on fast traveling, sure you can use it to get fast from one end to the other but the map isn't that big so that it gets annoying to travel manually, so i haven't used fast travel for more than batcave - Gotham because you have to. and some of the best fun is actually traveling and listening in to the different convo´s the badguys are having, also the bridge is a nice addition.

Oh one thing tho that have annoyed me from the start with Batman, and thats the height map, even the tall buildings seem short and particular when you are gliding, it feels like you just above ground and not really using the buildings height to your advantage.

1. Make the boss fights not suck for once

2. Base it off Batman Beyond

Completely agree. Vehicles are the next logical step. I'd also like to see the Bat and the Batcycle/pod in the next game in addition to the Batmobile.

so far im enjoying origins but it is slightly weaker then city. i think a way they can improve this is make bruce wayne playable in certain missions. Maybe you investigate someone then have to turn into batman on the fly. have a city environment, not just a city populated with "thugs."have varied environments, not just the dark snowy city.

These are all good Ideas but they seem a little shallow and gimmicky, whats the point in adding the Batmobile or new villains if they can't make good use of them, it would be like Assassin's Creed all over again. Need I remind you that Hugo strange and the Joker served no purpose beyond the narrative. This is why Ivy, Scare Crow, The Riddler and even Victor Feeze are way better villains than Hugo and Joker who were just mostly plot pieces. Its a game, not a comic book.

I'm board with Batman. Have them make a dark and gritty Ninja Turtles game. They have talent but need to move on from Batman.

This is a question I asked myself after I played Arkham City. It's really hard to think of a way that they could improve the game in a meaningful way at this point. City was one of the most improved sequels over its predecessor and the best game I played all last gen. It was ambitious and did everything at an almost untoppable level.

I feel like they did it; they made the best possible batman game they could.

I would love them to prove me wrong though.

I agree with this pretty much. I think Rocksteady are too good to just rehash the same franchise. It would be very interesting to see what they could do with another DC characters like Superman, Green Arrow, or perhaps the Flash? Just so they can start inovating again, because they did an amazing job with Asylum.

Problem with that idea is that opposed to Batman, those are superheroes with superpowers and in the lore almost unbeatable by regular means.

With Batman you have a normal guy who just uses his money and tech-skills to provide him with an edge over the criminal underworld, also his enemies are pretty much regular joes with the exception of a few, like Ivy and croc.

The same thing won't work for Superman or any of the other DC heroes. So no thanks Rocksteady should just stick with Batman or perhaps make a new ip.

All those super heroes should stay in the comics.

i don't think it would be possible for them to make a new game that is fresh.

You clearly have no idea what the **** you are talking about.

@ PyratRum

You havent given much thought to how mechanically different these other heroes must be, lest you wind up the exact same game in a Superman skin/filter/window dressing. This was the problem with Cobblepot, Strange, Dent and Joker, they only differed in the plot. In the game they all had the same design structure, "let the henchmen do the work" which wouldn't have been a problem if each faction was unique, but they weren't. You can't just say make superman and clock out ? Superman is by far the worst super hero of them all.

@Lulu_Lulu: I can't quite figure out your point here- all the villains you mentioned are crime bosses of one sort or another. Of course they're going to have henchmen to do the rough stuff for them. In fact, other than HYDRA, batman villains head the most notable comic-based organizations ever founded on cannon fodder. And as far back as Adam West's tenure under the cowl, the only thing to differentiate the Riddler's goons from the Joker's was by how they dressed.

But like I said, I couldn't quite make out what you were getting at, so if you were making a totally different point, I'll shut up now.

Oh I disagree. He's not my favorite, but far far FAR from the worst. There are tons of worse characters in both of the big 2's stables.

Superman's issue is that he's the original. Superhero comics all stem from him and his popularity. So over the years, over dozens of writers, artists, and retcons, what does a writer even do with Superman?

It's certainly a challenge. And that is why they put people like Scott Snyder on a new Superman comic. That's why Jim Lee works on Superman books. They are at the top of their game and seem to still come up with interesting things for the Man of Steel to do.

I think Superman works best in film and television. Smallville kinda sucked, but the first few seasons were entertaining enough and I liked the concept even if the execution didn't always live up. And I enjoyed several of the Superman films as well. And even the ones I didn't enjoy, I still liked seeing Brandon Routh doing Superman style heroics for example.

Most of DC's stable are less characters and more archetypes. The Dark Avenger is a tale that can be retold in different ways. The heroic Christ figure, the Amazon princess, these are well worn concepts that allow for infinite reinterpretation. And I think Supes is still a good character, even on his worst day. Plus New 52 Supes doesn't have the silly panties over his suit, which is a big boon to his design.

According to IGN, the bridge.

Batman is almost unbeatable by regular means. I am also talking about the rest of your post when I now say please research topics before talking like you know about them.

@ El_Zo1212o

My point is simple, why add somthing if you can't make comprehensive use of it ?

I'lm not comic book fan, hell, I'm don't even like Batman, so I'm not swayed when somthing is added just for fan service, the Joker in both Batman games and hugo strange felt like that to me, oppertunity missed if you ask me.

I would like to see a more sprawling, living Gotham. Asylum and City were fine, but Origins is so lifeless. If Rocksteady extends the game to Gotham as opposed to a prison they'd have to make the world more compelling.

One thing that immediately pops to mind, and maybe someone's already mentioned this (haven't read through yet), they really should elaborate and deepen the detective aspects. Introduce an element of true puzzle solving with scripted crime-scenes for free roam and within the main plot. Batman's the world's greatest detective, and even the ability to rewind/fast forward in Origins doesn't touch and extrapolate nearly enough on this point. It's all very linear with no room for experimentation. Detective work is an important part of the character and needs to be expanded upon.

As such, introduce detective gadgets that are solely to be used to investigate the environment. Really make it take ingenuity and out of the box thinking to solve crimes. Rocksteady has already demonstrated they can get quite clever with the Riddler's puzzles so I have no doubt they could nail the detective part perfectly.

A good thread, Meta.

@ MirkoS77

I also found out disconcerting when Batman mouths off and solves the crimes puzzles by himself (with the help of the Batcomputer) leaving me to do the boring leg work and evidence catalogging. Perhaps they could learn from LA Noire or Sherlock Holmes (the deduction board) and the upcoming Murdered: Soul Suspect. Basicly any adventure game will do.

Ya, whats the deal with a lot of games these days, because its not just batman who solves the "puzzle" what happened to the idea that us gamers actually have a brain in our heads and can think for ourselves.

So yep that would be a great addition that Batman STFU and let the player do the solving.

As much as i loved batman arham asylum/City i honestly feel it's time to move away from batman, I mean 3 games is enough, they were great games why not come back after a few years out and maybe let the guys who did origins carry it on for a couple more, that way Batman games still come out and Rocksteady get a new challenge.

I don't want them to milk it and it to get stale, i think 3 games is enough.

@ Jacanuk

Theres also some minor, large scale version of Pixel Hunting. Batman needs to find something but the player is given no hints or leads for where or how to find it so you gotta comb the entire game looking for it, pretty pathetic for the worlds greatest detective if you ask me. Actually it gets worse, In Watcher In The Wings and Identity Theft Side missions from Arkham City, the thing that you're looking for is scripted and scheduled only to appear after completing a certain amount of the main campaign, but heres the f#cked up part: the game doesn't tell you that, you could search through the entire world in and out looking for something that isn't is there yet, like I did. Reminds me of the scripted chase missions in GTA where you can't catch or destroy your target until the game says so but doesn't warn you about that. Its not the illusion that bothers me, it was its crappy execution that got to me, it was lazy. infact quite alot of games use this kind of crappy scripting. Most Recently it as Hunting The Deer in TLOU.

The thing is, once you destroy all the relays and free the communication tower for that area, the bridge is no longer necessary to go through. It is, however, needed to go back in order to pick up a few collectibles near or around the area.

NON-SPECIFIC SPOILERS BELOW!!

@Lulu_Lulu: I'll give you Strange, but the Joker is different. It wasn't until about 80% of the way through the campaign before I stopped being disappointed in the story because it made me realize that Batman: Arkham isn't ABOUT Batman. The reason the Joker plays such a major role in every entry of the series(including Blackgate) is because he embodies the concept of Arkham. I figured it was called Arkham Origins because it was an origin story in the Arkham universe- it was really about the origin of the connection between Batman and the Arkham posterboy- the Joker. Sure, they crammed a couple of other origins into it, but that's where the focus of the story rested.

A case could be made, and this is a topic of much conversation among my real life friends and I, that Batman is never the main character of any of his best stories.

The Batman stories I like the most are when the main character is Gotham City itself. Despite being ostensibly an American setting, it's designed like an old european city where the streets were built atop old goat paths and each building has a history and a feel all it's own. Where gothic architecture populate the world that Batman is merely there to protect. Gotham is a sick beast and Batman is the antibiotic trying to fight the disease of crime and apathy. And for all his pomp and circumstance, he's often less effective than we'd like to make him out to be. I mean what good is his much ballyhooed code of ethics if Joker keeps escaping to murder and main?

These are always fun discussions in my humble opinion. It's fun to deconstruct the things we love.

Batman rarely drives the story. Batman is more often reactive even though the solution is often written to make him seem proactive. The villain is almost always more interesting than Batman. Batman is an emotionless fascist if you stop to over-analyze it all. But the character facilitates all the craziness around him with his machinations. Despite not having any super powers in the conventional sense, he is Deus Ex Machina made flesh and blood.

@ El_Zo1212o

Obviously !. I never doubted the Joker's narrative value. Its his mechanical and overall contribution to the game I take issue with, Strange considering I've yet to play Origin's