If you are a Batman Arkham fan, then you have a reason to rejoice. The award winning franchise is back with one more game Batman: Arkham Origins. Ignoring the fact that a prequel is the only way forward given that the Arkham Asylum/City plotline is exhausted, it is still quite intriguing.
Fortunately, DC comics has around 70 years of history that could be used to inspire prequels so in theory there is no reason to doubt the creativity behind the latest release.
Plot (what we know so far)
The plot is set in years before the events of Arkham Asylum and features a younger, less experienced Batman. It seems that Batman has just made himself the biggest target of underworld criminals and as a result, one of the most notorious gangsters of the time, Black Mask, puts a bounty on his head.
Many of you would have already encountered Black Mask in Batman Arkham City and if you played some of the downloadable add-on content, there is actually a level where you have to chase and apprehend the him (players assume the role of Robin).
For those of you who are not aware of the Black Mask, his history is severely twisted. As with many other heroes in the Batman universe, his characters is something of a deliberate contrast to Batman; a “what-if” character. As the owner of Janus Cosmetics, Black Mask AKA Roman Sionis, is extremely wealthy, just like Bruce Wayne.
Just like Bruce Wayne, Roman Sionis has an alter-ego and that along with his chosen path was influenced by his relationship with his parents. However, unlike the Dark Knight who masquerades as the ultimate crusader for justice, the Black Mask has morphed into a cruel sociopathic killer, who takes particular pleasure in torturing his enemies.
He also has a nasty relationship with the Dark Knight. Early on, after murdering his parents because of his hostility towards them, Sionis carved a mask for himself from his father’s casket. However, it became permanently fused to his skin when the Batman tried to save him from a fire in his childhood bedroom - a fire Scionis has started himself.
Fast forward to the plot timeline, and the Black Mask’s bounty has attracted 8 of the deadliest assassins in the world who have all descended on Gotham to try and kill the Dark Knight on Christmas Eve. However, this is the part where details are a bit hazy. The early press releases and promotional images show only one of the eight: Deathstroke. The others are mere speculation at this point but potential villains include the Penguin and the Joker.
Interestingly, this will be the first game that is actually played inside Gotham City, so the experience will be unlike anything before and might leave a lot of room for some creative gameplay. Since the map will be much bigger than anything designed before, there will be an easier way to move from one point of the map to another.
If you played Arkham City you probably know how annoying it is to travel from one part of the city to another, so this would certainly be a welcome addition. There is talk of introducing something similar to the concept of capturing towers to (like Far Cry or Assassin’s Creed) to enable travel and gets other bonuses. However, this is speculation.
The developers also said they plan on including a whole new range of gadgets. I don’t think most of his recent technology will disappear - Augmented vision, batarangs, etc. - however things like the freeze bombs, enhanced grappling hook and other gadgets might not make it into the new game due to the timeline (Batman only got access to those gadgets in Arkham City timeline).
Verdict
As a fan I’m quite thrilled with the new prequel because it is based in Gotham City, features a new plotline and is based on a younger (and less experienced) Batman. The Batman in Arkham Asylum/City was a definitely a veteran and knew his enemies inside-out.
Therefore, looking at a Batman who has to study his enemies from scratch is going to be very interesting. This is definitely in my list of most anticipated games.
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