A juicy Batman-related rumor has been wafting around as of late. Apparently, a new Batman game coming from the Arkham Origins developer is in the works, called Batman Arkham Crisis. It follows on the heels of Arkham Knight and will include everything fans have asked for and more.
The details behind the “leaked” sequel read off like a fan’s list of most-wanted features for an Arkham game. Thing is, that makes the whole thing sound awfully sketchy. First off, the game will incorporate a much bigger world, 1.7 times the size of Grand Theft Auto V. The Batmobile is out, replaced by the Batwing for combat and transportation. Also featured will be cameos by Dick Grayson, or Nightwing, as well as Jason Todd, also known as Red Hood.
Usually, if something sounds to good too be true, it often is. And Arkham Crisis ticks off all the boxes a Batman Arkham fan would want. The source of the leak is also suspect. Coming from a video by YouTuber Salvage1009, he claims the information came from a playtester who let the Catwoman out of the bag on a Discord channel. This alleged playtester, who works for Warner Bros. Montreal, says the game has been in development for two years and will be released as a GOTY contender for 2019.
If It Pleases The Court
The main antagonist behind Crisis will be the Court of Owls, a centuries-old secret society pulling the strings behind Gotham City. It was introduced back in Batman Volume 2 #3 in 2011. To carry out its crimes, the court dispatches undead assassins known as Talons to do their dirty work. It was a good story, as I recall, and it put Batman in some seriously dire straits. The Court of Owls was powerful and had its fingers everywhere, with influence in both organized crime and politics.
For a game, the Court is the perfect foil for Batman. Not only will he have to use his power of punching people really hard, but it can also utilize the influence of Bruce Wayne in order to save Gotham.
Though we should approach the leak with a heaping mound of salt, there is some evidence backing it up. Last November, a production coordinator at Warner Bros. Montreal posted an image of herself in a shirt that brandished the Court of Owls logo. This birthed speculation that a Batman Court of Owls game was in production. While it does add some credence, it’s still necessary to view this new leak with a skeptical eye.
[Redacted], best. DevTeam. EVAR. pic.twitter.com/fUV8WCkDnI
— Double V (@valvez) November 16, 2018
Devil In The Details
According to the video, Arkham Crisis will be revealed this March and launch on Halloween at midnight. The story will be around 12 hours long, with chapters lasting about an hour each. There will be a day/night cycle, which is something I find interesting, as Batman has typically been a — ahem — night owl. Side quests have been completely redesigned as larger stories lasting around three hours. Instead of those tedious Riddler trophies, there will be 31 challenges to complete. The game will also have a form of co-op multiplayer, which won’t be intended for the main story.
As it currently stands, Batman Arkham Crisis sounds good. Almost too good. While WB Montreal was behind the buggy and average Arkham Origins, there was still enough potential for the team to create a great Batman game. We believe Rocksteady is working on something else, but we don’t know what (it certainly won’t be a Superman game). The leak may prove to be false in time, but ultimately we’re at a “wait and see” impasse.
Unanswered Questions
I do have some final thoughts. For one, are we really married to the Arkham Crisis name? It doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue. I suppose it could be worse. It does at least depict the desperate situation in which we’ll find Batman and Gotham. But it’s not like the last two games were walks in fields of daisies, either. Arkham Knight had Scarecrow filling the city with fear gas, after all. But I digress.
I’m also not sure how the story between the last two games will tie together. This is a bit of a spoiler, but the end of Arkham Knight had some sense of finality to it. If Arkham Crisis is indeed a sequel of sorts, then it will have to explain Batman’s “retirement” somehow. Unless, of course, the game stars a different man behind the mask. Or, it could also be a separate story, sharing the Arkham part of the name just for brand value.
Again, all this speculation only leads me to believe the leak may be fake after all. But we’ll know for sure if the leak carries any weight by March.
