When we watched the Playstation keynote at E3 this year, we got incredibly excited over Grand Theft Auto: Gotham City. It took us a moment to realize that what we were actually watching was a trailer for the sequel to Arkham City, Batman: Arkham Knight.
Rocksteady Games gave us a preview of the game and what we saw was very impressive. We saw a massive open world that’s five times larger than the one in Arkham City, as well as one that the developers stressed was tall as well as wide. The “flight” of Batman in the game is designed to highlight the height of the massive skyscrapers in Gotham City and to add a dynamic where it is just as exciting to be in the sky as it is on the ground.
And that’s a tall order, because being on the ground looks absolutely amazing. Not only is the world expansive but as soon as you touch the ground from soaring among the skies you can summon the best Batmobile to be featured in a Batman game. The vehicle has two modes – a “pursuit mode” designed for speeding around the city and and a “battle mode” featuring a machine gun and other specialized weapons.
Also teased in the preview is a touch of the storyline, which is focused on Scarecrow, Harley Quinn, Penguin, Riddler, and Two-Face. The game takes place about a year after the end of Arkham City and Gotham residents have never been safer, but Batman is struggling with the loss of a nemesis he felt oddly connected to. Rocksteady also made a point to give Oracle a stronger role. In an interview with Game Informer, the development team said they wanted her to be more than a voice since she is such a strong character.
We can expect Arkham Knight to be released in 2015 for Playstation 4, Xbox One and PC.
