Batman: Arkham Knight Retrospective Review - A Long Halloween (Part 1)

I am Vengeance I am the Knight I am Batman I've been doing this role for 30 years which is pretty crazy for an acting job it's a cultural icon and to be a part of that you know it's it's an honor never underestimate how much I appreciate each and every one of you and what you give me back for my performances it means the world to me take care [Music] [Music] thank you [Music] no more Batman by the end of 2011 Rocksteady Studios was on fire having released two extremely well-received Batman games as part of their Arkham series their first game Batman Arkham Asylum was a Smash Hit and Not only was it an incredible Batman game but it also proved that the superhero game genre could be taken seriously as award-worthy games with such a striking success it's hard to imagine them topping themselves in a significant way but that's exactly what they did in the sequel Batman Arkham City rocksteady's Ambitions for Arkham City were much grander in scale and it managed to improve upon their first game in almost every way Rocksteady could do no wrong at this point and fans were eager for more with such success though comes equal pressure and Rock City wanted to make sure they delivered a third game that would feel even bigger and better than the last to fully accomplish their Ambitions they knew they would need additional development time compared to the prior games which would be roughly three years other changes would be necessary as well to fully succeed on their Vision the first was that the next game would be a next-gen only title for the PS4 and Xbox One era of consoles this new hardware allowed them to push beyond what they were beloved in the previous console generation as explained by lead engine programmer Dustin Holm during an interview with Red Bull very early on when we were looking at the scope of the game we knew we wanted to make a bigger city but we didn't really want to sacrifice that level of detail or level of content so we figured that it wouldn't really work well with the previous generation we knew that we wanted to jump onto next-gen Hardware in order to maintain that really high level of detail and it turned out there was power to spare so we could push the graphics side we could push the level of detail up as well make it render a lot better and still keep all the content we didn't have to put any caps on that side of things to help put the new map size into context Dax Jin stated during an interview with Game Central that quote it's about five times the size of the world we built for Arkham City which makes it about 20 times bigger than what we had for Arkham Asylum you can definitely feel this as you explore the three islands of Gotham as well as its various Interiors however you won't just be gliding to Traverse Gotham as a major aspect of rocksteady's ambition was to introduce a playable Batmobile for the first time in the prior games we don't only seen glimpses of the Batmobile but never got to drive it ourselves despite it being a major fan request as to why it wasn't included in the prior games game director Sefton Hill explains that quote you have to earn the ride a little bit for these things we really don't have a kitchen sink approach we don't put everything in a game see what sticks take some stuff out and then put some stuff in the next year we tried to make something that is everything in the game has to really justify its place in the game the batmobile's playable debut was no small feat either as Rocksteady wanted it to be integral to the gameplay the result was that the game was essentially built around the Batmobile since it informed the level design and even Batman himself in an interview with gamesbeat Daxton describes their challenges with creating this new open world designing the game world to make sure it feels authentic was one thing but then designing it to fit the Batmobile a hand and glove kind of connection we had to design the layout of the city and the functionality of the Batmobile at the same time so that the power fantasy of driving the Batmobile through this legendary City felt the way everyone imagines it should feel fast destructive powerful all of those things it's as much to do with the design of the city as the design of the Batmobile Rocksteady also wanted to highlight the man and machine kind of bond between Batman and the Batmobile and based his suit on its design seeing the two next to each other you can see how they mirror each other in appearance with Batman's new suit taking on a more armored look compared to the previous games another big change that would occur in the third game was that it would actually receive an M rating an M rating is essentially the equivalent of an R-rated movie meaning that the ESRB has dubbed it as too mature for younger audiences this may not seem like a big deal but it can be a big problem for some game Publishers since an M rated game can't be sold to anyone younger than 17 years old which could potentially hinder sales Rocksteady didn't write the game with an M rating in mind and just told the story they wanted to tell so naturally game director septon Hill was in quite a panic when he heard the news which he describes in an interview with IGN I was really freaked out because the solution was to lose the scenes but they were key scenes we couldn't lose them I got the email I freaked out I thought this was going to destroy the game game everything I'm passionate about I was building myself up for this big argument I didn't get much sleep thankfully Warner Brothers was willing to keep the M rating instead of cutting sections of the game out so what were these scenes that were so bad in this game well I'll call them out as they occur during the story section but just as a teaser here's a section from the esrb's explanation of what Justified the rating some sequences allow players to use tank-like vehicles with machine gun turrets and Rockets to shoot enemies a vehicle's wheels are also used to torture an enemy in one sequence cut scenes to pick characters getting shot on and off camera while restrained or unarmed large blood stains pools of blood appear in crime scenes and in the aftermath of violent acts one room depicts a person torturing a character on a bloody operating table during the course of the game players can shoot unarmed characters and a hostage neon signs in a red light district read live nude girls and XXX the words gobshite and ass appear in the dialogue firstly is someone from the states I've never heard the word Gob shite before and had to look that one up apparently it's an offensive word for a person who you think is stupid or says things that you think are silly or not true which doesn't sound too bad the other reasons listed for the M rating doesn't sound that bad either honestly although I will admit a couple moments in the game were a bit darker and more jarring but as I mentioned I'll call these specific scenarios out as we reach them in the game's story speaking of story the writing team is is a bit different this time around as well since it doesn't include Paul deeney if you're unfamiliar with the name deeney developed and wrote Batman the Animated Series and contributed to writing Batman Arkham Asylum and Arkham City I've seen rumors online that suggest there was some bad blood between him and Rocksteady but after reading his quote on the matter it sounds like he just took on other work in the meantime and became unavailable the last talk I had with Warner Interactive about future games was while I was doing promotion for Arkham City last September naturally as there was such a rush of interest about Arkham City everyone was asking me about a third game and frankly I had been wondering about that myself when I asked about the possibility of working on a third game I was told that as rock city had just finished wrapping the second one it would be a while before everyone was ready to sit down and discuss future plans that said it was intimated that for future games Warner and Rock City might not be looking as much to freelance writers the message being that if I had something else interesting coming my way I might want to take it Rocksteady instead chose to use a team of In-House writers and the result is the game we'll be discussing today Batman Arkham Knight which after a couple delays released in June 2015 before we dive in I should mention how I played this game which was on the PC version if you recall the Arkham Knight's PC launch was notoriously bad suffering from a series of bugs and performance issues that forced Warner Brothers to remove it from digital and physical stores and offer refunds on it it was quite the controversy with QA testers even giving Anonymous quotes to Kotaku regarding their frustrations that these issues weren't fixed ahead of time for example here's a couple quotes I will say that it's pretty rich for WB to act like they had no idea the game was in such a horrible State it's been like this for months and all the problems we see now are the exact same unchanged almost a year ago we reported literally thousands of bugs that were specific to the PC version relating to the frame rate all sorts of epped up texture issues the Batmobile in particular has always effed up things on the PC despite the issues that the PC version launched with patches have since been released to help remedy those issues along with the ability to customize the graphical quality of the game to your setup technology has also improved quite a bit since 20 2015 making it easier to run the game with modern PC Hardware compared to what was available back then due to this I think the PC is now the best way to experience this game if you have a reliable gaming setup even compared to playing Arkham Knight on Modern consoles like the PS5 for example the PC version allowed me to enhance the frame rate above 60 frames per second there's a maximum of 90 frames per second in these settings but you can remove this cap in the game files and essentially make it unlimited when I tested this there were moments where I was over 200 frames per second when playing at a 1080p resolution for this video though I ended up sticking with the 90 FPS setting within the game only because higher frame rates along with the screen recording software was running my PC a little too hard I did however boost the graphics to 2K to hopefully help showcase just how beautiful this game is and how it still outshines the graphics of a lot of games even today although I can almost guarantee that after rendering and uploading this all to YouTube that the visuals won't match the quality you'd experience when playing it for yourself it should still look visually impressive but on your actual Hardware the game looks breathtaking so basically if you have a gaming PC and have been hesitant to try Batman Arkham Knight try it the graphics are absolutely gorgeous and are further enhanced if you can achieve higher frame rates to really get that smoothness in the gameplay however some issues still persist and I will say that frame drops still occurred at times especially during Batmobile sections but it's worth it nonetheless all that to say that I played the game at a 2K resolution at 90 frames per second and that the vast majority of Clips you'll be seeing in this video come from the PC version of the game additionally if you enjoy this video I'd appreciate it if you gave it a like since that helps it to reach more viewers and if you'd like to see more videos like this one you can subscribe to see all the new videos as they release you can also follow me on Twitter for updates on everything regarding the channel by the way this video will be part one of two due to the vast amount of content within the game so in this video we'll focus primarily on the main story as well as the Easter eggs and behind the scenes details within it in the next video we'll talk about all the DLCs side missions and challenges along with other aspects of the game like the gameplay and audio design so you can look forward to that releasing soon too but without further Ado let's get into the story of Batman Arkham Knight before we get into the main story of Arkham Knight let's first recap some important moments from the last game in Arkham City Joker was dying due to his toxic blood as a consequence from his time as Titan Joker in the Asylum to assure himself a cure he decides Batman is his best bet so he injects his infected blood into Batman so that they'll both be contaminated one aspect of this plot that is easily overlooked though is that the Joker has also sent his infected blood to hospitals around Gotham in hopes that he'll infect random citizens as well to further motivate Batman to find a cure so we both die I'm fine with that uh you imagine sucking down that last breath knowing that Goblin is doing the same what are you talking about oh didn't I say I've spent weeks shipping samples of my blood to emergency rooms all over the city so even though it's not really addressed much in Arkham City we'll see how this side plot of The Jokers has had major ramifications for the events of Batman Arkham Knight as you likely remember though Batman managed to find a cure to save himself from death but Joker accidentally broke the vial and ended up dying from his own actions even one year after these events which is when Arkham Knight takes place the citizens of Gotham still don't know what happened between Batman and Joker in those final moments which has led to many rumors regarding whether or not Batman actually killed him nonetheless The Joker Is legitimately dead which means for the first time in the Arkham game series we'll have a lead villain that won't be him still The Joker manages to loom large in Batman Arkham Knight and we even begin the game with him as his body is placed in an incinerator to be cremated it's really creepy to be this close up to his dead smiling body and I found it to be really effective in a number of ways on my first playthrough to start it feels like a goodbye to the character since we think we won't see him again and it's a Bittersweet moment I'm glad that joker is done and a new villain can take the spotlight but Joker has been such a charismatic and amusing villain I never quite want to be finished with him in a way it helps me to empathize with how Batman has been taking the Joker's death because as we saw in the Harley Quinn DLC he's not excited but instead a little bit conflicted he and Joker had a strange sort of relationship and with the joker gone things feel different the other reason why I think this cremation scene is effective is because right off the bat it tells the player Joker is legitimately dead he's not coming back to life in the Lazarus Pit or anything like that as we even get to pull the switch and burn Joker ourselves I have more that I'd like to discuss about this cremation scene later on but for now the fires of the incinerator transition us into the burning bat logo as we get some really striking first lines from Commissioner Gordon this is how it happened this is how the Batman died yes the first lines of the game state that this is the story of Batman's death so quite a lot is going on in just the first few moments of the game and it raises a big question will Rocksteady actually kill off Batman by the end of this game prior to this game's release rock city made it clear that Batman Arkham Knight is their finale and they won't be making a fourth Arkham game so knowing that and pairing it with Gordon's statement about Batman's death you have to think there's a good chance they're serious it's a very bold move and it's a great hook for the beginning of the game Gordon continues his voiceover as he fills us in on what Gotham has been like in the past year since Arkham City surprisingly things have been pretty good crime has actually gone down significantly and things are looking up Gordon realizes this is strange though considering there should be a big Power struggle after the Joker's death so while Gotham City is Happy Gordon feels the trouble is just bubbling under the surface this transitions us into our next playable character a random Gotham City Cop named officer Owens officer Owens is entering Paulie's Diner to get something to eat and this Diner is a call back to the Arkham Asylum Game during the opening shots of that first game you can see a sign for Paulie's Diner which itself was likely named after Paul dini who helped write the first two games I thought this was a really cool callback and after having seen it off in the distance in the first game and now getting to walk inside it it gives you a sense of expansion and comparison since it feels like we're expanding further and further into Gotham City with each game so I like that rock city chose this location to start in I also love that the game takes place on Halloween night and how Halloween influences the design and atmosphere along with certain story aspects inside the diner itself though there's a surprising amount of Easter egg storytelling and background information within it so much so that I had to replay it multiple times because just looking in certain directions at certain times can mean you miss the other things going on around you the setup is pretty simple though officer Owens is sitting down at the diner to have some coffee and food while he's sitting there are a few things you can spot the first is a missing poster for someone named Henry Adams an important character will be introduced to later on if you look to your left you can also watch an interaction where one of the waste disposal workers scares a man in a Batman mask which I think is meant to tease the upcoming conflict between scarecrow and Batman especially since we'll see that scarecrow has the upper hand for most of this game afterwards a customer comes to tell us that there's somebody smoking in the corner Booth requesting us to have a word with him from here we're able to free roam the diner and examine it closer on the TV or various news headlines one of which states that Arkham Asylum is set to be reopened After Arkham City's shutdown on a newspaper in front of us we can also see that Bruce Wayne is pledging 300 million dollars into redeveloping Arkham City in order to clean it up and revamp it there are a few missing persons headlines as well one mentions the ongoing hunt for corporate killer Christina Bell we can also listen to a couple having a conversation about her in one of the booths Christina Bella said to have murdered the board members at Queen Industries where she worked by the way Queen Industries is owned by Oliver Queen AKA The Green Arrow so a little Easter egg there but anyway the girl on the right worked with Christina and is telling the guy about her experiences with her she describes how after Christina went for a hospital visit she came back almost like an entirely different person she also apparently had a deep Fascination for Batman but a strong hatred towards Robin as you can hear in this clip also keep an ear out for the music in the background which we'll discuss soon as well so I got mugs right in the Diamond District a few months back and I told her and as I was describing it her eyes lit up it was creepy what'd she say she just kept asking for more details they have a knife did Batman show up did they have guns did Batman show up did they hurt me did Batman show up well well what did Batman show up no but Robin did oh okay I guess that's cool it's been hard the second I said Robin's name she looks so disappointed then angry yeah Batman's cooler you know what she said she said that she'd rather be gutted and left on the street than rescued by him and then she looks at me like I was dirty the song in the background is Only You by The Platters which is the song that the Joker sings to Batman during the credits of Batman Arkham City only you you can make this world seem right [Music] you can make the darkness bright going back to this conversation though we can hear more details about Christina Bell's murder of the queen industry board members as well as her personality during it look I'm just not seeing it This Woman's been perfectly normal for as long as you've known her she says a couple of odd things around the office and then one day walks into the boardroom with a gun it wasn't a gun sorry a sharp object that's what the report says oh really and there were like 10 guys in there I think maybe more and you're sure she wasn't I don't know kidnapped by the real killer CCTV shows are walking out of the building by herself it's blood on our hands wow spoke to me on our way out you did I must have missed their hands what'd she say she said her favorite thing about glass ceilings is playing with the shards I thought it was like a pep talk man maybe it was don't Christina Bell definitely sounds intense and we'll see that head-on as we're introduced to her later in the game the TV references another missing person though this time the McCallum Academy principle this is actually Henry Adams who we also saw the missing poster for another missing person is an ex-champion boxer named Goliath who has gone missing after randomly attacking some people we can find a flyer for his championship fight against Ted Grant AKA Wildcat but it's been canceled due to The Disappearance of Goliath Ted Grant is an Easter egg as well since in the comics he's a boxer who becomes the Vigilante Wildcat the final missing person alluded to in the diner is stage performer Johnny Charisma whose flyer we can find Johnny has also gone missing and this show has been canceled as well there's also a headline regarding Arkham City compensation claims after Hugo Strange's Protocol 10 catastrophe where he incarcerated inmates and other citizens within Arkham City with the goal of killing them the legal system was forced to compensate everyone involved this meant that inmates were given money and they were all released and put back on the streets this makes it even more suspicious that crime has gone down considering there have been more criminals on the streets than ever before we can actually hear more about this if we go listen to the guys at this booth two of them work for the Hell's Gate disposal service while the guy at the top left is currently unemployed all of them were criminals being held in Arkham City during Hugo Strange's attack and all of them have been released and paid their compensation the problem though is that the unemployed guy already spent his entire compensation package he also describes how someone is sending the tally man after him yeah I'm kind of broke I don't really know how it happened but I got my payout last Friday and then things get kind of blurry and now I owe six guys mine one of them threatened to send a tally man after me the tally man bad news guys a pretty good shot I already took out some guy's kneecaps in Arkham from black gay I know okay I know so what am I gonna do now the tally man is a villain from the comics who collects debts for the mob will unfortunately never see him in this game but he's a cool reference nonetheless this conversation continues though as the unemployed guy needs a way to make money fast and pay back his debts his buddy across from him says that he could get him a job with waste disposal saying they need a man with his expertise to help them secure all the totally worthless ways that they'll be transporting the insinuation being that the Hell's Gate waste disposal company is a front for illegal activities and will later learn that scarecrow is using them to transport his fear toxin this also shows us where all these ex-cons have been going after Arkham City and what they've been doing since then instead of causing more crimes we can also see a recruitment poster on the board in the diner for Hell's Gate advertising specifically towards ex-cons among these flyers are more teases at what's to come including one for stag Industries they're also promoting a way to earn money quickly but as a participant in their human trials as we'll see later you'd probably be better off taking the Hell's Gate job towards the top is a flyer for legal services for those who were injured in Arkham City strangely we'll learn that this is also handled by Hell's Gate there are also some posters on the walls advertising various DC Comics locations for example here's one for markovia a country associated with the characters geoforce and his half-sister Tara another advertises blotova a country associated with the villain count vertigo who is the descendant of vladova's royal family this next one will actually be recognizable though as it advertises a trip to Metropolis the home of Superman as you explore the diner some more you'll notice a bunch of Halloween decorations but I want to call attention to this setup in particular because I think it's a reference to the main players in this game this could be a reach but I'm going for it anyway firstly there are six bats hanging here which I think could reference six members of the bat family in this game Batman Alfred Robin Nightwing Batgirl and the surprise character that I shouldn't mention just yet then looming behind them is Scarecrow in front of them are two ghosts who I'd argue were two Dead characters important to Batman one of which would be the Joker and the other would be the same mystery character again maybe this is just me seeing Jesus in the toast but I thought it was worth mentioning and at the very least I like how these designs in particular add to the atmosphere of the diner there's still more conversations going on around us though that we can check in on too for example this group of four guys are chatting about their frustration towards the Arkham City compensation plans and how it'll impact their taxes on the table are some masks that I found interesting in the center is one for Batman and closer to us is a pretty creepy one that a lot of Hell's Gate guys wear and I think this is meant to be associated with Scarecrow but the most interesting one is the bunny mask at the end of the table which is the same one Mad Hatter uses on his victims to mind control them if we revisit the guy in the Batman mask he'll have a bunch of different comments regarding the guy who scared him but I like how he eventually does the I'm Batman line as a callback to some of the movies besides I wasn't afraid I'm Batman I'm Batman I'm Batman there are more conversations in this Diner but I think those were the important ones also I like how the vast majority of the face models use for the characters in The diners are various employees at Rock City you can even see the two writers at the very beginning writer and game director septon Hill can be spotted leaving as soon as you enter and another writer Ian ball Pays His Tab and leaves very early on as well it's almost like they knew something bad was about to happen here probably because they wrote it speaking of which let's get to the guy smoking in the corner Booth as we approach he has his back turned to us and we can see he has a bag on the table that's releasing smoke when we go to confront him he instantly turns into a zombie-like creature and the world around us becomes much more nightmarish that's because the bag was releasing fear talks in the whole time and now we're hallucinating our fears to me the creature officer Owens is hallucinating looks a lot like the mask we saw earlier on the table as well as a Halloween poster with the same design and I wonder if we're meant to believe that Owens has been seeing that creepy mask around the diner or even throughout the city to the point became a subconscious fear and manifested itself when he came in contact with the fear toxin regardless Owens is terrified as everyone in the diner starts attacking each other he pulls his gun and you can choose to either start shooting everyone or refrain from killing whichever you choose will have an effect on officer Owen's Life as we see him throughout the game which we'll discuss a bit later at this moment though the perspective changes to a crowd watching the news which is broadcasting the attack as well as the identity of the original attacker who appears to just be a random scarecrow Thug who might even be dead were then introduced to scarecrow as he broadcasts to the city this demonstration used just five ounces of my latest toxin tomorrow this will seem like Child's Play Gotham this is your only warning [Applause] the last time we saw scarecrow he was getting mauled by killer croc in the sewers of Arkham Asylum he was then noticeably absent from Arkham City but we still found hints that he was planning to make a comeback now it seems he's ready to unleash his plan on Halloween night and this feels like a much different scarecrow compared to the one in Asylum we only get a glimpse at scarecrow's new look here but he's undergone a pretty extensive design change if you recall from Batman Arkham Asylum he had a unique look with the Freddy Krueger glove of fear talks and injectors as well as the hooded burlap mask complete with the Noose around the neck the rest of his clothing was pretty minimal with just some cloth around the collar leaving the rest of his torso exposed when we compare this to his new design and the model viewer we can see just how much scarecrow's look has changed due to his injuries from Killer Croc some elements of the last designer still present like The Noose on the neck and the toxin syringes on his hand but I mostly want to focus on the differences to start his body isn't exposed like it is in the last design and he's instead covered from head to toe in this cloak likely due to the scarring from the Killer Croc attack he's also completely wrapped in fear Toxin and to me its appearance is sort of reminiscent to a suicide bomb vest which I think is clever because it makes you want to keep your distance away from him I doubt he's very capable physically so intimidation is likely his best tool against adversaries to go along with that we get a hint at how the Croc attack has physically hindered scarecrow based on the brace on his left leg what I love the most about this new design though is his face it looks like instead of burlap it's now bandaging that covers his face and the way it's torn around the mouth makes it looks like it all used to be one piece until he ripped it to expose his mouth I don't even think he has lips the way his teeth are exposed I think the way they whitened out his eyes too was really clever we can read a lot from a person by looking into their eyes and with scarecrows being essentially Hollow in this way we can never get a solid read on him which causes him to feel even more unnerving on a more subconscious level scarecrow seeming devoid of emotion is further reinforced with the new voice actor that was selected for him Jonathan Noble for comparison an Arkham Asylum he was voiced by Dino androd whose take was more zany and maniacal which I like liked in that game and I think it fit the character there one step closer and this goes into the water and you will never reach your precious Venom Roots scarecrows changed a lot since we last saw him though and Jonathan Noble gives him a voice that is more calm subdued and methodical which surprisingly makes him feel more intimidating he sounds like he's determined and serious about what he's planning and the new voice goes a long way to sell that Gotham this is your only warning but after scarecrow's broadcast Panic engulfs Gotham and the citizens are swiftly evacuated the city is now empty except for the citizens who chose to stay However the ones that stayed are primarily criminals and the police the criminals are winning so far and rampaging through the city we also get a glimpse at a surprising team up between penguin and Two-Face who were leading rival gangs last we saw of them they temporarily put their differences aside and formed a truce of course there's still one other key citizen who elected to stay in Gotham as were finally introduced to Batman standing atop a tower overlooking Gotham this is one of my favorite shots in the game because we get a great sense of the size of Gotham as well as the beauty of this game these close-up shots of Batman really demonstrate that well as we can see how detailed the bat suit is along with the raindrops sliding down it with the Moonlight in the background it looks incredible and I think it's a great way to introduce him this is also the moment we're introduced to the open world and we can view its entirety from this Tower off in the distance we can see some other key locations as well first to our left we can see the location of the first game Arkham Asylum still wrapped up in Ivy's plants to the right of it is a new location which just so happens to be an abandoned amusement park we'll get to explore that in detail when we get to the Batgirl DLC in the part 2 video and to the right of that we can see the location of the last game Arkham City seeing it off in the distance here really puts it into perspective just how large the explorable area of Gotham City is in this game since Arkham City is probably about the size of just one of the islands in Arkham Knight from here we Glide to the gcpd police station to meet with Commissioner Gordon When we arrive we catch him in the middle of a phone call with his daughter Barbara and he mentions that he's glad Barbara was able to safely evacuate Gotham Gordon then gives us the lowdown on the city and how the criminals currently have the upper hand Batman gives Gordon a bat phone to keep in touch and their conversation is interrupted when Gordon receives a report of a missing police car and Officer Down Batman makes a stealthy exit and contacts Oracle to locate the missing police car Oracle is Barbara Gordon commissioner Gordon's daughter and he's unaware that she works with Batman we'll also learn that Barbara has been lying to her dad about evacuating the city and has instead decided to stay to assist Batman she's able to locate the missing police car and officer though so we head there next we find the officer surrounded by criminals so we drop in to fight this is our first combat encounter and just in this early segment I can already tell the gameplay is a lot more refined Batman has new animations the combat feels smoother and I got to utilize a new system where you can grab an enemy's melee weapon and use it against them Batman gets new attack animations while wielding the weapon and I thought this was a really fun inclusion to the combat mechanics after defeating all the enemies we help the officer up right as a vehicle speeds towards us Batman grapples the officer to a nearby rooftop for safety while he plans to take the fight to the enemies the officer asks what he plans to do which leads to a pretty badass line for Batman the city's overrun we don't stand a chance stay here I'll send someone to pick you up what are you doing evening the odds Batman's idea of evening the odds is to call in the Batmobile and we get a really cinematic sequence as it's introduced to us for the first time I've got to say I'm really loving the visual style of this game so far not even just in the design of the characters and locations but in the way these scenes are shot as well the cutscenes are a lot more cinematic compared to the previous games which is further pulling me into each moment I think the Batmobile looks great too it has that Sleek narrow design that we've come to expect from other classic Batmobiles like in the Tim Burton Batman films and the Animated Series but I like how this version is a lot more modernized and heavy duty from here we get to drive the Batmobile for the first time as we pursue the vehicle that attempted to run us over in these early moments driving it I felt like it drove very smooth and was relatively easy to handle it can take a minute to get used to but throughout the game I never felt like it was a mess to control I was actually surprised at how fluid the controls felt for the Batmobile especially since Rocksteady had no previous experience with driving games up to this point in an interview with Game Central Dax Jin was asked if they looked at racing games for inspiration for the Batmobile and this was his response not really no the way that we have coded the behavior of the Batmobile and thought about the Batmobile is we used the same team that created Batman so the core gameplay programmer that created Batman for Arkham Asylum and Arkham City he's the guy that's working on the Batmobile we didn't want to just bring in a driving team because then we would have ended up with a Batman game that had a driving component we wanted the two things to feel married I'm sure it was tempting to consult a team specialized in racing games to work exclusively on the Batmobile and using the designers who worked on Batman's gameplay may seem unconventional at first but I think this ended up being the right approach and really paid off the Batmobile does in fact feel married to the gameplay of Batman and you can seamlessly transition between the two I'll definitely talk more about the Batmobile and its role in the game as this video continues but for now I'm loving this introduction and I'm having a lot of fun speeding through these streets trying to apprehend the enemy vehicle once we stop the vehicle we find the driver attempting to crawl away so we take the opportunity to interrogate him about scarecrow without hesitation he tries to inject us with something which Batman takes to analyze later now that he's pissed Batman off it doesn't take much persuasion to get him talking he says that all he knows is that scarecrow is operating out of a penthouse in Chinatown that's enough of a lead for Batman and he concludes this interaction with one of my favorite lines in the game swear that's all I know if you're lying I'll break the other one the other one With the Enemy down Batman takes a moment to analyze what he can about the injector and learns that it scarecrow's new toxin he then uploads the information to Oracle to investigate in the meantime while we head to that Penthouse When we arrive we're surprised to find a bunch of scarecrow's militia guards holding poison ivy captive we crashed the party and fight off the guards until there's only one left inside the chamber with poison ivy he attempts to use her as a hostage to escape but scarecrow decides to gas the chamber instead to use them as a demonstration for Batman and another surprising turn of events poison ivy is fine stating that she has a natural immunity to the fear toxin as she exits the chamber we get another callback to Arkham Asylum as this shot is made to be reminiscent of her emergence from her cell in that game which I thought was a nice touch now that she's free she tells us why she was being held prisoner it started with a meeting what meeting everyone was there penguin two-faced Riddler even poor Harley scarecrow said he had a plan that together we could take you out and Gotham would be ours Over My Dead Body I believe that was the idea I told him that I wasn't interested in his pathetic human games and when I came too I was locked up in that room we never get to see this meeting in the game but there are some shots of it elsewhere one of which is from a concept art showing them all together even better though is this brief shot from one of the trailers where we can see their actual in-game models it seems that IB was the only one to turn scarecrow down which is why he made her an enemy regardless Batman still fully intends on throwing poison ivy back in jail so he leads her out the building however their exit is interrupted by more militia troops who quickly surround them at this moment you're meant to call in the Batmobile to take them out but if you stall you can get some extra voice lines from Ivy who talks to you like you're a gobshite you could just surrender do you even have a plan are you trying to stare them into submission if you do nothing here they will eventually shoot you and I was surprised to get a death scene featuring Alfred who we never really get to see in person monster Bruce I hoped it would never end like this rest in peace when you do this section correctly though you remotely control the Batmobile to roll up and take everyone out it's also explicitly stated that the Batmobile fires non-lethal rounds so you know that Batman isn't killing them just incapacitating them this is also our introduction to the batmobile's battle mode where it goes on the offensive with its top mounted cannons I think this was a cool idea to give the Batmobile the capability to transform based on the scenario at hand and it makes the Batmobile feel like a hybrid between the classic Batmobiles that I mentioned earlier with the more tank-like interpretations for movies like Batman Begins and Batman v Superman in this section we get to test out the batmobile's battle mode as we take on the swarm of militia tanks this is essentially how the rest of the Batmobile combat sections will go where we Dodge the incoming blasts and attempt to take out the opposing tanks as quickly as possible this first section is pretty basic though but both sides get more advanced Weaponry as the game progresses but as far as this first mission goes I'm enjoying the battle mode and I think it's a clever implementation so far after clearing the area we put poison ivy in the trunk and drive her to gcp lockup once there we place IB in our own isolated cell for safe keeping that's one less villain to worry about but there's still plenty more to deal with in the meantime though we can explore the police station and there are a couple neat inclusions the first is their evidence room full of items recovered from various Batman villains first we'll find a case containing one of Riddler's trophies and we can actually break the glass and claim it like with the previous games Riddler's hidden trophies and puzzles all over the city that we need to solve to complete his side mission which we'll further discuss in the part 2 video there are a ton of other display cases though and officer Aaron cash has audio commentary for each one for example they have Mr Freeze's freeze gun and cash states that freeze has gone under the radar since the events of Arkham City next to that display is one for great white shark AKA Warren white which holds a jar with something in it you might recognize this from the first game since you can find it in the morgue I go into a lot more detail on great white shark's origins in the video for that game but essentially this jar contains various body parts that once belong to him gross right similarly although we never encounter the ventriloquist we do find his gun in Arkham Asylum and is now here in evidence lockup we get another call back to Arkham Asylum when we visit Joker's case containing some of his gag weapons on the left is his toy gun that he uses to shoot vials of Titan serum into people including himself then the next three are gadgets of his that you could use in the challenge maps on PlayStation where he was an exclusive character the chattering teeth were essentially a remote controlled bomb you could deploy in stealth missions there's also his pistol that could be used as well but only contained one bullet lastly are these x-ray glasses which were his version of detective mode but not nearly as useful so it's pretty cool to see Rocksteady reference these gadgets and think back on where we started compared to where we are now continuing through evidence lockup we also find these swords of racial ghoul the man pulling the strings during the events of Arkham City last we saw rage he was dead impaled by his own sword however and Cash's audio report he states that they found these swords at the bottom of the tower barisha's body was gone so this won't be the last we see of him another interesting thing about Cash's audio report is that he starts it by mispronouncing Race's name two swords used by rush I mean I think this is meant to be a fun reference to how his name is often pronounced differently by fans and media for example it was pronounced Roz instead of race and Batman Begins who are you my name is merely ducat but I speak for Raz I'll go and greatly feared by the criminal underworld we also get a couple references to the Arkham Origins game developed by WB Montreal confirming that Rocksteady does indeed consider it to be Canon to their story first is a case containing the shot gloves used by the electrocutioner one of the Assassins sent after Batman at a certain part in that story Batman will actually use these for himself in combat but the general consensus shared by myself and many other fans was that the shot gloves were a bit too overpowered which is likely why they've been sitting here in evidence lockup ever since there's also a case for Anarchy who we apprehended during the events of Origins and never saw again I've seen rumors online where people believe that anarchy was actually the person who set off these scarecrow gas in the diner since we can see an a carved into the table similar to Anarchy's logo the symbols do look pretty similar so it's a theory that I like especially since the guy is dressed in red and kicking off such a chaotic event sounds right up Anarchy's alley however I haven't found any information to confirm that it's him so could just be a random scarecrow Thug I should mention that there's also a similar theory that the attacker was the Arkham Knight but I find this one to be less likely since the news report after the attack seems to suggest that the attacker died during this incident still I'd be curious to hear what you all think continuing through the evidence lockup we get another reference to the story of Arkham Origins when we view the case for Black Mask AKA Roman Sionis in Cash's audio notes he states that Sionis never really recovered from the night of the Blackgate riots the same night Joker showed up that's due to Joker pretty much showing up and taking sionis's operation for himself during that game in the center is the display case for Batman containing his electric charge gun that he built in Arkham City cash states that Batman dropped it off here with the rest of the Arkham City evidence which is surprising I guess he thought he wouldn't have a use for it things have changed though and we can break the glass to reclaim it although I bet we could have just asked nicely the last case that I want to mention is for Talia al Ghul Bruce's love interest in Arkham City who died by the hand of the Joker when we get to inspect her evidence case Bruce takes a moment to mourn I'm sorry as we continue apprehending villains we'll see more evidence show up in the gcpd so we'll come back here a bit later but there are a couple other interesting things here that I'd like to point out first for instance we can see officer Aaron Cash's family photo which has changed a bit since we saw it in Arkham Asylum since it appears cash has had another child in that span of time there's also a shift list featuring three names of noteworthy characters not seen in this game the first is Renee Montoya who like Harley Quinn was created for Batman the Animated Series although she appeared in the comic slightly ahead of her TV debut she's often partnered with Harvey Bullock who's next on the list we've actually seen Harvey once in the Arkham series during the events of Batman Arkham Origins he didn't make a ton of appearances in that game but it was still fun to see him show up the last name is a fun one and that's Jon Jones I believe this is a reference to Martian Manhunter an alien member of the Justice League with the ability to shapeshift in the comics he shapeshifts into human form and goes by the name Jon Jones working as a police detective so although we never see Martian Manhunter in this game you never know if he could be any one of these police officers as we exit the police station we find two officers discussing another officer in a Cell in the cell is Officer Owens who we played as in the diner if you didn't shoot anyone in the diner the two officers will mention that they're surprised he was able to leave without shooting anyone they also mentioned that the fear toxin doesn't seem to be wearing off as we can see that officer Owens is still very much in distress however the toxin does eventually wear off and we can find him later in the game he mentions that he'll be going through psych eval for a while and that he hopes he can get back on the street soon and resume being a cop like normal on the flip side if you do shoot people in the diner things are a bit different the two officers state that he's going to lose his badge and that he won't be able to live with himself when he finds out what he did when we see him later in the game he mentions that he's got a court hearing coming up regarding the diner and that his career is probably over Owens is quite the tragic character as we further learn in one of the character files it describes Owen's life leading up to the diner and we find out that he was originally living in Keystone a location often associate aided with the original flash Jay Garrick and third flash Wally West Owens hated Keystone so he took a promotion and transferred to Gotham City which put a strain on his marriage his wife wanted them to move back but Owens asked her to just stick it out for another year and see what happens it seems his wife was right especially in the continuity where he shoots people in the diner so I have a feeling he's going to be moving back to Keystone after all this also in the gcpd is a familiar face Jack Ryder the news reporter we saved multiple times in Arkham City most notably when Deadshot attempted to assassinate him and we intervened Jack has been busy since then twisting those events to make himself out to be the hero at one point we can find a magazine with his face on the cover along with the caption how I took down Deadshot we can actually read a section of it in the back computer and it's pretty humorous are you ready Jack Batman asked looking straight at me one eye filled with admiration the other with the respect I'm ready Batman I replied bravely then let's do this Jack together Batman said asked really The Dark Knight stood up from behind our cover then as we prepare to take on The Deadly Assassin dead shot together was I afraid dear reader I was terrified but I couldn't let it show Batman needed me then I saw it the laser sight playing like a Lover's tongue across his nipple Batman no I shouted dramatically I dived forward then knocking the cape Crusader to the ground as the bullet whizzed past my ear Batman was back on his feet in an instant however he grabbed me and pulled us both undercover behind a chimney shoot in the bombed ruin of Arkham City what now Jack Batman asks his voice cracking slightly under the strain I thought for a moment you need to hide behind cover whenever he's looking in our Direction Batman I explained patiently and then try and reach the vent under the helipad Batman looked at the distance between him and the Sharpshooter Marksman you can do it Batman I said reassuringly I know you can jack also managed to get himself into trouble with the citizens of Gotham as we can read in one of his articles apparently After Arkham City he was the one who gave evidence of Arkham City's illegal actions showing how prisoners were being treated and stated that anyone who was exposed to that should be released and generously compensated however Jack was only trying to help himself and didn't care about the other prisoners the result however was that everyone involved in Arkham City was released and compensated putting criminals back on the street something a lot of citizens blame him for it's no surprise that writers self-serving actions have gotten him into trouble and that seems to be an ongoing pattern even now writers decided to not Evacuate the city and instead chase a story involving a criminal named Deacon Blackfire and we'll see how this plot unfolds later on when we talk about the game's various side missions as we start to exit the gcpd there's another fun inclusion and it's the criminal whose arm we broke earlier in the game throughout the story he'll taunt us from the bars and it's super annoying if you've had enough of it you can choose to slam his head into the bars and it's immensely satisfying oh after leaving the gcpd we next head to the clock tower which seconds as oracle's base of operations she isn't here yet so we have a moment to Snoop around on the wall is a poster for the movie The Dark interlude and it stars Matthew Hagan and Stella Bates Matt Hagan is another actor who becomes Clayface and the quote on the poster gives a nod to that with its phrasing Hagen forms and molds into his defining role this poster itself is a nod to the Animated Series where Hagen was working on the film The Dark interlude while Stella Bates was a medical consultant for it and the two ended up falling in love with each other the quote on the poster she cured more than his body she cured his heart is a quote from the movie in the show you cured more than my body cured my heart Oracle has another poster on the wall this time for the ghost in Gray this is another nod to the animated series and one of my favorite episodes from it in it the ghost in Gray was a TV series that Bruce Wayne grew up watching he idolized the hero of the show the gray ghost played by Simon Trent whose name we can see at the bottom of the poster a fun Easter egg within the show itself is that Simon Trent was voiced by Adam West the actor who played Batman in the 60s TV show pay up or pay the consequences one million in cash or the Piedmont Bank is next signed the mad bomber there's a nice theme of Heroes inspiring a new generation and I think Bruce's admiration for the gray ghost mirrors our admiration towards Batman as many of us grew up watching various forms of Batman media which for me personally was Batman the Animated Series after the tragic death of Kevin Conroy I think this episode takes on an even more Sentimental Feeling making it an episode that I think will resonate with fans that I grew up on Kevin Conroy's Batman it's a really well made episode that I recommend you check out and I was really glad that I got a nod in this game you know as a kid I used to watch it with my father the gray ghost was my hero really and he still is on a shelf we can find a picture of Barbara and her boyfriend who just so happens to be Tim Drake the third and current Robin this is a bit different from the comics since it's usually her and Nightwing who are in a relationship next to that is a bust of Shakespeare which we can interact with using it reveals a scanner which transitions the clock tower into a mini bat cave this scanner is an Easter egg for the Adam West Batman series where they use the same bust as a secret button to reveal the entrance to the bat cave when you eventually get the remote hacking device Gadget you can also unlock a door in the clock tower which reveals oracle's old Batgirl suit if you're unfamiliar Barbara Gordon was Batgirl before she was ever Oracle she was forced to become Oracle during the events of the Killing Joke graphic novel where Joker shot her in the spine as a way to get to her dad Commissioner Gordon this left her crippled but she's kept the mementos of that past life in this room including some newspapers mentioning her one of them refers to a time when she rescued Commissioner Gordon a tease at her DLC story in this game which we'll discuss later in the video for now though Batman uses oracle's computer to review her progress on analysis amazing scarecrow's new toxin this is also when Barbara arrives and this is the first time we've actually seen Oracle in a rock city game despite her being fully voiced in each one working together though they realize that they can pinpoint scarecrow's location by targeting the energy signature of the area where the fear toxin is being produced Batman starts to leave before Oracle stops him she expresses guilt and lying to her dad about her evacuation but Batman brushes it off and stays Mission focused stating that they'll find Scarecrow from here Batman needs to power a generator to give him access to his antenna it's up on a rooftop so Batman uses the batmobile's power winch to climb up the wall every time I do this it makes me think of the Batmobile driving up the wall in Batman Forever where he uses a cable as well after powering up the first generator though Batman calls Oracle to inform her that they have access to the antenna during this conversation Robin pops in and asks Batman to let him help out in the city Batman refuses telling him that what he's working on is more important and we'll find out what that is shortly for now we next have to gain access to a microwave Tower to help us triangulate scarecrows location When we arrive we find that there are enemies inside with a hostage Batman will need to take them out quickly but he feels the current bat suit is a bit too weighty to accomplish the task so he decides now is a good time to have Lucius Fox deploy the new bat suit up until now we've been wearing a bat suit that looks more in line with the previous game's outfits which are inspired more by the comics this new suit as we discussed is more modernized and made to mirror the appearance of the Batmobile it has practical uses as well though since it's durable but it's also more lightweight allowing Batman to move faster this immediately impacts your traversal as you're allowed to propel yourself higher into the sky and pick up more momentum it makes grappling and gliding around the city much faster and I like that you get this Boost after putting on the new suit we've been told the suit was better and more lightweight but now we get to experience it which is much more impactful for the player you can further upgrade your gravel boost as well and it makes traversal more fun each time you do along with the graphical boost there's also an ejector seat in the Batmobile which is a lot of fun to use as well since you can be going full speed in the Batmobile and then launch yourself into the sky I love this inclusion and it makes transitioning between the Batmobile and gliding feel seamless and ultimately more enjoyable this also unlocks one of my favorite new abilities in the game fear takedowns since Batman can move much faster now he can quickly take down a chain of unsuspecting enemies I think it adds a lot to the Predator's stealth System since it allows you to strategize further by attempting to keep a group of enemies together for one takedown also it's just really awesome with a variety of great animations that make Batman feel like even more of an intimidating Force beyond what he was before but after quickly taking out all three of the enemies in the room we're able to rescue the hostage and gain access to the tower using the tower we're able to pinpoint where scarecrow is manufacturing his toxin which is that ace chemicals so we head there next soon after we arrive at the bridge to ace chemicals where Gordon is waiting to meet us he informs us that the chemical plant is on lockdown but a skeleton crew of workers are still inside before anyone can head in though a militia helicopter manned by a mysterious new character appears and blows the bridge Batman shows no fear and approaches the helicopter we get a look inside the cockpit as we're given a minor introduction to the Arkham Knight one of the main antagonists of the game the Arkham Knight fully intends on launching a missile at Batman but it's jammed by scarecrow since he has bigger plans for Batman's demise the Arkham Knight withdraws and Batman is curious to find out who this new foe is with the bridge blown we'll have to go in alone on foot so we grapple up high and scope things out first things first we need to find the ace chemical workers and see what they know about scarecrow's plan we identify five workers in the area so we track them down one by one unfortunately the first one we find is already dead so things look Grim for the rest of them Batman finds the gate switch though opening up access to ace chemicals again the bridge is still blown restricting access to the police but Batman is able to improvise and get the Batmobile inside using the Batmobile were able to gain access to the next hostage who's thankfully still alive when we go to rescue him though we're interrupted by the militia and this time given a proper introduction to the Arkham Knight we also get a better look at his design which appears more like a militarized version of Batman which I think is pretty cool he also takes a moment to give his men some tips on how to properly take us down and he knows a surprising amount about Batman's suit like which areas are the strongest and which are the weakest specifically that the armor is strongest near the bat symbol I also want to credit the voice acting and motion capture work for the Arkham Knight in the scene because right off the bat we get the sense that he's emotionally charged to defeat Batman that he's not just some mercenary that this is personal I'll save the reveal for when it happens naturally in the game but I know one criticism about it is that fans felt it was too easy to guess who was under the mask regardless of whether you guessed it early or not I do like these little conversations between Bruce and the Arkham Knight and the little Clues they give towards his identity the Arkham Knight was sloppy though and forgot that the Batmobile was right behind them and Batman is able to seize the opportunity and take the militia soldiers out while the Arkham Knight escapes after taking out all the guards we released the captured ace chemicals worker he informs us that things have been pretty bad here and that scarecrow is building a fear gas bomb that could cover the entire East Coast we'll need to act fast to stop him so we make our way deeper into the chemical plant after breaking in we find another dead chemical worker as well as an Easter egg back to Arkham Origins on a table we can find a vial labeled Copperhead poison this is a nod back to the villain Copperhead who we fought back in Arkham Origins Batman experienced the effects of her poison momentarily in that game and it caused them to have hallucinations similar to the ones he's experienced after being exposed to scarecrow's fear toxin so this poison being in the chemical plant could mean that scarecrow was experimenting with it as a potential inclusion to his fear toxin continuing on though we eventually find another chemical worker who isn't dead we rescue him from the militia and he tells us what he knows it's not good news though as he informs us that scarecrow is in the central mixing chamber prepping to release his bomb we continue further into the plant and come across a group of militia guards strategizing about how to successfully carry out scarecrow's plan we'll drop in and interrupt it and this is one of my favorite early fight scenes in the game for a couple reasons the verses that were given a larger number of enemies to fight at once I think large volumes of enemies showcase just how good the combat system is in this game more more enemies usually means the fight is more frantic making it feel more fast-paced as you attempt to juggle them all I also like this fight in particular because it gives you a lot of options for environment takedowns another new element to the combat around the map there will be objects highlighted in blue and if a nearby enemy is also highlighted in blue it means you can instantly take them out with that object in this case you can cut a light fixture down and have it land on their head you can smash their face into an electrical box or you can grab a ventilation box from the wall and launch it at an enemy I loved using these and anytime I can interact with something in the room during combat it always adds to the immersion and makes the environment feel more realistic so this fight is easily one of my favorites from the early game once you're done defeating all these enemies you can also find an Easter egg in the Next Room on one of the lockers we can find the name Ray Palmer with a large drawing of an atom referencing the DC Hero by the same name the atom he's a character with shrinking Powers similar to Marvel's Ant-Man and he's been a member of the Justice League continuing on though we next find Scarecrow in the control room of the central mixing chamber his men are still loading more of his compound so we sneak around the room and take them out afterward we confront scarecrow ourselves he's even creepier and more ghoulish looking now that we see him in person but he's in no shape to fight he instantly gives himself up but Batman has no time for mercy how do I shut it down what are you talking about Barbara Gordon have you found him get out of there now relax no one knows I'm here nothing hurts like losing one of the family knowing that there is no one to blame but yourself scarecrow's last line about losing someone you love is something Batman is too familiar with most notably with his parents Thomas and Martha Wayne as well as second Robin Jason Todd who was murdered by The Joker Batman doesn't intend on letting anyone else die so instead of chasing down scarecrow he plans to stay in the room and reduce the blast radius of the bomb while Alfred works on tracking down Barbara Alfred doesn't like this plan though because it means that Bruce will be trapped in the blast and likely die Bruce knows this too and it becomes an incredibly tense moment in the game still Bruce is determined to stay and reduce the blast so our next task is to pull neutralizing agent containers out of their chamber and place them in the proper area the issue is that the neutralizing agent is incredibly unstable so you have to perform these actions very slowly I thought this was a brilliant way to up the tension of this moment because you're forced to move in a very calm and slow manner while bombs explode around you and Sirens are going off the atmosphere around you is telling you to rush while the game forces you to move slow as you progress the music becomes sadder as Alfred begs you to stop what you're doing and escape the building they both know this is goodbye and the sadness mixed with the tension always manages to hit me emotionally where I become immersed in the moment and feel for the characters after pulling out the fourth canister of neutralizing agent though the moment makes a sharp transition miss me before we get to digest what exactly just happened we're transitioned into a flashback we're now playing as Commissioner Gordon for technically the second time in this game earlier Gordon mentioned that he was the one who pushed the button to cremate Joker which we also did so I think we were secretly playing as him in that moment but now though we actually get to walk around as Gordon as he arrives at the panessa movie studios it's stated in the game that the panesas were a crime family that used the movie studios as a front to launder money while also making the occasional low budget film unlike the Moroni and Falcone crime families the panesis didn't last in Gotham once Batman arrived and the studio went under Bruce Wayne is since bought the property as part of his Wayne regeneration project to revamp Gotham and it stated that he plans to turn it into an amusement park in the meantime though he has other uses for it as Batman which is why he summoned Gordon before entering we can walk around a bit and it's cool to see Gotham in the daytime something I don't think we've seen in any of the other games you can also see some cars driving around that you don't see in the rest of the game since this is prior to the evacuation this is also when I read realize Gotham is home to some pretty terrible drivers and they don't seem to be able to handle this intersection well once inside the studio we immediately enter an elevator on the walls are some more posters one of which is the flying graysons at Haley circus prior to becoming Robin and then Nightwing Dick Grayson and his parents were the flying graysons and performed in the circus sadly both his parents were killed during one of their shows as an extortion act against the circus this left dick an orphan and he was later adopted by Bruce Wayne interestingly we get another nod to the flying graysons on Barbara Gordon's character model she has a necklace with the initials FG and a circus backdrop this could just be a simple gift from Nightwing or it could be a nod towards their relationship in the comics since it's usually Barbara and Dick who are dating not Barbara and Tim as we go further into the studio we can see more posters this one advertising the terror starring basil Carlo if this looks familiar it's because basil Carlo is the Clayface we fought in Arkham City and the terror was the movie that was advertised and playing at the Monarch Theater during that fight there's also the poster for other fish to fry starring basil Carlo and Paul Sloan like Carlo Paul Sloan was an actor turned murderer in the comics Paul Sloan was a method actor who liked to dive deep into his roles this got him into trouble though when he was asked to portray the villain Two-Face by other members of Batman's Rogues gallery for some background a bunch of Batman's villains decided they should team up to take down the bat for good and the plan hinged on the cooperation of Two-Face since he and Batman used to be allies Two-Face flipped his coin to decide if he should help and the result is that he wouldn't help the other villains with no other options the villains invited Paul Sloan to act as Two-Face Sloane took the role too far though tailing Two-Face to study him and eventually becoming so fixated on the role that he decided he should pull off a heist as Two-Face Two-Face doesn't like being impersonated so he Tracked Down Sloan and scarred his face Sloane was believed to be dead after this but later returned to kill all the villains who set him down this path but he only successfully killed someone pretending to be Killer Moth so some nice irony there in the next room though Gordon is shocked to discover five holding cells with four people in them these prisoners are they missing people that were hinted at in the diner the first of which is Johnny Charisma the missing performer and we can see he's looking very jokerized that will be a common theme as we next look at the Goliath a heavyweight boxer who's been assaulting random people next is Christina Bell the woman who murdered the board members of Queen Industries lastly his school principal Henry Adams who surprisingly doesn't seem to be suffering the same violent tendencies as the others and seems normal Batman then shows up and explains what's going on it all goes back to Arkham City where Joker send his infected blood to hospitals in Gotham Gordon and Batman thought they recovered it all but due to some Hospital errors these four people still managed to get infected over time the Joker's blood has started to infect them and turn them into him to try and ground this in reality more Batman states that this disease is a form of krutzfeld Jacob disease which is a real thing although it feels like a pretty loose tie to this Joker disease from what I could find about kurtzfeld Jacob disease it's a rare degenerative brain disorder that rapidly leads to dementia a couple of the symptoms are memory loss and personality changes which I assume is what Rocksteady was focusing on here but to a grander scale I think the idea is that as the brain deteriorates and you start to lose more of your memory and your core personality the Joker infection starts to fill in those gaps and take control turning you more into him but that's just my speculation however we'll also later see that a lot of the Joker infection has to do with your will to resist it or succumb to it there's also the case of Henry Adams who is showing no symptoms due to this Batman believes that Henry is the answer to the Cure so he's tasked Robin with running tests to try to find the solution but so far they've come up short Gordon also notices that there are five cells but only four prisoners to which Batman States the fifth will be here soon with a good shot of Batman's reflection in the empty cell this suggests that Batman is the final prisoner and that The Cure he took in Arkham City didn't actually fully cure him like we thought this transitions us back to present day as Joker is the one who wakes us now that we know that Batman is the fifth victim of Joker's blood we know that joker is just a figment of his mind as the Joker's infection attempts to take over as far as how I feel about this reveal I'm glad to see Joker return especially since he's still voiced by Mark Hamill and it's fun to have Joker haunting Batman from the grave that said I'm glad Joker is still legitimately dead though since I don't want him to overshadow scarecrow who needs to remain the main antagonist or else we'll have another Arkham Origins scenario so overall I'm enjoying this twist and the flavor it adds to the story and gameplay looking back at the opening scene of Joker's cremation knowing now that joker would make a return the music choice in that section makes a lot more sense during The Cremation Montage the song I've Got You Under My Skin by Frank Sinatra plays throughout it I think Sinatra intended for the lyrics to reference a forbidden romance but the words also apply to Bruce's new case of jokeritis even if we just look at the first few lines I've Got You Under My Skin I've got you deep in the heart of me so deep in my heart that you're really a part of me I've got you under my skin with Joker now deep and Bruce's subconscious I think this was a really clever song Choice Rocksteady have even more fun with this moment if you start up new game plus when you choose to burn Joker this time he'll pop out at you this is how it happened this is how the Joker died but now that we're awake we get another opportunity to explore the room on the ground we can actually find scarecrow's original mask from Arkham Asylum although it's strange that it's here considering we already found it on a bridge in Arkham City I guess scarecrow reclaimed it or had a spare regardless I think this is meant to symbolize that scarecrow has ditched this version of himself and that he now has a new face and intends to bring a new level of fear to Gotham we can also see that Batman failed to place the final neutralizing agent into its holder so there's still a 25 blast radius that's active The Joker hallucination persuades Batman to escape like Alfred suggested so we'll next use the Batmobile to race out of ace chemicals before it explodes luckily the remaining blast radius seems to have been contained to the ace chemicals plant so the rest of Gotham and the East Coast has been spared at least for now with that taken care of we return back to the gcpd to break the news to Gordon that his daughter is actually still in Gotham and has been taken by scarecrow as you'd expect our Joker hallucination loves this I can't wait to see the look on his face when you tell him his daughter's been kidnapped and it's all your fault this is going to be classic when Batman tells him that Barbara has been taken he conveniently leaves out the part about her being Oracle Gordon is furious at scarecrow though and wants to go to the clock tower to search for Clues to her whereabouts so we escort Gordon back to the clock tower but tell him to wait in the car while we search the place when we drop into the clock tower we land in another hallucination this time it's a memory of jokers Barbara is alone in her apartment when she hears a knock at the door when she answers it's Joker who shoots her in the spine crippling her he then proceeds to take pictures of her and it's a pretty horrific scene believe it or not this is actually a pretty tame Recreation of the graphic novel that it's taken from titled The Killing Joke in that story Joker does the same thing but after shooting her he strips her naked and takes pictures of her Joker's goal in that story is to prove to Batman that all it takes is one bad day to break a man and turn him bad he aims to prove this through Gordon by providing him the worst day of his life so this attack on Barbara is a big part of that plan to break him he would later strip Gordon down as well and trap him on a coaster that carries him through a montage of the photos he took of Barbara Joker actually references this moment earlier if you wait around at Gordon's police car before talking to him straight away reminds me of the time I had something to tell oh Jimbo myself now on that occasion I found visually AIDS helpful ah that was a bad day fun though once we break free from the hallucination we're back in the Clock Tower and can resume our investigation all we find is her wheelchair though as Gordon arrives Batman decides that the best thing to do is reveal the truth to him so he transitions the clock tower into oracle's base again I think it was good that Batman finally told him but the consequences that Gordon is pissed off to an extreme degree this is all your fault I will find her two she's my family my daughter she's all I've got Gordon then throws his Bat phone on the ground and states that he'll find Barbara on his own it's a sad moment but Barbara is still a priority so Batman immediately begins his search Batman hacks into these City's security cameras to see if they captured the kidnapping were given four cameras to look through and we can scrub through them to find the necessary information that we need there's also a fun detail if you go to the end of the footage in the first camera where you can see Victor zazz randomly step into view we don't encounter him anywhere else in the game but we do get teases that he's active while you're exploring Gotham you can come across three of his victims who have been murdered and posed in the back computer we learned that zaz was excluded from scarecrow's plans so he's killing Two-Face and penguin's men for Revenge until Batman defeats scarecrow at which point he plans on killing Batman himself as we analyze the footage on the second camera we see that Arkham Knight was the one who took Barbara and drove off with her Batman is able to analyze the vehicle type and determine its tire tread which gives him the ability to follow the trail at the end of the trail we find the knights vehicle crashed with nobody around so Batman sets up a crime scene Batman's detective vision is able to recreate the scene to help us determine what exactly happened here after analyzing the evidence we can determine that Barbara managed to spray the driver with pepper spray causing him to crash Barbara was able to exit the vehicle and crawl away and toss something under a crate for us to find before she was recaptured by the Arkham Knight when we look under the crate we find a memory chip which will help us pinpoint the Arkham Knight's location Batman sends this info over to Lucius Fox at Wayne Enterprises so he can decrypt it and we'll head there next to see what he finds if you're unfamiliar with him Lucius Fox is the current CEO of Wayne Enterprises and one of the few people who know Bruce Wayne as Batman Lucius runs Wayne Enterprises for Bruce but he's also a skilled inventor and makes many of Batman's gadgets for him we can actually find one of those new gadgets earlier than he planned if you go to the Shakespeare head in the office which reveals a container of Batman's equipment inside is a new and improved disrupter and Lucius says he'll have it ready later there are some other cool details that you can find in the office as well like the portrait of Bruce and his parents this actually used to be Thomas Wayne's office back when he was alive and running Wayne Industries so I imagine this was a portrait he had hanging up back then that Bruce chose to leave up probably the most funny Easter eggs that you can find here in Bruce's answering machine the first voicemail is from Vicki Bale the reporter we saved during Arkham City and it seems they have a relationship now although I doubt it's a serious one [Music] about that article blame Rider I had nothing to do with it I swear call me okay I miss you Percy Brucie the next message is from Cassie Cassie um listen I had like so much fun the other night you were nothing like what I read in the papers anyway call me when you get this I got a couple of cute friends who are dying to meet you this is likely Cassandra Kane daughter of Assassins David Kane and Lady Shiva who I talk about more in my Arkham Origins video Cassandra would eventually take up the mantle of Batgirl in the comics as well in the next voicemail we actually hear from Lex Luthor who's attempting to buy Wayne's applied sciences division apologies for going via your direct line but I grow tired of these games lexcorp has made a very generous offer for Wayne Tech's Supply [Music] begins to look like a busy sketch like deliberate Liberty come now meet with me I'm sure we can come to an agreement the man of your refined taste doesn't need an applied science at division after all he needs another billion dollars Lex Luthor is the owner of Lex Corp in Metropolis and a common antagonist Superman Bruce's final voicemail is from Kate Kane you're coming to Maggie and I's engagement thing next week aren't you no one's seen you in Monsters and you've taught me the importance of keeping up appearances Kate Kane is bad woman and the Maggie she's referring to is Maggie Sawyer who she has a relationship with so some pretty cool Easter eggs in these voicemails but oh wait there's actually more this is your father calling calling Highway we had a son you know about the dressing up [Music] next new message [Music] it's funny you know because they're dead also in the room is a food bowl with the name Ace this is a reference to Ace the bat Hound after exploring the office though we used the chip Oracle gave us to scan for the Arkham Knight's voice print the scan is successful and pinpoints his location in the tunnels so we head there next as we enter the tunnel Network we can find a toy called the ghost train this is a ride in Gotham that occasionally shows up in the comics and it's also the ride that joker puts Gordon on in The Killing Joke it's also a callback to Arkham city where the ghost train shows up as well while in the tunnels we also get a call from Robin stating that he hasn't heard from Barbara in a while and he's wondering if she's okay Batman actually chooses to lie to him here and tells him that she's just working on something for him and that Robin should stay focused on the Cure it's pretty cold that Batman didn't tell Robin the truth but he's really paranoid about what could happen if they don't find a cure for Joker's infection so he needs Tim focused I think Bruce also lied to Tim because of what just happened after he told the truth to Gordon at this moment he thinks he lost a friend in an ally at a crucial moment I think he's scared that the same could happen with Robin regardless Batman needs to focus on finding the Arkham Knight which might be easier than expected since he gets the drop on us as we infiltrate the tunnels he takes a moment to show off his in-depth knowledge about our suit once again by shooting a bullet where there's minimal armor he then walks off and leaves his men to deal with us this leads to a pretty cool combat section where we're introduced to brutes giant armored militia henchmen who are tougher to take down along with them ninjas are thrown into The Fray as well as plenty of standard enemies I thought this was another fun combat encounter with some good enemy variety and environmental takedowns and so far I'm enjoying the challenge progression of the combat as The Story Goes On after taking them all out though we continue our hunt for the Arkham Knight and Barbara Batman is able to track his voice print again and locate the vehicle he's driving in so we pursue him through the streets of Gotham and launch missiles Adam to subdue him eventually we're able to disable the vehicle so we get out to confront the Knight annoyingly it's not him just some random militia Thug wearing a voice changer the Arkham Knight must have caught onto our plan and tricked us into chasing the wrong man with no other options we're forced to interrogate the driver on the knight's location Batman's method for doing so is to back the Batmobile Tire onto his head and apply pressure until he talks by the way this is cited by the ESRB as a moment that played a factor in their M rating it's not that bad though because you can't actually crush the guy's head believe me I tried and you'll just endlessly rev the Batmobile until you finally release the pressure this tactic is successful though and the driver ends up talking he tells us that the Arkham Knight has gone to meet the penguin who supplied some safe houses for the militia he also tells us that we can find penguin through his front company called North Refrigeration which he uses to distribute weapons through the city the name North Refrigeration is likely a reference to the voice actor Nola North who voices the penguin when we talked to Alfred about North Refrigeration he gets us in touch with Nightwing who's coincidentally been tracking them too and has already scoped out their location for some background Dick Grayson eventually left Gotham to become his own man in bloodhaven as Nightwing bloodhaven is arguably more crime-ridden than Gotham so he has his hands full North Refrigeration has been headquartered in bloodhaven so Nightwing has been tracking them for a while recently he's found out that they've expanded their Opera into Gotham so Nightwing has since returned to Gotham and wants to help us shut down penguin for good it's exciting to finally see Nightwing appear in the story of an Arkham game and this is the first time he's been voiced in the series Batman isn't as excited to see him though and tells him to go back to bloodhaven while he handles this Nightwing reluctantly agrees but not before handing off that new disrupter that Lucius made for us which now has the ability to track vehicles I actually really love the disrupter and it always makes me think of the gun that Bruce uses in the Dark Knight movie to fire remote explosives in fact I wouldn't be surprised if it was based off of that our goal here though is to use the disruptor to place a tracker on the vehicle and then scare the henchmen into driving off in hopes that they'll lead us to one of Penguin's stash houses foreign [Music] subtlety works with the tracker placed we'll tail them from a distance high on the rooftops I absolutely love this Mission because it felt so cool and Batman liked to stalk enemies this way as planned they head back to their Hideout giving us the opportunity to crash the party sure enough once we're inside we can see the penguin is here too we'll sneak up from behind him and interrogate him on the location of Barbara he tells us that scarecrow has gone to see Simon Stagg the owner of stag Enterprises which is currently housed in an Airship above Gotham ah Penguins men then grab Batman and Penguin is able to escape thankfully Nightwing didn't take our advice to leave Gotham and instead shows up to lend a hand this leads to a combat sequence that introduces us to another new gameplay mechanic and that's team combat encounters we can fight alongside Nightwing and switch to him whenever we want as well as trigger team takedowns where Batman and Nightwing cooperatively attack an enemy I think this was a brilliant inclusion to the gameplay and has a whole new layer to the combat plus it's nice getting to fight as other members of the bat family after taking them all out we need to destroy all the weapons contained in the vault so Batman sprays explosive gel in there and exits to blow it up this is also where we get a great example of how much fun rock city is having with their inclusion of Joker as he reacts to Batman's actions please what are you doing bats come on don't lock me in here I'll do anything I want your laundry done I'll do it how about Alfred you got it I wouldn't like to be that guy from here we'll leave Nightwing to track down more penguin stashes which we'll discuss more when we get to the side missions next we head to Stags Airship to see if Penguins intel was useful to help us break in we returned to Wayne Tower and retrieve the remote hacking device we'll then just Glide right over the airships and hack our way in once inside we can see that the militia have already been here and killed everyone for what reason Batman is not entirely sure yet stag Industries is a biomedical research company and their display has voiceover that describes their new Mass Airborne inoculation treatment program which allows them to deliver large quantities of medicine to hundreds of thousands of people a technology that could be very helpful if used by the right hands to continue further into the ship Batman hacks the airship's controls allowing us to tilt it this was a pretty cool mechanic specific to this level and it created some interesting puzzles as you tried to create Pathways as we progress further we eventually find Simon Stagg the CEO of stag Industries and he's been captured by the militia will drop in to help him out and this leads to another massive brawl against a bunch of militia guards we'll take them all out and rescue stag but this is where things start to get really trippy again after stag informs us that scarecrow was on the second Airship we begin to hallucinate Joker again then all the militia guards start to rise from the ground like zombies to surround us I love the audio design here too as the background music is very tense and foreboding as it transitions into overwhelming laughter from the Joker I thought this was a very effective and creepy moment and it leads to us beating up all the jokers in the room eventually they'll get the upper hand and you'll start to choke each other out I wanted to see what happens if you let them choke you and it looks like you can't die the screen just goes infinitely black but when you actually struggle against the Joker hallucination you'll kick him off and return to the real world as we learn that stag has been recaptured Batman's Joker problems are obviously becoming worse and is starting to hinder his Effectiveness we need to find stag though and We Begin by hacking into the weapon system of the Airship to destroy the security on the other ship we're now free to Glide over to the next Airship and take out the henchmen that are waiting within it inside this ship we'll also find containment cells of old research participants probably participants from Flyers like the ones we saw in the diner and we can see how things turned out for them along with each cell are also Simon stagg's Audio Research search notes and we learned that he partnered with Scarecrow to enhance his new toxin scarecrow also wanted to use Stag's cloudburst technology which could disperse the toxin rapidly and in a wide proximity however stag wasn't entirely pleased with this Arrangement at first stag agreed to join scarecrow because he saw potential in the toxin for things like curing depression or selling it to the military he hoped that scarecrow would eventually see the lucrative potential of this formula and Market it but instead he's remained solely focused on using it to defeat Batman since stag no longer saw any financial gain in the partnership he wanted out and planned to escape once scarecrow learned of this it put them at odds which is why he's captured stag by the time we reached stag there's not much we can do as scarecrow gasses him with fear toxin his demise here would be poetic justice but Batman decides to knock him out and spare him from the nightmares in the Next Room we find scarecrow working on a computer or rather two scarecrows as one is an inconveniently timed hallucination we have to choose which one we think is the real scarecrow and grab him or else look like a fool and blow our opportunity no matter which one you choose though the game always forces you to pick the wrong one and scarecrow gasses you the fear toxin elevates The Joker infection more each time we're hit with it so there's little Batman can do to stop the Joker from taking control here with Joker in control it's really creepy hearing his voice and seeing him smile within Batman's body leave how strong it is while fighting his Joker your hits feel more aggressive and you get the sense The Joker is really enjoying beating up all these henchmen scarecrow notices this too as we attack him next leading to a really interesting scene where we see how Joker is attempting to influence Batman look at him he's no better than the creep who killed your parents you need to do something you need to stop him good good something's changed you're different I prefer to call it a work in progress but it does show potential since we hear a gunshot from this hallucination I think we're meant to believe that Bruce did give in for a moment and willingly pulled the trigger which is why he drops to his knees The Joker Is chipping away at him piece by piece but he still hasn't managed to take full control just yet in the time it took for Bruce to snap out of his internal struggle scarecrow managed to reach the end of the Airship where he's rigged it to be yanked off as a means of Escape for himself on the cloudburst I also want to point out that I think some of the Stag Airship mission was slightly inspired by the Batman the Animated Series episode nothing to fear in it scarecrow also hijacks an Airship that Batman has to break into scarecrow even manages to escape out the back of this one too but this time in a little glider so I thought those were some interesting similarities but I digress shortly after this scarecrow makes a broadcast showing the location of Barbara Gordon which is the same location he had Ivy contained earlier in the game we rushed there next and find Barbara still there however once we arrive scarecrow releases the fear gas into the chamber causing Barbara to hallucinate while we watch [Applause] the monster don't listen please please no Barbara it's me your friend you won't get me I will let you get me you will bring death to I imagine this was another scene that led to that M rating and it's pretty effective we'll come back to the scene later too because there's more that I want to discuss with it but immediately after Barber's death Batman breaks the news to Alfred that she's dead and it seems that this has gone a long way towards breaking Batman mentally the way scarecrow planned as emotional as Bruce is right now Alfred is able to talk him back up stating that he's learned that the cloudburst is a dispersal device and if it becomes operational scarecrow will cover the entire city in fear gas this gives him the idea that he should return back to poison ivy since she was immune to scarecrow's toxin so we head back to the gcpd to talk with Ivy she's resistant to helping us at first but when she learns that all her plants will die if she doesn't she agrees to help in order to counteract scarecrow's toxin though she needs to awaken some ancient Roots beneath Gotham so we load her into the Batmobile and get to work we'll start by taking Ivy to the botanical gardens where she uses one of her plants as a command center while we locate the roots of another once we find its location we use the Batmobile to trigger a sonar blast which awakens the ancient root and allow IV to control it with IV on our side we're in a better position to go on the offensive against scarecrow and the Arkham Knight so Batman heads back to panessa movie studios to use the back computer for further analysis of the night's forces this also means that we'll have to come in contact with Robin though who still doesn't know that his girlfriend Barbara is dead let alone missing Alfred asked Batman how he'll break the news to him and surprisingly or not so surprisingly Batman says he's not going to tell him because he wants him to remain focused on the Cure Batman is always so Mission focused that it's tough to say if this coldness is a side effect of the Joker's personality eeking into his mind or if Batman would make this decision normally anyway I personally think this is just Batman being more focused on the mission than the emotions of others especially after seeing how Gordon reacted in the clock tower inside the studio we can also find a freeze blast like the ones Mr Freeze gave us in Arkham City it's a miscible Gadget and like with the remote electrical charge in the gcpd I think it's cool that we can find Batman's gadgets through exploration and not just solely through normal story beats but after running our analysis on the back computer Robin wants to talk with us and Batman is given the opportunity to reveal what happened to Barbara still haven't heard from Barbara trust me Robin she's fine I need you to focus on the Cure you don't have to do this on your own Bruce I can help you it's under control we need that antidote we're getting there it won't be long now look if you need help you know where to find me I do feel bad for Robin he clearly trusts Batman but he's being kept in the dark and he's forced to work on this toxin even though he feels he can do more he doesn't even know that Batman is suffering from The Joker infection which I think would help motivate him to work on the Cure more still with Batman's life on the line it's hard to completely argue with Bruce's decision to keep Tim in the dark so he stays focused it's ethically wrong but it's more likely to produce a positive outcome for the Cure regardless Joker is absolutely loving the drama Oh I thought for sure you were going to tell him come clean like you did with Gordon ah but you realized why break him now when we can crush him later it's classic Joker something truly beautiful is happening bags after leaving the studios Batman next heads the clock tower to analyze the batwing's progress at locating the cloudburst it's been unsuccessful so far and our analysis is interrupted by an emergency call back at the panessa movie studios Henry Adams is requesting our help as we see that Harley Quinn is broken in Batman heads back to the movie studios and enters the elevator where we get a fun nod back to the first game foreign memories you me an award full of psychotic killers never felt so at home have you this moment is of course a nice nostalgic callback to the opening level of the first game where Batman escorts Joker to a cell in Arkham Asylum what don't you trust me Our Guest has arrived [Music] after we're done hallucinating We join Robin as he attempts to fight off Harley's men this is another team combat section where we can switch between Batman and Robin and these Team battles are quickly becoming some of my favorite fights in the game due to their thematics and how fresh they make the combat feel after defeating all the thugs Batman and Robin interrogate the only conscious henchmen and it's pretty fun seeing them interrogate someone together how did she find us how did she get in I'd let him know if I were you he's not always in such a good mood how should I know I guess she's smarter than you think not likely with that Thug being a dead end they turned to the back computer to see what they can learn it seems Harley was pretty much able to stroll into the movie studios by passing the voice recognition scanner and the various other security protocols which is very strange not only that but she's broken all the infected prisoners out and they're hiding out in different movie sets in the studio our goal now is to track down each one and lock them back up while also attempting to find hardly thankfully Henry is still here so we have him wait in this room while we hunt down the others as we continue further into the studio we find another movie poster this time for Dr dorian's island of mutants like the dark interlude poster this is a reference to another Batman the Animated Series episode Dr Dorian is a scientist who experiments with genetic engineering splicing the DNA of different creatures on his private island his most prized creation is a cat man named Tigris and Dorian decides to follow this up by kidnapping Catwoman and turning her into a literal Cat Woman Tigris ends up falling for her and by the time Batman arrives it creates a bit of a love triangle between the three of them it's definitely one of the more unique episodes in the series but by the end of it I was pretty captivated by The Tigress character so maybe it's worth a watch if you're curious continuing on though we'll head to our first Joker Christina Bell who's hidden away in the haunted house set my understanding from the bat computer files is that each infected Joker victim has started to take on specific aspects of Joker's personality and my personal interpretation is that Christina has taken on the crazier side of Joker as well as his attachment to Batman both of which we can see in this interaction between Christina and Harley's men sees how you've treated me he's Gonna Knock Out you and you well maybe not you definitely you and you oops well that evens things up a little anyway when he's done with you chumps me and bats will have this place all to ourselves so get out there and make him show you how much he wants me now that Christina has locked herself away Batman and Robin need to take out Harley's men to get to her we've already seen team combat sections but now we get a team stealth section which I think is a really fun concept Batman and Robin are both grappling around the room and while playing as one of them you can call the other to drop in and perform a stealth takedown which transitions you to that character I had a lot of fun with this but we'll talk about it more in the gameplay section of the video after clearing the room though we next confront Christina we'll bust down the door and she'll specifically Target Robin for an attack if you fail to counter her she'll start slashing away at Robin with her nails marking up his face Batman will also criticize Robin for being too slow and it's almost like he's criticizing you the player which I think is effective because it helps put you in Robin's shoes for a moment I think she caught half my face off be honest how's it look like you're too slow as a further consequence Robin will also have slash marks on his face for the rest of the game however if you're quick enough you can counter her attack and grab her before she lands a hit interestingly Batman won't compliment your reflexes here he only criticizes you if you get something wrong which kind of gives you a glimpse at what it's like being part of the bat family under Bruce Robin also wonders why she targeted him specifically with such aggression and that goes back to the Joker personality trait that she's developed we'll learn that before his death Joker hated the sidekicks because he felt that they interfered with his and Batman's antagonistic relationship he misses the early days when it was just the one-on-one rivalry between them this seems to have bled over to Christina who now has a deep Obsession for Batman and a deep hatred for Robin from here though Robin carries Christina back to her cell while Batman gets a head start on the next Joker he's stalled on the way though when he walks into another memory of jokers this time the robin he failed to save Jason Todd why won't you just kill me what oh no no no no I'm not gonna kill you not yet anyway kill my sidekick now imagine it you and me out on the streets starting fights picking on the weak a regular dynamic duo just like bats and that new kid of his you wouldn't you think so the man then oh we the point is they're usually a dead giveaway I didn't want to show you that photo really I didn't but well it was the only way for you to get closure now I know it hurts but sometimes you gotta be cruel to be kind so let's talk about Jason Todd for a moment and how he came to get to this place in the comics Batman randomly encountered Jason when he found him stealing the tires off the Batmobile Jason was an orphan like Bruce and was resorting to Crime to help himself survive on the streets Batman saw that the kid was skilled but on the wrong path so Bruce adopted him and trained him to be the next Robin Jason was a good Robin but he also had violent tendencies and a rebellious attitude often disobeying Batman's orders one day Jason learned that his birth mother Sheila Haywood might actually be alive so he and Bruce went on the hunt for her which brought them to Ethiopia coincidentally Joker just so happened to be looking for her too because she's a doctor from Gotham with a troubled past that he could easily blackmail for medical supplies Joker beats Batman and Robin tour and she reluctantly agrees to help the Joker later Jason is reunited with his mother and he finally seems to be happy however shortly after this reunion he notices her leaving with the joker he Tails them to a Supply Depot and learns that joker is blackmailed her and that he's also swapped the medical boxes with ones filled with deadly laughing gas which are about to be trans transported to the camp Sheila works at Jason races over to Batman to inform him of the situation and Batman is forced to make a choice he decides he needs to get to the cargo truck first before saving Jason's mom he also knows Jason isn't ready to face the Joker so he tells him to wait here until he gets back Jason agrees but once Batman leaves he decides he'll take on the Joker by himself anyway so Jason returns back to the Supply Depot where he tells his mother that he's Robin and can help her out of this situation she tells him that the Joker is gone and leads him deeper into the Depot at this moment we learned that joker is actually still there and that Sheila has betrayed her son in hopes of saving herself she's also been embezzling money and she worries that if Robin apprehends Joker then her crimes will be revealed as if things couldn't get worse for Jason Joker then proceeds to beat him close to death with a crowbar Sheila also learns that her cold-hearted betrayal was pointless as the Joker ties her up and sets a bomb to explode Jason regains Consciousness and tries to help his mother Escape but they run out of time and the bomb explodes what happens next was actually left up to the readers as we can see see on this original ad readers were given the power to decide the fate of Jason Todd and could call in to cast their vote grimly readers ultimately decided that Jason should die which leads to this iconic image of Batman holding Jason's dead body DC later revealed the alternate panel that was drawn had readers chosen to keep Jason alive and it's pretty interesting to think how Jason's Story could have played out had he been kept alive as far as what happens after Jason's death things get pretty wacky as at the end of that same issue we next see the joker as the Iranian ambassador to the UN which grants him diplomatic immunity Comics are just weird sometimes but shortly after this is also when the next Robin was introduced Tim Drake Batman did indeed get a replacement Robin after Jason Todd but not intentionally it was actually Dick Grayson and Alfred who really brought Tim into the fold after Tim was able to deduce Batman and Nightwing's secret identities dick was the one who brought Tim into the bat cave unbeknownst to Bruce and Alfred helped Tim take up the mantle of Robin to rescue Batman a Nightwing from an encounter with Two-Face in fact Batman was highly against the idea of a new Robin and only agreed to let Tim stay once he realized how clever he was as he helped them multiple times in this battle so Batman isn't treating Robins like dead goldfish where he ditches them and just gets a new one but that's certainly how Joker makes it out to beat a Jason Todd taking a step back though in the game's prequel Comics Arkham Knight Genesis Jason's Origins are told a bit differently instead of his hunt for his mother and going International everything takes place in Gotham Jason's downfall is still his rebellious nature though when Joker attempts to flee during a battle with Batman Batman realizes it's a trap but Jason is eager to prove himself and rushes towards Joker of course he ends up getting himself captured and Batman is unable to track him down Joker then takes Jason to the basement of Arkham Asylum where he tortures them for the next two years leading up to the events of the first game Batman Arkham Asylum it's pretty sad knowing that there must have been dozens of times where Batman and the new Robin were just floors above Jason without even knowing it but this is why during the hallucination that the floors are marked with Arkham Asylum symbols since that's where Joker kept him in this continuity getting back to the game though the temperature Drake Robin returns and we continue towards our next Joker Johnny Charisma Charisma is locked himself in the Next Room and requested that only Batman enter it he failed to give us the code to the door though so Batman calls Henry Adam to access the security footage on the bat computer Henry states that he's not great with computers but he manages to locate it and send it to Batman from here we can see Charisma punching the code in the mirror the code is 0539 which is an Easter egg for Batman's comic debut in May 1939. yes he's that old however if you repeatedly fail to get the code right Batman will just smash the panel this is taking too long once we're inside the room we find Charisma wearing a bomb vest and standing on the stage they're also bombs scattered around the room so things are pretty serious at least until you get on the stage with Charisma and lernie wants to sing you a song Charisma has clearly taken on Joker's more theatrical personality traits and the camera even pans to reveal the perspective of Joker singing to us unfortunately I can't play the song but I'm sure you get the idea I thought it was also cool that the music here can be heard in the diner as well making the music in the diner subtly very Joker themed thematically it's like he's looming in the background out of you but still present while Charisma is distracted though Robin sneaks in through the vents we get to control him and we have to carefully get to each bomb and defuse them without getting caught after taking care of the bombs Robin will then defuse charisma's bomb vest and they'll take him down together with Charisma dealt with that leaves only Albert King the Goliath Robin carries Charisma back to his cell and we get another head start on our way to Goliath we come across a rug hanging from a chain uncovering it reveals Jason Todd again as we're haunted by another flashback hallucination in this one Joker further breaks down Jason Todd and even intends to Brand his face with the letter j we get to hear this happen and it's pretty unsettling no no please please no no [Laughter] Batman shakes it off though and together with Robin they confront Goliath he seems to have Joker's more aggressive personality traits and wants to fight us this leads to another team combat encounter and it's just as enjoyable as the prior ones after defeating Goliath Batman makes Robin carry him back to his cell which seems pretty cruel Robin's been getting his squats in though since he's actually able to pick up Goliath and carry him back before leaving we can explore another room near this set and it has a lot of pyrotechnics in it along with a movie poster for The Inferno this is a reference to the villain Firefly AKA Garfield lens who before becoming a villain worked for the movie studio as an effects artist and pyrotechnic on The Inferno film in the back computer files we learned that although the movie won awards it was a financial flop Garfield was then asked to meet with head of the studio tommaso panessa who while smoking a cigar fired him Garfield reacted by spitting nitroglycerin at him lighting him on fire looking at the movie poster again it seems Garfield took inspiration from the suit depicted on the poster since it's very reminiscent of its Firefly suit after leaving this room we head back to the main lockup and go into the underground vents in an attempt to get the upper hand on Harley's guards Harley shows up first though putting a wrench in our plans Robin then steps up to distract Harley and lower her guard I really love the characterization of this Robin and how he understands that villains see him as lesser to Batman and how that gives him the power of underestimation he also has a good line where he uses that as a jab against Harley oh look who it is Batman's Little Helper looks like he left you all alone nah he figured I could handle you by myself he doesn't take you very seriously neither do I he's successful too as this gets Harley to unlock the gate and put her in position for Batman to take her down even though it also puts himself at risk you can actually betray Robin here if you neglect to jump out the vents and take down Harley as time goes on you can feel both Robin and Harley start to get really agitated with you counting to three if [Music] Casey didn't hear it I've started I'm on one already Okay so Batman I'm halfway the boy one is about to get a real bad headache yeah I'm kind of in agreement anytime now would be good if you let this go on even longer you'll get some additional lines from Harley regarding Jason Todd including a unique death screen after she shoots Robin did the b-man ever tell you about Jason Todd I'm guessing not that guilty little secret Jake said it was special said it was his finest work you know it's funny seems Batman's got a habit of leaving Robin to die looks like history has repeated itself kid laughs Joker told me Robin's die easy when you play this scene correctly though you'll hop out of the vent and help Robin take down Harley and her men we'll continue forward carrying Goliath and Harley back to the holding cells when we arrived though we're met with a grisly sight both Christina and Charisma have been shot dead in their cells it's then revealed that Henry Adams was the one who killed them and that he's been pretending to be immune to Joker's infection this entire time in fact he might be the most dangerous of them all since it seems he's acquired Joker's cunning and maniacal nature while the others have been obviously evil Henry has been plotting we learned he was lying about being bad with computers and actually managed to reprogram Batman's Security in the studios in one of the unlockable files we also learned that Henry was the one who tipped off Harley and that's why she was able to locate and infiltrate the studio Henry has one Quirk that even Harley can't get behind though and that's Henry's desire to purify the gene pool and kill the less worthy Jokers this ends up being his downfall when he realizes that Batman is the final and better Joker so he decides to shoot himself Harley is distraughted all the Jokers she just lost and Robin realizes the that Batman is the final Joker Batman tells him he'll lock himself up after beating scarecrow but Robin doesn't want to take the risk since he knows he won't be able to stop him if he turns Robin suggests that we get in the cell now while our Joker hallucination tells us not to giving us some nice devil on the shoulder angel on the other imagery you're ultimately forced to enter the cell though where Batman takes off his mask and goes into first person mode alpha then calls in to tell us that the Arkham Knight's forces have found our location and are getting ready to attack with Batman subdued Robin has to handle it alone as confident and skilled as we know he is you can't help but feel a little bit nervous for him as you watch him head out you know he's not quite ready for this and that he's probably running off to his death we're left to ponder this and ourselves for a while too until we're hit with our final Jason Todd hallucination in this one we see how broken Jason is as Joker manages to push him to the point of revealing Batman's true identity on camera before Jason can reveal the name Joker shoots him not wanting to spoil the mystery Joker's last message to Batman in this tape is important too after all you see in what happens when you drag your friends into this crazy little game of ours we saw that same quote written on the wall during our hallucination of Barbara's injury showing that this line is stuck in Bruce's head for a long time now having failed both Barbara and Jason once we return to reality we learned that going into the cell was a separate hallucination and almost more of a premonition of what's to come if we choose to lock ourselves up and we're given the choice again this time we can legitimately choose what to do and if you decide to go back into the cell again Joker will keep returning and having us choose again we break this Loop when we decide to throw Robin into the cell instead really pissing him off after seeing that hallucination Batman is scared to lose another Robin and is locking him up in hopes of keeping him safe he also cuts his communication so he can't reach out to Alfred so we'll just leave him in here although if you really want to pour salt in the wound you can take this moment to tell him Barbara is dead as well which angers him further Tim there's it's something you need to know Something's Happened no not her don't say it Barbara's she's dead I'm sorry let me out I can't they're targeting everyone close to me I won't let them get you as well Bruce please I have to do this no you son of a how dare you you don't get to decide get away from me we can also talk to Harley Quinn while she's locked in her cell and I found this to be very reminiscent of how we left her in Arkham Asylum from here we head back to the city and continue our pursuit of the Arkham Knight we return back to Ivy to talk with her but Alfred interrupts stating that the Batwing has managed to locate the cloudburst and that it's currently moving through the city before we can do anything about it the cloudburst is triggered covering Gotham in a cloud of fear Toxin and disabling the Batmobile Batman and Ivy were luckily on a rooftop when it happened but everyone who was on the streets are now tearing each other apart even worse the toxin is killing Ivy's plants their only solution for getting rid of the toxin Ivy chooses to stay with their plants to help keep them alive although we can see that it causes her a great deal of pain to sustain them our goal now is to destroy the cloudbursts but we'll need the Batmobile to do so Batman's plan is to return back to Simon stag since he helped develop the cloudburst and see if he has a solution we find him hiding beneath the floor great so we pick him up and interrogate him for answers he tells us that we need to insert a nimbus cell into the Batmobile so we lock him up and take one for ourselves from here we head back to the Batmobile and our only choice is to dive into the fear toxin Cloud the fear toxin amplifies Joker's hold on us so this is a big risk while we replace the cell we can see that joker is getting stronger as the criminals in the background transition into hallucinations of him we managed to safely get into the Batmobile though and our next order of business is to awaken another one of Ivy's plants we eventually find it and it clears as much of the toxin as it can but it's still not enough thankfully the Arkham Knight decides he wants to finish us now so he challenges us to face off against him while he drives the cloudburst tank this leads to a boss fight using the Batmobile where we have to quietly destroy the Arkham Knight's powerful Cobra tanks before we can take him on the Cobra tanks only have one weak point so you have to position yourself behind them and lock on before you're able to blow them up I thought these encounters were pretty tense and they're basically Batmobile stealth missions the cloudburst is an even more deadly version of the Cobra tank though but with multiple weak points that each need to be damaged once I actually like this battle against the cloudburst a lot due to its cat and mouse style gameplay you'll creep up on the tank and blast one of its weak points then drive away at top speed to evade its blast the cloudburst is quick Relentless and has some really damaging weapons making it a formidable opponent so I thought it was a really good boss fight aimed at the Batmobile however I do have some criticisms with how it fares as an Arkham Knight battle we'll talk about that more later for now we destroy the cloudburst and grapple the Arkham Knight up to a nearby rooftop the Fight Continues but in cut scene form until Batman knocks him out and has another inconveniently timed Joker hallucination Batman leaves the Arkham Knight there and returns back to Poison Ivy ivy is able to resuscitate her plants back to full health but doing so came at a cost this set the last of Ivy's life force as she starts to disintegrate in Batman's arms covering Gotham and pollen as her plants remove scarecrow's fear toxin from the skies Gotham City is safe again thanks to the sacrifice of poison ivy although I'm not certain she's dead for good after she disintegrates all that's left of her is her red jacket lying on the ground however if we return back to it later in the game a flower is now sprouting from it you could interpret this as just a nice symbol that something beautiful has grown in the place of Ivy sacrifice but I've always taken it to be a sign of rebirth that she might not be as dead as we thought but I'm curious what you all think from here though we return back to the gcpd they've managed to intercept an encrypted SWOT broadcast in Gotham which is suspicious since SWAT isn't there Batman is able to decrypt it and it's a message Gordon sent some of his men stating that he's located scarecrow and he's going to put an end to him there's no way Jim is going to be able to handle scarecrow alone so Batman tracks his radio signal that signal brings us to an abandoned shopping mall where Gordon has already got himself captured and he's taken underground by an elevator we follow him using the Batmobile Underground through the tunnel system unfortunately the Arkham Knight has been waiting for us in his new vehicle a drilling machine and he makes a reference to the Batman Begins movie I did ask if it came in black but then I thought ah you just get all jealous does it come in Black he then chases us through the tunnels but luckily some bombs have been planted along the edges that damaged the knight's vehicle there are a few other tunnels like this one with the bombs so our goal now is to lure the Arkham Knight into the mall like with the cloudburst tank I thought this was a fun batmobile-centric boss fight and it was tense navigating the obstacles of the tunnel with the night close on my tail however I'm also beginning to wish I could fight the Arkham Knight hand to hand instead of always through a vehicle regardless after luring him through all the bombs we find a potential exit through event in the ceiling right on cue though the Arkham Knight shows up believing he has us trapped he also takes a moment to reveal that he was the one who told scarecrow how to find Barbara and then he knows Bruce Wayne is Batman but he's kept that secret to himself for now before the Arkham Knight can crush him Batman ejects out the car and through the vent but the Batmobile was destroyed in the process if Batman could cry I think this would be one of those moments still we have bigger concerns and that's rescuing Gordon who's just in the Next Room he's surrounded by militia troops so we jump in and take them all out before we get a chance to untie Gordon the Arkham Knight shows back up this time ready to reveal his identity if you haven't guessed it already it's Jason Todd the robin the Batman thought was dead for fans that were familiar with the comics this reveal was pretty predictable with many fans guessing the Arkham Knight's true identity before the game even released even if it's not a highly effective twist I still think Jason Todd is a good antagonist for this game's story having a shadow of the past mysteriously returned for the hero to face is typically a concept in storytelling that I enjoy and that applies here with Jason especially since so much of the story has been built around him and I like how it's been paired with the joker throughout the game so far we've been getting a lot of good character moments for Batman where we get to witness some of his biggest regrets since Batman is so internal I think hallucinations were a good way to demonstrate these regrets namely the attack on Barbara and the death of Jason Todd now having Jason return face to face with him you can imagine how Bruce must feel on the one hand he sees the consequences of his failure to save Jason and how it's warped his mind on the other hand Bruce now has a second chance to save Jason and put him on the right path again but what about Jason's Arc in the comics and how does it tie in with the game so Jason did stay dead for quite a while in the comics until he was brought back in a series called under the Red Hood Jason Todd is Red Hood and his introduction in the comics is similar to the one he gets as Arkham Knight where he's a mysterious new player in Gotham that quickly makes a name for himself red hood is primarily targeting the villain black mask in the series but he'll also cross paths with Batman leading to the two of them to Duke it out until one fight where Jason reveals himself to Bruce we also learn why Jason carries a grudge against Batman and it's a little different from how the game portrays it in Arkham Knight Jason is upset that not only did Bruce fail to save him the whole time he was being held by Joker but he also replaced him with a new Robin shortly after his disappearance in the comics Jason says he forgives Bruce for not saving him his issue is that Batman didn't kill the Joker for what he did to him he states that if the Joker had killed Bruce he would have made sure to hunt down Joker and murder him but Bruce has just let the Joker live repeatedly after all the crimes and murders he's committed following Jason's death with Joker being dead in the Arkham continuity I guess that motivation wouldn't really work for this game so I think the direction they went here was still effective but how exactly did Jason return from the dead in both the comics and the game in the comics it's revealed that in a separate series Superboy Prime altered certain moments in time one of which was Jason Todd's death this reanimated Jason and his coffin and he was able to break free like a zombie a zombie might not actually be too far off because he suffered a lot of brain trauma in that beating from Joker and was pretty much just moving around based on pure Instinct he ended up living on the streets again until a homeless man recognized Jason's fighting moves pinpointing him as Robin the same homeless man also had connections to Talia al Ghul Bruce's former love interest and she arranged to pick him up and take care of him she trained him as much as she could but the trauma from his death was still too severe so she threw him into the Lazarus Pit which brought him back to full health and recovered his memories in the prequel comic for the game we learned that Jason managed to escape captivity during the chaos of the first game and had a Little Help from Deathstroke who Jason bribes to help him escape this also forms the backbone of their relationship in the game but we'll talk about Deathstroke a bit later going back to the game though I like this nod we get to Jason's Red Hood identity as the Arkham Knight outfit transitions into a hybrid of the two Jason's not ready to forgive Batman yet so he's on the hunt once again taking us into another boss fight thankfully this one won't take place in the Batmobile and is instead more of a stealth fight Jason has taken up a sniping position so we have to sneak around and catch him off guard each time we're able to grab him Batman makes an attempt to talk him down these are some of my favorite moments between the two of them mostly due to the performance of Troy Baker voicing Jason Todd as Batman speaks to him you can tell red hood is really conflicted with how to feel he's still driven by the Vengeance he wants against Batman but you also get a sense that deep down he wants to go back to that father-son relationship that they used to have and I think the voice acting really delivers that with the wobbliness of Jason's voice in these moments Joker got to you I know what it's like don't pretend to understand after we catch him for the final time they get a brief moment to talk and Bruce reaches out to him you did this to me I'm sorry you left me to rot in that abandoned wing of Arkham for over a year with him it's not too late we can fix this together and with that they both come to a silent truce as Batman gives Alfred the news that Jason taught is back in that time Jason took the opportunity to escape with the Arkham Knight taken care of we can now return to rescuing Gordon he tells us that scarecrow was on the top floor so we ride the elevator to get there during the ride Batman takes a moment to apologize for everything with Barbara it mentions what an honor it was to work alongside her Gordon must have heard Jason call us Bruce during the fight since he now addresses us as such recalling the day he first met Bruce after getting his witness statement the night his parents were murdered the knowledge of Bruce's identity seems to have disarmed Gordon a bit and he treats us more calmly even apologizing and stating that they're similar and you get the sense that they've made amends once they reach the rooftop Gordon and Batman confront scarecrow together this is one of my favorite cutscenes in the game because there's so much going on within it Batman thinks that they finally apprehended scarecrow and that he's got his friend back but just like that Gordon points the gun at Batman stating that this betrayal was the only way he could secure his daughter at that moment Barbara is wheeled out and you realize that Batman must have hallucinate aided her death you actually get a couple of teases at this reveal ahead of time too before dropping into the penthouse it looks like there's a gas being expelled into Batman's side of the room potentially a subtle fear gas another clue is during the actual death scene where you see the Joker push the gun towards her if he's a figment of Bruce's imagination he shouldn't be able to move things in the real world lastly if you return this location before the reveal Barbara will be missing and it'll be Joker in the chair hang on did you leave something here it was sort of body shaped wasn't it during this cutscene you'll also notice the camera circling them this entire time and although it can be slightly nauseating I think Rocksteady chose this camera movement to elevate the feeling of confusion in the scene the way the camera is moving it feels like things are spiraling out of control which is pretty cool if that was the intention things go back and forth quite a lot too as Gordon attempts to turn the gun back on scarecrow who counters by bringing in more guards as he tells Gordon that his next decision will decide to fade of Barbara Gordon then chooses to shoot Batman but he aims for Batman's chest we've been told by the Arkham Knight multiple times now that he knows our armor is strongest around the bat symbol and it seems Gordon knew this too scarecrow didn't catch on though and was actually mad at Gordon for attempting to kill Batman Scarecrow doesn't want Batman dead yet and he goes back on his deal with Gordon Wheeling Barbara to the edge of the roof and it's definitely one of scarecrow's creepiest moments you don't scare me [Music] Batman swoops into rescuer and they land safely on the ground they're not out of the woods just yet though as a bunch of militia tanks swarm their location this would be a great time to use the Batmobile but it was crushed by the Arkham Knight coincidentally I guess Batman had a secret spare lying around that he calls in to save them I think the first car looked cooler personally but I do like the gray and yellow color scheme for a more classic Batman feel from here though Batman takes Barbara to the police station where she resumes her work as Oracle her first order of business is to track down scarecrow and her dad she starts to make some progress but it's interrupted when the building starts to shake scarecrow has sent the rest of his forces to lay Siege on the police department and things aren't looking good before Batman heads out to examine things you can also have some unique conversations with whoever's at the gcpd at the time for example if you've been doing a lot of side missions and locking away criminals the ones who were there will reference the attack such as Deacon Blackfire who will see more of in part 2 of Batman Arkham Knight I knew it the Lord is answering my prayers this building be tumbling down on Batman just like the walls of Jericho you also get a pretty fun moment from Jack Ryder if you visit him during The Siege get the hell back oh Batman it's you easy there big guy I nearly took you out eventually we head to the roof to get a better idea of what we're up against and it's pretty daunting to see this many militia tanks all grouped together and yes we have to fight all of them if you end up dying during the sequence there's a pretty intense death scene that follows where scarecrow's forces Go full no Russian on the gcpd foreign that definitely demonstrates what's at stake here so we don't want to mess this up thankfully we're not taking on the militia completely alone as Oracle has found a way to hack some of their drones and take control of them just that minor aspect alone made this battle a lot more fun since you really feel like you're working as a team especially when Oracle can prime one of the drones to detonate when shot I thought that was a fun way to freshen up the Batmobile combat and I enjoyed this encounter quite a bit we get a similar team up in the next phase of the battle which takes place on the rooftop of the gcpd this will be a hand-to-hand battle and Oracle has the ability to control parts of the environment for takedowns she'll call out when certain environmental takedowns are ready and we can throw an enemy into them I thought this was a clever way to let us fight alongside Oracle and it ended up being a really enjoyable combat sequence these are the last of the henchmen though and after defeating them we've saved the gcpd we don't have any time to celebrate though as Oracle is located scarecrow and he's managed to gain access to the movie studios where we left Robin locked up defenseless by the time we get there scarecrow has already kidnapped him scarecrow then sends us a message stating that he's got Gordon and Robin locked up and that if we want them to live we'll have to go to a storage Depot in Kingston we don't have much of a choice so we do as scarecrow says we might have one Saving Grace though since when we arrive there's a red symbol painted on the wall and that's red hood symbol indicating that Jason is watching over us inside we're greeted by another message from scarecrow he tells us to leave our utility belt on the table and enter the storage truck Batman reluctantly agrees and walks into the truck as it drives away Alfred calls us to tell us that someone is tracking our movements this must be Jason Todd so we might have a slight Edge on scarecrow now during the drive though the truck is hit and sent tumbling when we exit we're back in Crime Alley the location where Bruce's parents were murdered when we try to pay our respects Joker shows up and starts a massive brawl against us as you fight off the Jokers you're able to perform takedowns on them and Batman will perform much more brutal takedowns than he normally would after doing enough of these you're given the opportunity to kill the Joker the game forces you to snap his neck which transitions you back to the truck as Joker seems to have progressed further into taking over we next get a cut scene showing the path the truck is traveling and this entire sequence mirrors the opening cinematic from Batman Arkham Asylum where Batman drove Joker to the Asylum scarecrow taking us to Arkham Asylum as fitting and I like that rock city are going for the thematics of the series ending where it began it's pretty cool to see inside the Asylum now too as it's still overrun with Ivy's plants and doesn't appear to have been touched since we were last there we can even tell where exactly scarecrow has us placed based on the statue in the background and is bringing back a lot of nostalgia to the events of Arkham Asylum we can also see that crane has gone to a lot of trouble to set this up Gordon and Robin are tied up nearby and the media is already aware of our capture and potential unmasking scarecrow is succeeding in his plan and the end seems close enough bravado it's too late for that I don't care who you are but they will I'm going to rob them of Hope as they stare into your eyes they will blame you failure will have a face and a name it's time Mr Gordon I would like you to do the honors never I'm done taking orders from you you bastard take off that mask or my next shot will kill him it's okay it's not okay you know what this means It's The End when they find out who you are there'll be no hiding you need to trust me Jim [Music] thank you Bruce Wayne now the world can see you for what you truly are a legend laid bear powerless human afraid with the fear toxin in our system we transition into Bruce's mind as we see Two-Face Killer Croc penguin and Riddler decide what to do with us except it's not Batman that they're discussing it's Joker the fear toxin seems to have elevated Joker's control in Batman's mind once again to the point he's in control now Joker even calls in his own version of the Batmobile and it's a pretty clever design with the mouth on the front and the hands and feet above each wheel it takes the theme of blending man and machine more literally in a way that's perfectly creepy for the Joker almost like a giant clown has been stuffed into the car from here we get to obliterate all the thugs in the area and the finishing touches of missile launch called The Killing Joke a nod to the comic we've discussed a few times in this video when Joker hops out of the vehicle he's wielding a shotgun and this section becomes a third person shooter we'll then enter the building and shoot all of our Rivals penguin is first begging for us to spare him but we'll shoot him anyway by the way this is another key section that the ESRB listed as deserving of an M rating since we're shooting a lot of unarmed people The Riddler part especially since he decides to take a hostage you can either choose to just kill the Riddler or you can kill the hostage to get to the Riddler and kill him too which is probably the most Joker thing to do although killing or sparing the hostage doesn't seem to impact the game we'll next take out Two-Face and after doing so he turns into Gordon and begs us to stop which I interpret to be a piece of Bruce's Consciousness trying to Take Back Control Joker then leaves the building and we get a vision of Gotham on fire the Glorious image for the Joker and Batman's greatest fear we then transition back to the real world as scarecrow continues to try and intimidate us not knowing the Joker is taking control of the body do you not understand it is over get ready for the encore [Laughter] why aren't you scared [Laughter] we transitioned back into Bruce's mind and the battle for it continues the burning Gotham City starts to black out as we're taken to a new location Joker turns on his flashlight and the first thing we see is a portrait of Batman carrying Joker's dead body this is actually a repurposed concept art from Arkham City and I think it was used well here Batman is attempting to Take Back Control by triggering Joker with different images oh crispy for example we stumble upon Joker's funeral and see that nobody attended except for Harley Batman is playing on Joker's fear of being forgotten and it seems to work pretty well in another room you can find a couple newspaper articles one of them reads Harley Quinn and Riddler expecting first child which might actually be scarier for Harley another reads Joker dies Gotham doesn't care during a radio broadcast they also mention that Batman's arch nemesis is now the penguin which must be another low blow to Joker when we head outside we get a really cool moment where Batman statues will spawn in while we're not looking it's really creepy and gives you the feeling of what it's like to be hunted by Batman that he could be right behind you at any moment even scarier though is that Batman actually bursts out of one of the statues and attacks us this takes us back to Arkham Asylum as Joker calls in a mobile cell probably as a method of escape this is reminiscent of one of their earlier moments in Batman Arkham Asylum where Joker escaped on one of these too unfortunately for him this time it's occupied by Batman who's on the offensive there's no escaping him and he grabs Joker delivering one of his tonic lines from Batman the Animated Series I am vengeance I am the Knight I am Batman I am Vengeance I am the Knight I am Batman he then throws Joker into the cell and sends him away symbolically locking away the Joker deep in the recesses of his mind this takes us back to reality as we can visually see that Bruce has shaken off the Joker's influence scarecrow is still trying to prove his point that he has broken Batman but it's not working Bruce has mentally vanquished his fears and as a result is able to resist scarecrow's toxin out of desperation scarecrow gets ready to shoot him when Red Hood jumps in shooting the gun out of his hand as well as the bindings holding Bruce still on live TV Bruce and Jack scarecrow with his own Toxin and he sees the nightmarish Batman coming towards him surrounded by fire more on that later Gordon gets the final punch knocking out scarecrow something I think he's definitely earned from here Batman says his goodbyes to Gordon and asks him to watch over everyone he also tells him that he's been there since the beginning and now he gets to see how it ends that's pretty ominous so what exactly is Bruce planning the next we see a Batman he's telling Alfred to activate the Nightfall protocol likely a reference to the comic series Nightfall where Bane breaks Batman physically before you activate the Nightfall protocol you can still explore the city complete side missions and talk with NPCs they'll all have a comment about you being Bruce Wayne now so it's pretty cool to hear what everyone thinks about your secret identity for example here's another clip from Jack Ryder look I just want to say sorry for all those things I said to you about Bruce Wayne and all those things I said to Bruce Wayne about Batman another cool Easter egg can be found if you return back to panessa Studios Reddit has been here and left his symbol painted on the ground which is pretty intriguing to say the least but now let's get to the actual ending if you haven't completed all of the side missions in the game you'll only get half the ending but once you've locked up all of Gotham's major criminals you're ready for the full Nightfall protocol Batman will leave his cowl On The Ground by the bat signal and call Gordon to let him know that the city is safe again Bruce takes one last lingering look out into the city before calling the Batwing to take him away we then cut to Wayne Manor as Vicki Vale reports live also on the right side of the screen we can see another appearance from game director septon Hill Batman then swoops in with the Batwing and during the media Panic for a brief moment we can see the back of calendar man's head in Arkham City he had a secret message where he basically says to Batman what he said to Gordon days with secret Batman and the end of days is coming I was there at your beginning and I will be there at your end he stuck to his word since he is in fact present for Batman's end and it's also Halloween which I'm sure makes calendar man even happier we next see Bruce enter the Mansion where he's greeted by Alfred Alfred asked him one last time if he sure he wants to do this twitch Bruce says yes they closed the doors and then a huge explosion destroys Wayne Manor we then cut back to the logo of the burning bat symbol with Gordon's voiceover saying that this is how the Batman died Gordon's voiceover continues as he fills us in on what the city has been like since Batman's death he starts by saying that criminals are a cowardly and superstitious lot an iconic line spoken by Batman in his earlier Comics we also see a text he received from Tim Drake requesting he bring the ring so it looks like Tim is finally about to propose to Barbara in the city we can also see posters announcing the election of Jim Gordon as mayor so things are definitely looking up for Gotham Gordon also mentions that they're still looking into who might have killed Bruce Wayne so it seems the primary belief is that a criminal killed him after learning his identity we then cut to a family very reminiscent of of a young Bruce Wayne and his parents the night of their murder similarly they go to the back of the theater where they're jumped by two men one of which we can actually see at the diner at the beginning of the game we also get the iconic shot of the pearls dropping to the floor to further drive home that this is mirroring the way Bruce Wayne's parents died although this time someone is there to stop them the criminals look up in the distance as a shadowy bat creature bursts into flames and descends upon them and that ends the story of Batman Arkham Knight so what the hell does that ending mean are the thugs on fear toxin did somebody else take up the mantle it's definitely open to interpretation but game director Sefton Hill has shed some light on the ending via Reddit when asked about some of his favorite moments from each game he had this to say about Arkham Knight I liked the very end when Batman is left with no other option he still manages to find a way out to become an even more badass version of Batman how cool is that so what septon seems to be alluding to is what I think many of us hoped that Batman is still alive I think that makes the most sense too since it seems like a strange choice to have Batman commit suicide especially when you factor in that the Mansion blew up with Alfred still inside there's no way Bruce would force Alfred to die too another criminal could have blown them up specifically calendar man since that fits his Mo but I've always got the vibe that this is exactly how Bruce planned for the Nightfall protocol to go my interpretation of the end scene is that Bruce has faked his own death now with Bruce Wayne out of the picture he can beat Batman full time which I think is what he wants most many fans in the past have pointed out that Bruce Wayne is the true mask that Underneath It All he's Batman and Bruce Wayne is the act so Bruce going full-time Batman seems very much in character and I think that's a solid way to go with him so looking back at these Final Shots of the game where we see Batman from the criminal's perspective it's still tough to decipher what exactly is going on the way they proceed leaving Batman is very similar to the way scarecrow saw him when he was injected with beer toxin leading many to believe that Batman has weaponized scarecrow's toxin for his own purposes I think that's a pretty good theory but I personally look at it more symbolically the way Batman is bursting into fire as he takes flight I take it to be a phoenix metaphor as Batman is rising from the ashes of his death I think if Batman is re-emerging so unexpectedly he's also likely striking fear in the hearts of criminals in a new way making him almost mythological similar to when he first arrived in Gotham so from the Thug's perspective Their Fear is likely elevating Batman's appearance and the shot is symbolizing him becoming a mythological creature of the night again that's at least how I perceive this but I'm curious how you all interpret this final cut scene but what about the story overall well I think it was pretty damn good personally I think everyone gets good character arts and I like Batman's journey in the prior games Batman went through some long nights that physically pushed him to his limits but this one really tests him mentally and emotionally if that was rocksteady's goal for this game then I think the villain choices were perfect as well scarecrow is one of my favorite villains in the comics due to his ability to bring Batman's fears to life and it's always interesting to see how that affects Bruce this scarecrow is far more cunning and menacing too which makes him a believable threat and even though many feel that the Jason Todd reveal was too predictable that's never really bothered me because the strength of the twist isn't the hook for me in this game it's his character Arc and how his reappearance affects Bruce to me the Arkham Knight is Batman's toughest foe throughout the game which I think is fitting since Batman's biggest threat is the one he unknowingly created Jason is the embodiment of one of Bruce's biggest failures and regrets too so I think it's cool to see that come back to haunt him and how that also gives him the opportunity for a second chance I also like the theme of redemption for them both Batman redeems himself by talking Jason down and Jason redeems himself by pulling himself out of the darkness towards a more heroic path my one complaint regarding Jason though is that I feel like his wrap up is a little too quick after his identity is revealed the way it stands I think it still works but I think there's room for more and I wanted more of an interaction between them especially since there's been so much build up to this moment I do however think that the Joker is handled very well in this game to start I like that he's reintroduced in ace chemicals since that's essentially the birthplace of the Joker so it's a Fitting Place for his rebirth I think his reveal was effective and I like that he affects the plot as more of a background character without taking the spotlight from scarecrow or Jason I also like that Jokers hold on Bruce's increased by each injection of the fear toxin amplifying the threat of it in a significant way so I think these three villains form a cohesive Unity for this game boosting each other both intentionally and unintentionally and they all fit the theme of internal trauma for Bruce along with that I like that Bruce is forced to make some hard and unpopular decisions throughout the game and it's interesting to see how those decisions affect the people around him throughout the game characters will feel betrayed by Bruce he'll lose close allies and he'll have to earn back their trust or at the very least show them what led him to make those decisions so that they understand we also get a strong sense of the potential risks involved with being Batman's Ally we of course see the attack on Barbara and the death of Jason Todd but by the end of the game we also see Gordon and Robin kidnapped everyone one is caught in the crosshairs and in these moments I'm sure Joker's words are echoing in his mind again after all you know what happens when you drag your friends into this crazy little game of ours so it's no surprise that by the end of the game Assuming he's still alive that Bruce plans to take a step backward and work solo again both for the benefit of his allies but also for himself so yeah I really enjoyed the story of Arkham Knight the lore may not be as deep as Arkham City but I like how this game further explores each character and I enjoy the journey it takes them on it's one that I can still enjoy after multiple playthroughs and I don't really have any major complaints about it but I think that wraps up my thoughts on the main story however there are still tons of topics that I want to discuss in this game such as the vast amount of DLC content the gameplay and the audio design amongst other things that's a lot of content that will need a dedicated video to itself so for that reason we'll pick this back up in part two of Batman Arkham Knight if you enjoyed this video I'd appreciate it if you gave it a like since it helps the channel and you can subscribe if you'd like to catch Arkham Knight part 2 when it releases I also have a ton of other retrospective videos that you can watch in the meantime including the prior games in the Arkham series but anyway thank you so much for watching and I'll see you in the next video foreign [Music] [Music]

Channel: Always Nerdy

Views: 1,048,407

Keywords: batman arkham knight retrospective review, Batman arkham Knight ending explained, batman arkham knight easter eggs and secrets, batman arkham knight pc, ps4, ps5, kevin conroy, mark hamill, jason todd, red hood, rocksteady, always nerdy

Id: 1diLtHAW68Y

Length: 139min 25sec (8365 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 26 2022