Developer : Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Release date : June 23, 2015
Synopsis :
Batman: Arkham Knight is a 2015 action-adventure game developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, it is the successor to the 2013 video game Batman: Arkham Origins, and the fourth main installment in the Batman: Arkham series. Written by Sefton Hill, Ian Ball and Martin Lancaster, Arkham Knight is inspired by the long-running comic book mythos. Set nine months after the events of 2011’s Batman: Arkham City, the game’s main storyline follows Batman as he confronts Scarecrow, who has launched an attack on Gotham City, causing a citywide evacuation. Scarecrow, with the help of the mysterious Arkham Knight, plots to unite all of Gotham’s criminals in an attempt to finally destroy Batman.
The game is presented from a third-person perspective, with a primary focus on Batman’s melee combat, stealth abilities, detective skills, and gadgets. Batman can freely move around the open world of Gotham City, interacting with characters and undertaking missions, and unlocking new areas by progressing through the main story or obtaining new equipment. The player is able to complete side missions away from the main story to unlock additional content and collectible items. Combat focuses on chaining attacks together against numerous foes while avoiding damage, while stealth allows Batman to conceal himself around an area, using gadgets and the environment to silently eliminate enemies. Arkham Knight introduces the Batmobile as a playable vehicle, which is used for transportation, puzzle solving and combat.
Development on Arkham Knight began in 2011 after completion of Arkham City and took place over four years. Rocksteady opted to use its own writers for the main story with collaboration by comic book writer Geoff Johns, choosing to replace Paul Dini who had worked on Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. The introduction of the Batmobile required a change in the team’s design methodology, as the previous games’ city designs were too narrow and confined to allow smooth travel for the vehicle.
Arkham Knight was released worldwide on June 23, 2015 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Windows. The console versions of the game received generally favorable reviews, with praise directed at its visuals, gameplay, combat, and world design, with the most criticism directed at the storytelling, overuse of the Batmobile and the portrayal of the Arkham Knight character. The Windows version was subject to scathing criticism for technical and performance issues that rendered it unplayable for some users, prompting Warner Bros. to temporarily withdraw it from sale. At release, the game was the fastest selling game of 2015, and the fastest selling game in the Arkham series, reaching over 5 million units sold globally by October 2015. The game also received several accolades, including Best Game and Best Action-Adventure Game. It was also featured in many lists of the best video games of 2015 and of the 2010s. A variety of post-release content was released for the game, including story-based missions, challenge maps, and skins for Batman and his allies, different historical Batmobile designs, and racetracks. A continuation of the series, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, is set to release in spring 2023.
On Halloween, Scarecrow forces the civilian evacuation of Gotham City after threatening to unleash his potent new fear toxin. Batman tracks Scarecrow to a hideout where he rescues the imprisoned Poison Ivy, who had refused to join Batman’s other rogues in Scarecrow’s plot. Oracle identifies Ace Chemicals as the source of Scarecrow’s toxin. Batman investigates the facility and discovers a large militia force being dispatched to occupy Gotham, led by the mysterious “Arkham Knight”. Batman locates Scarecrow, who has transformed the entire building into a toxin bomb. Scarecrow reveals that he has kidnapped Oracle before escaping. Exposing himself to the toxin, Batman inhibits the bomb’s blast radius before he is confronted by the Joker.
A flashback reveals that before the Joker died, his infected blood was used in blood transfusions, infecting five people including Batman. Concealing his infection, Batman imprisoned the four other patients, who were physically and mentally transforming into the Joker. The Joker, existing as a mental projection produced by the infected blood and fear toxin, frequently appears to taunt Batman and twist his perception of reality. After Batman escapes the exploding Ace Chemicals, he alerts Gordon to his daughter’s kidnapping, revealing that she aids his vigilantism. Gordon, feeling betrayed, leaves to find Scarecrow on his own.
Batman learns that Scarecrow recruited businessman Simon Stagg to build the “Cloudburst”, a mass dispersal device for the fear toxin. Aboard Stagg’s airship, Batman finds Scarecrow, but a dose of fear toxin allows the Joker’s persona to temporarily assume control of Batman while the Arkham Knight extracts the Cloudburst. Recovering, Batman locates Oracle in Scarecrow’s hideout, but she is exposed to the fear toxin and commits suicide in terror. Harley Quinn seizes Batman’s makeshift base inside the Panessa film studio to rescue the “Joker-ized” patients. Batman and Robin capture Harley and the infected, but one of the patients, Henry Adams, kills the others before committing suicide, believing that Batman will become the perfect “Joker”. Realizing that Batman is infected, Robin attempts to imprison him, but is instead imprisoned by Batman.
The Arkham Knight activates the Cloudburst, flooding the city with fear toxin. Batman destroys the drone carrying the Cloudburst and convinces Ivy to empower an ancient tree that can neutralize the toxin; she succeeds and saves Gotham, but the exertion kills her, while Batman’s exposure to the toxin strengthens Joker’s control over him. Batman pursues the Arkham Knight to a construction site to rescue Gordon. The Knight reveals himself as Jason Todd, the previous Robin, who was tortured and seemingly murdered by the Joker, and has since been left traumatized. Todd blames Batman for abandoning him, and escapes after refusing Batman’s offer to help him recover. Batman and Gordon confront Scarecrow on the building’s roof, where Oracle is revealed to be alive, her suicide having been a hallucination. Batman rescues Oracle and returns her to the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD), but Scarecrow escapes with Gordon hostage. Using the remaining militia, Scarecrow assaults the GCPD to eliminate Batman’s allies. Batman and Oracle neutralize the militia, but Scarecrow uses the distraction to kidnap Robin.
To save Robin and Gordon, Batman surrenders to Scarecrow and is taken to the ruins of Arkham Asylum. Scarecrow reveals Batman’s secret identity, Bruce Wayne, to the world on television, before repeatedly injecting Batman with the fear toxin to break him before the public. Batman and the Joker battle for control inside Batman’s mind; Joker attempts to weaken Batman by recounting the people who have suffered and died because of Batman’s crusade, but Batman triumphs and locks the pleading Joker away in his mind forever to be forgotten—the Joker’s only fear. Todd saves Batman, who subdues Scarecrow with his own fear toxin.
After Batman ensures that Gotham is safe, Gordon dispatches the police to reclaim the streets, and Batman activates the “Knightfall Protocol” to protect his loved ones. Surrounded by reporters, Batman returns home to Wayne Manor where he is greeted by Alfred. As the pair enter the manor, it explodes, seemingly killing them both. Sometime later, Gordon, now Mayor of Gotham, prepares to attend Oracle and Robin’s wedding. Elsewhere, two muggers attack a family in an alley but are confronted by a nightmarish figure resembling Batman.
Source : Wikipedia
