In each of the Batman: Arkham games, players needed to complete challenges, solve riddles, and find trophies in order to catch and defeat the Riddler, but the final confrontations with him were disappointing. After putting in the effort to complete hundreds of Riddler challenges, there should have been a more satisfying payoff or a final challenge that rivaled or exceeded the difficulty of the ones that came before it. Instead, players' efforts were rewarded with easy takedowns, or nothing more than a quick conversation.
By far the more unsatisfying Riddler ending came after beating Batman: Arkham Asylum. However, Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham City are also lacking when it comes to a final battle or challenge, and Batman: Arkham Knight's robot fight was also too easy compared to some of the other Riddler challenges in the game. Including a difficult mission after completing the Riddler collection would have made getting all of the trophies and riddles more rewarding.
Each of the Arkham games has minor villains that have quick or easy side quests, but the Riddler is considered one of Batman's major enemies. He is included in all of the games and has his own thugs that work for him. The Riddler's status as a major villain should have earned him a bigger concluding mission or final battle, but none of the confrontations felt reflective of the effort they required to collect all his trophies or solve all his puzzles.
Batman: Arkham Origins' Riddler Missions Needed More
In Batman: Arkham Origins, which wasn't developed by Rocksteady and instead by WB Games Montréal, Edward Nashton isn't actually the Riddler yet, and Batman refers to him as Enigma. He's presented as a super-intelligent but overly confident villain that prevents Batman from using the Batwing and threatens to expose Gotham's darkest secrets. Enigma also points out that his method of getting rid of criminals and corruption is more merciful than Batman's ways. The conflict between the two builds up until players dismantle Enigma's information network.
After taking out the network by hacking towers, destroying network relays, and collecting Enigma data packs, players will be able to access Enigma's HQ. Once the collection is complete, Batman can destroy Enigma's data equipment inside the headquarters, then open the secret door to find the very first Riddler trophy. Other than a bit of banter and a few angry outbursts from the Riddler though, there's no real ending to the Riddler's story. Although the Christmas-set Arkham Origins, is supposed to lead into Arkham Asylum, there were plenty of opportunities to add a takedown of some kind, with years having ed between both games.
Arkham Asylum takes place eight years after Arkham Origins, so having Batman take down the Riddler wouldn't have interfered with the story. Batman's villains are known to break out of prison or Arkham Asylum, so even if Riddler was locked up, there could have been a way for him to escape. Arkham Origins dealt with the origins of several noteworthy Batman villains, but its depiction of the Dark Knight's first encounter with Riddler was anticlimactic.
Batman: Arkham Asylum Didn't Let Players Meet Riddler
Batman: Arkham Asylum's Riddler is very similar to how Enigma is portrayed in Arkham Origins. Players need to collect all of the Riddler's items and complete his challenges in order to finish the questline, all the while having Nygma berate Batman over radio. The riddles are interesting to solve, but Arkham Asylum still gives players the most disappointing villain ending in the Batman: Arkham series.
Once players obtain every trophy, solve all of the riddles, and break the Joker's teeth that are scattered around each island, they will get a phone call from the Riddler. As he brags about being too well hidden to find, the cops bust in and arrest him. Batman has his hands full at Arkham, so it's understandable that he gets help from the police rather than tracking down the Riddler himself, but it would've been a great bonus mission to cap off the story. Putting in all of the work to find all of Arkham Asylum's collectibles, only for Riddler's storyline to end with a brief phone call, was the opposite of satisfying.
Batman: Arkham City's Final Riddler Encounter Was Anticlimactic
The Riddler took things to the next level in Arkham Asylum's sequel, with various death traps and a final challenge where players actually get to take him down, but it ended up being one of Batman: Arkham City's more disappointing moments. Throughout the game, players are able to find collectibles, and at each milestone, there's a hideout that contains a hostage and a death trap. The Caped Crusader must solve the puzzles in each of the hideouts to save the hostages, infuriating the Riddler at every turn.
That aside, solving every puzzle will lead to the Riddler's hideout where he has several officers hooked up to bombs that will go off if they stop moving. Batman must sneak through the room to reach an area underneath the Riddler, and then use a takedown to knock him out. The final room is very easy to get through and remains one of the most anticlimatic villain confrontations in any of the Batman: Arkham games. After taking him down, Batman hooks Riddler up to the deactivated death trap and lets the officers make him walk.
Batman: Arkham Knight's Riddler Boss Battle Was His Best
If Arkham City included a fight similar to what was in Arkham Knight, it may have made up for the letdown in Arkham Asylum. However, after three unfulfilling confrontations in a row, the battle with Riddler in Arkham Knight is too little too late. In this installment, players must find more riddles, trophies, and breakables to track down the Riddler. There are also Batmobile racetracks to complete, but they feel more like forced events for the sake of using the Batmobile, despite its problems in Arkham Knight, rather than actual Riddler death traps.
Completing the Riddler's challenges will lead to puzzles that Batman needs to solve with the help of Catwoman. The Riddler quests in Arkham Knight are difficult and give players a lot of side activities to do, but the last mission is less exciting than the challenges. Players will need to defeat Riddler in a giant robot suit, but only after destroying his sidekick robots who are color coordinated for Batman and Catwoman. The final battle is still much more rewarding than the Riddler confrontations in the previous Arkham games, but it could have been more intriguing if it played more to the character's strengths as an intellectual and not a brawler.
The Riddler was Batman: Arkham's most disappointing villain because the effort required to apprehend him wasn't worth the payoff. Most of the Riddler challenges were used to add collectibles to the game, or, as in the case of Arkham Knight, to give players Batmobile racetracks to navigate. These missions would have been more fulfilling if they featured better final confrontations between Batman and the Riddler, but without them, the Batman: Arkham series failed to make full use of the character.
