Summary

• Batman: Arkham Shadow will take players back to the Arkhamverse timeline before Arkham Asylum, focusing on a single-player Batman story.
• The game will feature more freeflow combat and improved movement mechanics compared to Batman: Arkham VR, promising a full-length title.
• Warner Bros. should consider giving Batman: Arkham Origins the treatment it deserves to make it more accessible and preserve it for future generations, especially with future games like Arkham Shadow returning to this era of the Arkhamverse.

After the disappointment of Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, us Arkhamverse fans will finally be able to visit a somewhat more traditional Batman: Arkham story with the Batman: Arkham Shadow. While Arkham Shadow is a VR exclusive - a move that has been controversial, especially with it further narrowing down its audience by it being a Meta Quest 3 exclusive - it still seems set to tell a more focused single-player Batman tale in which players must catch the Rat King in a Gotham that is tearing itself apart, and as a Quest 3 owner, I am particularly looking forward to it, especially as it has been confirmed that Batman: Arkham Shadow will take place before Arkham Asylum in the Arkhamverse timeline, with Arkham Origins' Roger Craig Smith reprising his role as a younger, somewhat more hotheaded Dark Knight.

In a recent interview with Kinda Funny, developer Camouflaj's Ryan Payton also confirmed Batman: Arkham Shadow would be a full-length title akin to Arkham Asylum and would feature more Freeflow-esque combat and better movement mechanics than the previous Arkhamverse VR title, Batman: Arkham VR, which was limited by what VR could do at the time and focused more heavily on detective work instead, which makes me extremely hopeful that the title will turn out well, especially considering Camouflaj's great work on Iron Man VR.

With Rocksteady confirming that Bruce Wayne moved to Metropolis after the events of Arkham Knight to the Justice League - and is currently killed off in the series unless Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League's post-launch chapters get the chance to bring him back, something that seems unlikely due to the game's poor performance - and the tragic ing of beloved Batman actor Kevin Conroy in November 2022 making it unlikely that the series will progress forward even if Batman does return, the only real way to continue the Arkhamverse is by venturing back to the Arkham Origins era, which makes the fact Warner Bros. keeps overlooking the prequel all the more bizarre.

Warner Bros.' Has Not Treated Arkham Origins As Well As The Other Arkhamverse Titles

PS4 & PS5 Players Can't Even Access Its DLC

Batman: Arkham Origins has not been treated as kindly as the other Arkhamverse titles over the years, with Arkham Asylum, Arkham City, and Arkham Knight often being bundled together as "The Batman: Arkham Trilogy," presumably because those three titles were made by Rocksteady, whereas Arkham Origins was developed by WB Games Montréal, but the prequel had a lot going for it. While it did have some bugs upon its launch that likely marred its review score in comparison, these have largely been ironed out since, and it tells a great story of how Batman first encountered his nemesis, The Joker, who is voiced by Troy Baker, doing an impressive rendition of a younger version of Mark Hamill's take on the character from the later games.

The freeflow combat fans know and love is present in Arkham Origins, but this time, there are perhaps some of the best boss battles in the entire series, far suring those of the Rocksteady games, as Batman has to survive being hunted by eight skilled assassins, including Deadshot, Deathstroke, Bane, Killer Croc and more. The atmosphere is also great, as Arkham Origins leans heavily into being a Christmas game, with a snowy Gotham lit up with Christmas lights and a giant tree that all evoke memories of the Batman Returns movie. All in all, it is a very solid Batman: Arkham title.

Unfortunately, while the title is available on PC via Steam, Batman: Arkham Origins is either not as easy to come by for console players, or they don't get all of its bonus content. Batman: Arkham Origins is technically part of Xbox's backward compatibility scheme, but where the game never got a digital release on Xbox 360, those wishing to play the title would need to find a physical copy. While this is fine for those with an Xbox Series X, those with an Xbox Series S or even those who purchase the disc-less Xbox Series X down the line will be left unable to play the game.

PlayStation players are slightly better off than those on a digital-only Xbox, as Arkham Origins is available as part of PlayStation Plus' PS3 offerings, being carried over from PlayStation Now. Unfortunately, as is the case with all PS3-era titles on the service, this can only be streamed, not ed, and the DLC for the title is not available, meaning PS4 and PS5 players are missing out on the brilliant Cold Cold Heart DLC, which pulls heavily from Batman: The Animated Series' reimagining of Mr. Freeze's origin story that was so praised back in 1992 that it has largely been regarded as the main canon origin for the character in other media since.

We Need A Batman: Arkham Origins Remaster

Especially If Future Games Keep Revisiting This Era Of The Series

For years, I've felt Batman: Arkham Origins deserves some kind of remaster to make it more accessible across all modern consoles and even to increase its performance and visuals on those platforms. I currently have the game on Steam, so I can dip in whenever I want - and I often do around Christmas just for the overall vibes - but I feel it's a shame that so many players could be missing out on what is a very solid Batman: Arkham title.

Now, if the series is looking to explore this era in the timeline further with titles such as Batman: Arkham Shadow, it feels more essential than ever that Warner Bros. starts to give Batman: Arkham Origins the treatment it deserves so it can be properly preserved as a title and easily accessible to more players. While Arkham Shadow may be restricted to its VR audience, that's not to say other Arkhamverse titles focusing on this era won't get wider releases in the future. Therefore, making it so that the game that essentially built up many of the characters and their dynamics in these early years - which could be quite different from how they behaved later in the timeline - is unplayable to many just doesn't make much sense.

I am a big believer in game preservation and ensuring all titles are accessible to future generations as software moves on and that they don't get lost to time. While I do have some issues with some of the choices made in Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City's Return to Arkham remasters - namely in some of its texturing and changes to character models like Hugo Strange - at least they are now easily accessible on modern consoles for those who want to dive into the titles and experience its stories again. Batman: Arkham Origins definitely didn't deserve to be as overlooked as it has been over the years, and now feels like the right time for some kind of resurgence, so Warner Bros. should definitely consider revisiting this title soon.