Rumor has it that WB Games Montreal will reveal the future of Batman in videogames at DC FanDome subsequent week. Maybe it is time for Batman video games to go into the precise future. Batman: Arkham Asylum was a game-changing expertise when it launched in 2009. Four games and greater than a decade later, is not it time for a change of surroundings? Instead of returning to the “Arkhamverse” as we all know it, there is a solution to hold that canon intact whereas exploring a model new setting with new characters and new gameplay alternatives. WB Games Montreal ought to take a web page out of Batman: The Animated Series‘ playbook and make a Batman Beyond game.
If you are not accustomed to the Batman Beyond idea, the producers of Batman: The Animated Series got here up with it when Warner Bros. executives advised them to make Batman extra accessible to youngsters. The producers did not wish to tone down Batman: The Animated Series and as a substitute got here up with a greater concept. They’d create a brand new, youthful Batman to take over Batman’s mission sooner or later.
That Batman is Terry McGinnis. Terry is a teen whose father is murdered in Gotham within the yr 2039, roughly 20 years after the Batman disappeared. Circumstances convey him into contact with Bruce Wayne. Once Terry discovers Bruce’s secret, he turns into the brand new Batman with Bruce performing as his mentor. Together, they tackle a brand new breed of villains, and a few returning favorites, within the cyberpunk setting of future Gotham City.
The present had a decidedly completely different taste from Batman: The Animated Series, however maintained its continuity and far of what The Animated Series nice. That’s the chance a Batman Beyond game presents WB Games Montreal. By the time Batman: Arkham Knight got here out in 2015, it appeared clear that Rocksteady had pushed the core gameplay of the sequence to its limits, having to hamfistedly introduce vehicular fight into the combination to ensure the game had one thing new to supply. The narrative additionally reached a pure endpoint, making the simple and less-rewarding subsequent transfer one other prequel like Batman: Arkham Origins.
WB Games Montreal can keep away from that lure, and keep away from making one other game like Batman: Arkham Origins that lives within the shadow of the core Batman Arkham trilogy, however taking a daring step into the long run. Batman Beyond presents a model new Batman to construct a story round. It gives a model new model of Gotham City to discover. It has a complete gallery of latest rogues to place on the heart of the game’s encounters. And better of all, Batman Beyond‘s future-tech Batsuit presents the chance to develop new gameplay options. Rather than simply swinging and gliding round Gotham City as prior to now Batman Arkham games, Batman Beyond may enable gamers to fly throughout its smog-choked skyline with rocket boots. And that is for starters.
The reveal of a fifth Batman Arkham game set in the identical Arkhamverse as all of the earlier Batman Arkham games will not excite me a lot. Let Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad game decide up the place Arkham Knight left off. WB Montreal’s Batman game ought to as a substitute break new floor by stepping boldly into Batman Beyond‘s the long run. I do know it is unlikely, however I can not assist hoping that subsequent week’s announcement is for one thing like Batman: Arkham Beyond.
