10 Phenomenal Games With AWFUL Stories

The pressure of making a Batman game must be crushing. This iconic superhero is so popular that you could find a hermit in a remote forest, and they'd probably still know him. As such, it's wild that Rocksteady captured the thrill of being The Bat in not one but three games.

The thing is, though, while Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City have near-perfect stories, the third instalment in the trilogy, Batman: Arkham Knight, fumbles. 

Taking place nine months after the death of the Joker, Batman: Arkham Knight puts you in a despondent Gotham City, facing a mass evacuation after Scarecrow launches an attack. Bruce Wayne is then forced to battle against an array of foes, including the previously mentioned Scarecrow, a mysterious military figure known as the Arkham Knight, and Joker, again, who is manifesting inside Batman.

Like Skyrim, Arkham Knight largely excels when it comes to its side content (barring the anti-climactic Hush mission and Deathstroke's tank boss battle). However, the main story is far from flawless. The reliance on Joker massively detracts from the proceedings, taking time to focus on a character arc the previous games had already concluded. Additionally, it's so obvious who the Knight is from the beginning that waiting for the inevitable reveal feels laborious.

Turns out that, without writer Paul Dini (who worked on the stories for both Arkham Asylum and Arkham City), crime has no punchline.