10 Things All Superhero Games Can Learn From Batman: Arkham
10. Embrace The Mythos
With the Arkham Games its clear that Rocksteady Studios hold a great amount of respect and adoration for The Dark Knight. The open-worlds of Arkham Island and Arkham City are chock-full of nerdy-extras that shine a light on all aspects of Batmans 75 year tenure as a pop-culture icon. The level of detail in each of these environments are almost unmatched by other competitors, with the animation style holding a distinctly Arkham-feel no wonder fans have come to dub Rocksteadys creation the Arkhamverse. The problem with many other licenced-based video-games is that they often take place in environments that are either devoid of character, or worse, restricted to a particular universe. The Arkhamverse itself allows Rocksteady to pool every aspect that has contributed to the Bat-mythos in the past and include it in some way. Obviously there is a distinct lack of Bat-Mite and shark-repellent, but they arent restricted to Christopher Nolans hyper-realistic take on Gotham either. Rocksteadys universe enables it to not only craft a world that holds unique interpretations of DCs finest, but also to take the characters in new and often exciting directions.
WhatCulture's very own resident movie guy, Ewan has been working in the content creation biz for over 10 years now, having started as a freelance contributor to WhatCulture Gaming all the way back in 2015. After graduating with a First-Class Honours in History from Northumbria University in 2017 (where he won a prize for a totally killer dissertation on the Watergate years), Ewan took on the role of Comics Editor at WhatCulture and quickly developed WhatCulture Comics into one of the biggest superhero-focused channels on YouTube. He followed this with a brief hiatus at Screen Rant in 2021, where he worked across the Gaming and Film sections as a writer and editor, before returning to WhatCulture as a Senior Content Producer / Presenter in 2023. He started his own podcast, We Love Dad Movies, in 2022, and has contributed several written pieces to the Eisner-nominated comics website Shelfdust as well.
In his current role, Ewan incorporates his love of cinema, comic books, and history into written pieces and video essays for WhatCulture's Film & TV channel, as well as WhatCulture Gaming and WhatCulture Horror, with a particular focus on nineties-era Dad Movies, old school Westerns, and Golden Age Hollywood Noir. John Carpenter is his fave, and he thinks Batman Beyond should never have been cancelled. If that's your vibe, you'll probably like his stuff.
