9 Great Video Games That Did Not Deserve The Hate

‘Not made by Rocksteady.’ This innocuous sentence doomed Origins to be considered an inferior, irrelevant pretender to City and Asylum’s crown. Which is a pity, because what people wanted from the game was not a revolution but an evolution – more Arkham City – and that is precisely what they got.

And yet, Origins was more than mere filler.

In line with the theme of an inexperienced Bruce Wayne, combat went from being a one-click-to-win affair to a game of patience and counters. The inclusion of detective mode brought to the fore an aspect of Batman largely neglected in the previous titles – that Batman is the world’s greatest detective, with brains to equal his fists. Gotham was expanded, offering more to do and more to explore. The story, rather than being a simple MacGuffin hunt was a murder mystery revolving around the identity of the Joker, whose origin story was brilliantly told. And Roger Craig Smith did a fantastic job in bringing Origin’s growling, angry, more intense Batman to life, as did Troy Baker with a truly frightening Joker.

Far from being irrelevant Origins is an outstanding game that quietly set a very high standard, one that Arkham Knight would fail to meet. While bugs did ruin the experience for some, that alone is not grounds to disqualify it. It is too good a game for that.