Batman: Arkham 2017 - 10 Perfect Ways To Continue The Franchise
2. Give Gotham A Break
After three games attempting a semi-open world Gotham, I think it's safe to say it didn't work out. Don't get me wrong, the environments featured in Origins and Knight are all remarkably detailed - they're just lifeless. Sure, we may have thugs to fill out some space, as well as a few GCPD officers too, but in what way is this anyone's idea of what an open-world Batman game should be? I'm more than willing to bet that the free-roam Batman game people had envisioned bore an uncanny resemblance to Spider-Man 2 - the licensed tie-in that defined the open-world superhero genre for years to come - than the one we got in Arkham's sequels. There's no sense of being able to glide around and do your own thing as the vigilante, because the setting you find yourself in is always hampered by a gargantuan threat from the character's main rogues. This isn't to say it's not fun, because it is - it's just that we don't get to see Gotham as its 'normal' self. Warner Bros. should either do a proper immersive open-world or return to the semi-linear days of Arkham Asylum, because the middle ground we currently have, whilst certainly impressive, just isn't the environment players have been asking for.
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.
