Batman: Arkham 2017: 10 Ways To Make The Perfect Damian Wayne Game

8. Make Gotham Feel 'Liveable'

The open worlds of the Arkham series were praised for their intricate detail and, quite rightly, criticised for their relative lack of meaningful inhabitants.

The environments were beautifully stylised of course, but, in the case of Origins and Knight, they also happened to feel dead. Each successive excuse Montreal and Rocksteady provided for the city's convenient evacuation failed to account for the sheer desolate nature of their interpretation of Gotham, giving players the ability to 'Be the Batman', but not quite.

In this instance, looking towards Marvel isn't a bad idea; Spider-Man 2 continues to set the benchmark for all other open-world titles to follow it, having been the first to truly nail the limitless feeling of crime fighting in an immense, metropolitan area. It wasn't perfect, sure, but it felt genuine. And while the Arkham series has yet to fail in that regard, it does lack the oomph of a population to make players fully submit to the fantasy of being the world's greatest detective.

So yes, a living, breathing city is essential this time around. That is, unless they can mount a convincing alternative for the absence of a civilian populace. Truth be told, I'd much rather they did away with the open world aspect altogether and return to the semi-linear nature of Arkham Asylum. The series completely owns the aesthetics of the mythos, so a streamlined approach to world-building could act as a boon to Montreal's efforts.