Batman: Arkham Insurgency - 11 Things It Must Learn From Asylum

8. An Effective Villain & Menacing Tone

Before he was being crowbarred into unmasking reveals and sporadic memory fragments, Joker was actually an incredibly terrifying presence.

Mostly thanks to the audience and Batman forever being on the back foot as to his 'plan', the entire opening of Arkham Asylum is one for the ages. Firstly, the tone absolutely nails the dank, decrepit portrayal of Arkham as a building from Grant Morrison's A Serious House on Serious Earth, before mixing it with the characterful charm of the Animated Series, thanks to Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy returning as Joker and Batman, respectively.

It's this combination of elements that allowed Arkham Asylum to present Joker as a truly terrifying character forever holding all the cards, yet one who's a joy to watch, purely because it reminds you of all those animated portrayals. All the villains we got after this were never given the same treatment, and it shows evermore in retrospect.

Arkham City forgot its entire marketing budget was setting up a Hugo Strange showdown after that first sequence, Origins admittedly delves deeper into Joker's mindset but it's more through one level than the whole feel of the game, and Arkham Knight's titular antagonist was a morose over-complainer. Even Scarecrow's most amount of screen time came at the end, where he's taken out in the final cutscene.

Nothing has come close to replicating the mood of entering Arkham Asylum and 'hanging out' with Joker as he's being escorted to his cell. Replaying it only hammers that home more.