Batman: Arkham Knight - 10 Things It Must Learn From Asylum

4. A Tight, Driven Narrative

You'd be forgiven for questioning exactly what Arkham City is about, as mentioned earlier although the game opens with the game-changing revelation that Strange knows Batman's identity, Rocksteady don't do anything with this knowledge either through ancillary dialogue between Bats and his team, or even when you track him down. In the end it's incredibly convenient for Batman that Ra's stabs Strange and takes him out of the picture, but gets away from the focus of the PR materials around the pre-release of the game too. Doctor Strange's plans were assumedly supposed to factor into some giant character revelation at the close of the narrative, but one plot-twist later and you end up getting a conclusion that's routed more in the Joker, despite him essentially sitting this one out after the first couple of scenes. Asylum knew exactly what beats to hit and exactly when to hit them. It knew what sections you'd rocket through and when you'd take a breath to assess your surroundings too. As such when everything came full circle and you realised Joker's plan went wider than just having some fun at Batman's expense the threat was real, the enemies were worth tackling in sequence and in retrospect the whole thing played out far more effectively than in the sequel.