So this is it, this is the way Rocksteady departs the Arkham Saga. Or is it? This cryptic message was left at the end of the company's last Arkham Insider video last week, but irrespective of this, the studio has had a rather arduous year to deal with, at least in respect to all things Batman. Having captained the success of two Batman games and managing to surpass critical expectations on both of them as well, capping off their own Arkham Trilogy was never going to be a journey devoid of its own problems. As we have seen previously, Arkham Knight has both managed to impress and falter in the face of insurmountable fan expectation, and though Rocksteady have endeavoured to make their finale to the Arkham saga as good as it can be, Knight will ultimately go down as a release marred by its divisive nature. Indeed, the title's Season Pass (itself a target of community frustration) comprised a part of what led to Knight's support wavering, and as the Season of Infamy draws it to a disappointing if not admirable close, one can only question what legacy the game will leave behind on the franchise as a whole. The DLC still suffers from awkward narrative decisions, an obnoxious insistence on fetch quests and needless backtracking, yet benefits from a renewed focus on the relationship between Mr Freeze and his comatose wife, Nora, and an impressive if not underutilised premise building upon unanswered questions from Arkham City's climax regarding the League of Assassins. This does not alleviate the sense of irritation surrounding Arkham Knight, however. Nor does it rectify the mistakes that caused fans to become so disillusioned with the saga as a whole following its release either. What it does do is quite neatly encapsulate both the merits and negatives of Rocksteady's tenure as the harbingers of Batman's resurgence in the video game medium, and shows that while their writers may not have found a voice for The Caped Crusader, they certainly possess an understanding of his rogues. Inevitably, spoilers follow.
Resident movie guy at WhatCulture who used to be Comics Editor. Thinks John Carpenter is the best. Likes Hellboy a lot. Can usually be found talking about Dad Movies on his Twitter at @EwanRuinsThings.
