Batman: Arkham Knight - 7 Past Franchise Mistakes It Needs To Avoid

7. A Fragmented Story

The narrative of Arkham Asylum is what really made the experience of playing more memorable. Every event in the story was connected in a strong way, from the beginning where Joker breaks out, to the revelation that Bane is the source of the Titan formula. It was all one big mystery, full of plenty of action and suspense. In Arkham City we did start off with a solid premise in Strange planning on activating an unknown command called Protocol 10, though not too long after the main thread took a complete one-eighty; Batman was now poisoned and must find a cure. It was disappointing because the whole mystery angle of what Strange was up to took a backseat to having to get the better of Joker in an unconventional method. It wasn't just that, but also the way each arc was connected felt more fragmented than it should have. For example, it never made much sense why Penguin happened to be holding Mr. Freeze captive. Likewise, the antidote for the Titan poisoning just happened to be Ra's al Ghul's blood. Whereas in Asylum, the reasoning came off better executed, such as when Harley and Joker released Ivy to create more trouble for Batman and when she told Batman he would have to go into Killer Croc's lair to obtain the venom roots. City's story was still damn great, but for Arkham Knight's we hope that RockSteady look to what made Asylum so magnificent. The fact that Paul Dini who had penned the previous two games' narratives isn't returning is saddening, but as he told fans, "trust in RockSteady".