Is Batman: Court Of Owls The Next Arkham Game?
Forget Rocksteady's Superman, Warner Bros. Montreal have FINALLY teased their latest project...
The gaming world might currently be transfixed by Rocksteady's upcoming project (which we now know isn't a Superman game), but in fans' attempts to apprehend what the studio are up to, they may have forgotten about what the other custodians of the Batman: Arkham license have been up to - Warner Bros. Montreal.
Montreal, the studio behind the criminally underrated Batman: Arkham Origins, have been silent since around 2015, when they released Arkham Knight's Matter of Family DLC. Eventually, it transpired that the studio had been working on a Suicide Squad game with Deathstroke in a leading role, which would've picked up where Arkham Origins left off, with the character confronted by Amanda Waller. However, development on that project was scrapped and, shortly thereafter, the studio were said to be working on a Batman game with Damian Wayne in the leading role, although that too appears to have been cancelled at some point during the last few years.
But now, at long last, we may have an inkling of what the studio are actually working on. Curtesy of GameRant, who spotted tweets from WB. Montreal's Assistant Producer, Valerie Vezina, in a very interesting T-shirt, it now looks as though a Batman game centred around the Court of Owls could be next on Warner Bros.' radar. The Court of Owls did, of course, feature in one or two easter eggs back in Batman: Arkham Origins, so it would make sense for Montreal to continue with that angle for a potential sequel.
Vezina's shirt has the insignia of the Court of Owls on its back, and that's really exciting. Those who followed Scott Snyder and Greg Capullo's Batman comic won't need reminding of just how sinister the group were, but for those who don't know, the short version is that the Court are just as old as Gotham itself, and employ assassins known as Talons to consolidate their grip on the city.
The Assistant Producer's tweet was later followed up by a couple from Montreal's Creative Director Patrick Redding, who previously presided over the development of Splinter Cell: Blacklist. Redding does sadly state that Montreal aren't ready to show off anything at the upcoming Game Awards, but did thank fans for their patience as the team gears up to show their work to Warner Bros. proper.
So it looks as though there won't be anything DC-related at the Game Awards this year, but on the upside we now have a pretty good idea of where Arkham is heading next. Given how fun Origins was, as well as the fact Redding is bringing his experience from Splinter Cell, Bat-fans have plenty of reason to be excited.