31.2 hours played
Written 29 days ago
Bought all three mainline Arkham games on discount, and played through them in order. After finally (technically) finishing Arkham Knight, i can safely say Asylum is still my favorite of the bunch.
I liked Arkham Asylum, because it is such a tight and focused game. The story took you along at a decent pace, it was quite easy to do all collectibles, and the game was just the perfect length for what it is. It took myself around 15-16 hours to complete, which is perfect for a 40-something-year old with other responsibilities.
Arkham City took the concept, and added more of... everything. And not always in a good way. The story i also could not really get invested in. Riddlers side mission especially turned into a completely ridiculous collect-a-thon, to the point where i stopped caring and never finished.
Now, Arkham Knight. Not a bad game in it's core. Gotham looks as pretty as ever in the rain, gliding around is fun, and there's plenty of fun things to do. Combat and all the different gadgets can be fun, if simplistic. I also personally experienced no technical issues or crashes during the 30-ish hours i played, AMD system, Windows 11.
So why the negative review?
At some point i found myself having done most of the story side missions apart from Riddler (still a collect-a-thon), and after maybe 24-25 hours was starting to feel slight fatigue. So i decided to continue with the main story to the end.
And the further i got, the more negative my view of Arkham Knight became. It felt never ending. Fight 20 drones, fight 40 drones, fight 60 drones. You love the Batmobile, right? Here's a vehicular boss fight. Getting tired? Here are the militias best of the best of the best. Still not enough? Here's an even bigger mob, with special guys requiring you to utilize your gadgets to beat. Better take them out first!
And during certain points of the story, new checkpoints, roadside bombs and drones appeared. Stuff i thought i had already done and were already marked as 100 %. Stuff that i did early on purpose, because i knew i'd otherwise get frustrated with. But no, we have to have more. So i thought f--k it, i've seen this gimmick, i'm just going to continue on with the main story.
And then, as i finally felt like this must have been the end, the game informed me that i must still clear more checkpoints, more drones, more watch towers. It was at that point i just felt defeated. I just wanted to play through to the end and enjoy a nice cutscene to wrap it all together, but felt like i wasn't allowed to.
And that ending? Boy howdy. But don't worry, it isn't the true ending. That one you apparently get only if you 100 % everything? Though what i've gathered from discussions, the true ending doesn't add much, so just watch it on Youtube.
Overall, the story had potential with it's themes, but felt... unfinished?
Again: i don't think Arkham Knight is a bad game. If you like Batman and 3rd person action games, and you get a good deal, go for it. But it does in my personal opinion, not really know to quit while it's ahead.