While the Batman: Arkham series of video games are best known for their immaculately detailed visions of Gotham City, a handful of other games have attempted the same feat over the past two decades, with wildly varying degrees of success. The Batman: Arkham series, beginning with Batman: Arkham Asylum, faithfully constructs environments, characters, and narratives that honor Batman stories while delivering an enjoyable, modern gameplay experience. Open-world video games live and die by the playground they present for players to interact with, and Batman adventures are only as good as the Gotham being saved. Marrying both concepts, seven Batman games have stepped up to the challenge over the years, and only one can be the best.
The most recent open-world Batman game, Gotham Knights, has presented a daunting, new vision of Gotham while continuing the visual legacy of Gotham City in the Batman: Arkham series. Upon release, Gotham Knights was compared with Batman: Arkham Knight, due to the former's lack of visual polish and graphical performance next to a game released seven years earlier. While the comparisons are valid, many factors have shifted the landscape of open-world game development over the years, and many other classic Batman video games have experimented in various gameplay models, including side-scrolling platformers, 3D isometric action-adventure, and even point-and-click visual storytelling. Gotham Knights' open-world Gotham is no small achievement in size, scope, and design, and Gotham Knights is just one of many digital Gothams to explore.
Batman & Robin Is The Least Polished Open-World Gotham
When it comes to considering the many detailed open-world visions of Gotham, 1998's Batman & Robin never stood a chance. Game development technology has leaped forward since its release, and the game itself is based on one of the weirdest, worst Batman movies ever screened. While the game did feature interchangeable Batman characters and a handful of Batman settings, Batman & Robin is a movie tie-in game not better than source material. The game's clunky controls and heavily pixilated environments firmly plant Batman & Robin as the least polished open-world Gotham.
The Gotham In LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes Is Visually Confusing
Second to last in of its open-world Gotham, LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes is a visually confusing nightmare city. Visiting Gotham in LEGO Batman 2 is a reminder to all that the LEGO games aren't as good as they're ed: traversal, combat, and puzzle-solving are chores in LEGO Batman 2, and the streets of Gotham are a hodgepodge of brightly colored bricks and flat, 3D buildings. The contrast between the highly destructible LEGO pieces, the weirdly detailed buildings, and the giant LEGO statues surrounding the city are less charming and more distracting in LEGO Batman 2.
LEGO DC Super Villains' Gotham Is An Improvement Over LEGO Batman 2
With the benefit of several years of video game technology improving, the Gotham of LEGO DC Super Villains is a generous step-up from the previous open-world LEGO Gotham. The game does a better job of combining breakable LEGO objects with more natural-looking 3D objects, and its version of Gotham includes characteristic regions that lend themselves to iconic Batman villains (many of which are playable in-game). While the LEGO aesthetic lends itself to a more charming, reference-heavy Gotham, its version of the city feels less genuine, and more like a child's Batman set at home than a livable city.
Batman: Arkham Origins Expanded On Arkham City, With Little Merit
Batman: Arkham Origins, the third game in the Batman: Arkham series (and the second to feature the series' signature open-world vision of Gotham), did little to expand the gameplay of its predecessor, Batman: Arkham City. While the Gotham in Batman: Arkham City was a fresh environment for the series, Batman: Arkham City included similar challenges spread out over a larger area. Traversal felt like a chore, and commuting between locations took entirely too long. The attention to detail of the previous Batman: Arkham game was present, but Batman: Arkham Origins' Gotham did little to break new ground.
Gotham Knights Features A Beautiful Gotham With Changing, Adaptive Environments
This version of Gotham is a lush, humming city, littered with Gotham Knights' coolest DC secrets, Easter eggs, and comic book references. The game also boasts the largest open-world version of Gotham to date, and traversal throughout the city is almost as exciting as thrashing villains in the streets. While the developers sacrificed a higher frame rate and visual upgrades to the textures of the city, the sheer scale of the city and reference-heavy details packed into the streets and Belfry of Gotham Knights' Gotham is a sight to behold.
Batman: Arkham City Set The Bar For Open-World Gotham Games
Batman: Arkham City introduced an open-world version of Gotham unlike any other before it, and set the tone for any and all Batman games that followed it. Batman: Arkham City invited players into a truly immersive Batman experience, where paintings foreshadowed Batman: Arkham City's ending, crimes appeared while gliding through the city, Riddler set challenges for Batman to puzzle through, and distinct districts were wrought with territorial goons. Although the graphics are a bit dated by today's standards, Batman: Arkham City is a cornerstone of open-world storytelling, and well worth a dive into its streets.
Batman: Arkham Knight Is The Best Gotham City To Explore
Batman: Arkham Knight is the best Gotham City to explore, and is a must-play simply to see its incredible skyline. The streets of Gotham in Batman: Arkham Knight carry the detail and breadth of the first two Batman: Arkham games, while fine-tuning the more lackluster elements of Batman: Arkham Origins. Every detail of the buildings, streets, and characters in Batman: Arkham Knight's Gotham City is intricately designed and lovingly crafted, and its graphics still hold up when compared to more recent open-world games. Batman: Arkham Knight's Gotham City is gorgeous, detailed, and easily the most realized video game version of Gotham to date, and may continue to be since Rocksteady's Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is taking players to Metropolis.
Today, it's easier than ever to visit these open-world versions of Gotham. The Batman: Arkham games are widely available in bundle packages, including Arkham Knight and updated, remastered versions of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. Gotham Knights is currently available at retail prices, and the LEGO games are fairly inexpensive. More Batman: Arkham games need to happen after Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, but the Gothams currently playable will be more than enough for now.