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dkirschner's Batman: Arkham Knight (PC)

[June 4, 2022 02:01:49 PM]

I went back and read previous entries for Arkham Asylum (2010!) and Arkham City (2012!), and I realize just how lukewarm I am to Arkham Knight. The first two games impressed me very much, but I can see how the things that I didn't like about Knight were extensions of the direction City headed in and the criticisms that I had for Assassin's Creed II when I compared that and City a decade ago.

First things first though, the combat is still excellent. Combat sequences were my favorite parts, along with the more elaborate Riddler challenges, especially the ones with Catwoman, and every moment spent with Joker. The Riddler is even craftier than in City. So, I cannot convey how annoyed I was when I thought I was finishing his story and learned that, no, you cannot complete his story until you find literally each of the 243 Riddler trophies in Gotham. Why? WHY?! I found, I don't know, maybe 50 through the course of the game. Who knows how long it would take to pull up a guide and hunt the remaining 200 of those things, just to get closure with the Riddler.

This is emblematic of the tedium of side quests in this game. As City was for Asylum, so Knight is for City. The scope of the game is expanded (City took me about 20 hours, Knight about 12 [I did way fewer side things, which is why it was so much less], but Knight took me almost 30, and it felt like it!). There are tons of villains in the game and you can progress through all of their side quests and toss them in jail as you play the main story. For example, Firefly is burning fire stations, and you have to find and put out all the fires. Man-Bat is flying around the city, and you have to find him and inject him with serum a handful of times. Two-Face is robbing banks and you have to stop all the robberies. Some are more interesting, like Mr. Freeze's and Killer Croc's, but most are of the "do this thing 5-20 times" variety. Seriously, like 20 times for some quests: One has you disarming mines all over the city; another has you getting rid of road blocks; another has you finding and saving firefighters, etc. These are so fucking boring, and I feel for the completionists out there who are compelled to slog through it all.

I completed some of the more interesting or low-hanging side quests along the way. But when you've finished the main story, you learn that you don't get the game's ending (like no ending, no credits) until after you have completed like 10 of the villains' stories. I had done 5 and it said something like "you need to finish 5 of these to get the ending." I had 5, but one of them was the main story, so I thought maybe I actually had 4 and needed one more. So I finished one more, and then it said I needed 4. Ugh! So I watched the end on YouTube, irritated that the game was going to make me spend hours disarming bombs in the street and engaging in repetitive and over-long tank battles.

Add to the unwelcome amount of busywork side stories for like 15 villains, the 243 Riddler trophies, the oodles of AR challenges, and so on, and you get a game that feels unfocused and ballooned out of proportion. I mean, it's pretty, there are fun parts, the story is neat, Joker is AMAZING as always (and this time he's in your head; seriously, the best part of the game), but all that didn't lift it. I would give this a hard pass unless you really have a thing for side quests or you can go straight through the story, which is what I would have done if I knew then what I know now.