Batman: Return to Arkham - Arkham City

Batman: Arkham City is still the best superhero video game in the market, an excellent sequel that expanded the already great groundwork Asylum has set up in quite a few ways.

Visually the game still holds up quite well; it partially abandoned the horror-like atmosphere of Asylum and leans less into comic book-type style. Character models look more realistic and consistent, although some characters, like Bane, still can look rather wild. Return to Arkham version doesn't do much with this entry, mostly just a port for the sake of accessibility of this entry, sadly still locked at 30 fps.

The environment this time around got expanded a lot, from a claustrophobic asylum to a restricted prison city filled with a lot of new locations. It feels like a natural evolution from the previous entries, finally allowing movement freedom.

Gameplay received a few upgrades; open combat is still enjoyable, and the cloak stagger move that allows you to keep up the combo meter is my favorite new addition. New gadgets got introduced, nothing too memorable besides the electric gun that you can use in open combat too; the grapnel boost comes quite in handy for the movement around the city landscape. Stealth is mostly the same; new gadgets can be used effectively during it. Stealth shines the most during the Mr. Freeze boss fight, which requires you to put all your skills to the test. Boss variety is greatly improved; new enemies like the league assassins introduce some agency to the open combat encounters. The addition of Catwoman is rather surprising and welcome; she is the first and only character in the series you can also explore the open world with, although gimmicky at times, variety is welcome. Her story campaign is short, though it was initially a DLC for some reason. Now it comes with every copy and is seamlessly integrated into the main story mode. Side quests are now a thing, some of which include smaller-scale side villains in the mix. It's rather exciting to see Batman interacting and dealing with them, but I have to admit the Victor Zsasz one is quite exhausting, while the Mad Hatter one is my favorite due to how striking it is.

The narrative is much more consistent this time around, with a bigger cast and multiple villains bringing some good variety to the story, the highlight being the Joker, whose previous entry boss fight fumble was cleverly integrated as an important element of this story, which ends up bringing some good agency to the overarching narrative. Nothing seems to be out of place, but personally I am not a big fan of this story, preferring the Arkham Knight narrative the most, but I can see where the appreciation of the mass is coming from. Also, I got to admit Arkham City has one amazing ending, definitely the best one in the series.

To sum up, Arkham City is the best Batman game and still the best superhero video game I have ever played, consistently good from start to finish. I have yet to see it getting topped, but I have to admit Marvel's Spider-Man first entry did come close.

Playing on: Playstation 5
Version: Playstation 4 (Remastered)
Edition: Digital

The GOAT. Seriously this is such an amazing "superhero" game. They took what worked in Asylum & built on it. Absolutely incredible with so much lore packed into it with every brick on every building even. Amazing.

Final verdict: Buy it

Wasnt quite interesting. Iguess this game isn't for me

just finished the main story, really good

It was a good game, with a nice story twist. The only bad thing is you can't cancel animations while in combat. Led me to lose a lot of combos and take unnecessary damage

One of the best superhero games ever

I'm batman