Batman: Arkham Origins details
A slew of new Batman: Arkham Origins previews have gone live today. Some information is a rehash of already-known details from the initial Game Informer cover story, but there’s some new information as well.
We’ve rounded up new and old tidbits from IGN’s preview below.
– Begins on Christmas Eve
– Joker’s “present” is a series of explosives tied to a nearby building
– Batman is disarmed and stunned by Bane, so he can only watch as Joker detonates his trap
– Batman is more primal and vicious in this game
– Fighting style is raw and undefined
– Enemies are younger and more vibrant
– Batman’s armor style comes closer to what is shown in Christopher Nolan’s films than anything in previous games
– Black Mask hires eight assassins to kill Batman
– Deathstroke and Deadshot are among those hired
– Police, led by Commissioner Loeb, will pursue Batman and attempt to detain him
– Grappling, gliding, perching atop gargoyles, ambushing thugs, and maneuvering around Gotham works as it always has
– Combat system is back in full force
– Tracking system helps players assess the efficiency of their combat
– This is entirely informational
– Experience points flow into a branching upgrade system
– Gain points by chaining hits into lengthy combos
– New enemy types including the martial artist thug
– This enemy type requires back-and-forth combos until the criminal makes a mistake
– Side quests are back in a significant way, both through a radio scanner that helps track criminal activity, and a ‘Most Wanted System’
– Most Wanted System: hunt villains like Anarchy, who have stories and motivations that are separate from the main Black Mask thread
– Warner Bros. not saying how significant Joker’s role is
– Detective Mode concept is back
– It can now be used to track observations and discoveries, allowing players to ‘scrub through’ a crime as it occurred in the past, discovering where more evidence might be
– When an assassin’s bullet disables a police helicopter causing it to crash, Batman is able to deduce that a nearby SWAT sniper wasn’t responsible – tracing the source of the bullet to what was likely Deadshot
– By scrubbing through different evidence in different places, Batman assembles the truth piece by piece, allowing him to move to his next target
– Fast-travel system
– Remote Claw: attach to two points or enemies and pull them together
