Now and then you see something that reminds you that the passage of time marches on so quickly that it’s nearly imperceptible. Yesterday, August 25, was Batman: Arkham Asylum’s 15th anniversary. That’s right. What is arguably the most well-regarded game starring Bruce Wayne ever made is old enough for a learner’s permit. The Arkham series has seen better days, as the most recent entry in Rocksteady’s DC universe, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, is rightfully divisive. But looking back at where it all began, Arkham Asylum was a truly remarkable experience that set a new bar for what we expect out of a superhero game. If you’ve never played it, the original game and its sequels are bundled on sale on Xbox, PlayStation and Humble Bundle for less than $10
Arkham Asylum opens with a grimy intro sequence during a rainy Gotham City night, and that vibe doesn’t let up. The caped crusader is delivering his archnemesis, the Joker, to the titular facility. As he and the guards bring in the clown, Batman sees a few of the people he’s put away over the years, such as Killer Croc, and they’re not thrilled to see the hero. It quickly becomes clear that a whole pantheon of Batman villains is being kept here. It’s not surprising that the Joker springs a trap and takes over the facility, and you’re quickly hit with the realization that Bruce, in addition to tackling a number of colorful characters in his rogue’s gallery, is also going to have to face a few of his demons in Arkham before he can go home to Alfred.
The rest of the Arkham games were good in their own right, but none of them quite captured the same feeling of entrapment and dread you feel in Asylum. This was before the series made a pivot to open-world, so its Metroidvania structure feels more focused, with Bruce gaining new tools that let him explore new areas of the asylum and face new foes. There was a real sense of discovery and progression to Asylum that you lose in the larger scale of the later games. One of his most memorable tools is explosive gel, which he uses to blow up weak walls and access new areas and which, despite his grim, Kevin Conroy-voiced seriousness, he sprays in the shape of a bat, suggesting a bit of playful whimsy lurks under the cowl. Flying around Gotham is one way to feel like Batman, but having to make the most of a situation with tools and tech is the heart of who Bruce Wayne is.
But the utility belt is only one part of being Batman. The world’s greatest detective also gets to investigate crime scenes with the Detective Vision mechanic. The tools Rocksteady gave you to track down evidence and recreate visualizations of crimes captured this part of Batman’s character better than probably any other video game adaptation at the time. It’s something that games like Cyberpunk 2077 are still emulating to this day, and it was a welcome bit of thoughtful character-building and attentiveness to environmental detail between traversing the asylum and beating up baddies.
And god, the Arkham games have such a snappy, fluid combat system, one that makes you feel both acrobatic and powerful, a force to be reckoned with. The hand-to-hand combat is so slick people joke it’s a rhythm game, allowing you to bounce between goons with a fluidity that practically had Bruce dancing on the battlefield. But it wouldn’t be Batman if he just came in fists swinging as a rule. Arkham Asylum’s stealth mechanics were pretty forgiving, but let you perch above unsuspecting baddies and pick them off one by one. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League even has a whole level that’s an homage to the terrifying feeling bad guys must have felt knowing Batman was waiting to descend upon them like prey.
And then there are the boss battles, each spotlighting an iconic Batman villain with a sequence that is unlike anything else you play in the game. Scarecrow’s hallucinogenics put you through a nightmare that only a utility belt can wake you up from. Poison Ivy uses her thorny plant friends to trap Batman in her tangled vines. The Joker fight is notoriously derided for feeling silly and anticlimactic, but overall, the boss fights are some of the most memorable and rewarding parts of making your way through Arkham Asylum.
The future of the Arkham series feels uncertain these days, as Suicide Squad has failed to meet Warner Bros. expectations. Does Rocksteady get to go back to basics with its next game? I’d hope so, but I also wouldn’t be mad if the studio got to make something new. Arkham Asylum still stands out as one of the most well-designed superhero games of the era, and in pursuit of an open world, it feels like we lost some of the clever restrictions Batman had in that first outing. I’d love to see that team get a chance to work within those constraints again, even if it’s not returning to the caped crusader.
