A sequel to the hugely successful (and totally brilliant) Batman Arkham Asylum and Batman Arkham City titles has been announced for this year. Batman: Arkham Origins was revealed yesterday by video games magazine GameInformer and is due to hit Xbox 360, PS3 and PC later on in 2013.
Batman: Arkham Origins is a prequel to the original Arkham Asylum and City games but it will be created by a different games developer to the first 2 titles. This time the reins have been handed over to Warner Brothers Games Montreal, from RockSteady games. WB Montreal had recently taken on the Arkham City Wii U Armoured Edition, so the company is not a complete stranger to the franchise.
Arkham Origins will be set on Christmas Eve, several years before the events of Arkham Asylum and it will see the Dark Knight deal with eight supervillians for the first time on the streets of Gotham. This setting allows fans of the series to possibly get to see favourites such as the Joker and Killer Croc back in action after the events of the first 2 games.
See also: The Dark Knight Rises: The Essential Guide to the Best Bat Apps, Games & Gadgets!
GameInformer and WB have since also released a bunch of stills from the game, which provide a few hints as to some other characters that will make appearances, namely The Penguin, Black Mask and Deathstroke. There’s still no news on the Joker and with Mark Hamill giving up the voice reins it’s possibly a good thing to omit him.
From the video introducing the game, some gritty looking concept screens and artwork have been shown, showcasing the dark streets of Gotham which have been dolled up with Christmas decorations and snow. The setting will also add on a civilian aspect, with the streets of Gotham being filled with the good and bad of the residents.
Some of the other images reveal some of the game’s locations, which include the Old Gotham area which was the setting for Arkham City (minus the prison complex) and the new metropolis of Gotham City, equipped with modern buildings and skyscrapers.
We loved the first two games and with both games winning several awards within the gaming industry (including Game of the Year) it’s easy to see that Arkham Origins is already a hot prospect.
Now that the Bat is out of the bag we can assume that there will be more information to come in the next few months and with the E3 expo in June we can expect a boatload of information to be waiting.
Warner Bros. Montreal has given a rough release date of October 25th 2013.