Ever since the release of Batman: Arkham City, fans of Rocksteady’s incredible series have been anxiously awaiting news about an upcoming sequel. The next Batman game has been officially revealed and, as it turns out, we won’t be finding out where the Caped Crusader disappeared to after the events of Arkham City just yet. Instead, we’ll be exploring the early days of The Dark Knight through WB Games Montreal’s upcoming Batman: Arkham Origins.
Very little has been given in the way of details as of yet, but the official reveal comes via the latest cover of ‘Game Informer’ magazine, which features both Batman and the infamous DC Comics villain Deathstroke. The game will revolve around Batman’s first encounter with many famous supervillains, and one developer described the plot as: “Eight of the best assassins in the world have come to Gotham City for one night, Christmas Eve of all nights, to kill the Bat.” The game will be built using Rocksteady’s custom version of the Unreal engine to provide the same open-world gameplay and presentation we’ve come to expect from the series, but the studio itself will not be involved. Creative director Eric Holmes, who has worked on several open-world games including Prototype and The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, is in charge of the project.
Along with Arkham Origins, Bat-fans will also be able to experience the first official portable Arkham game, Arkham Origins Blackgate, which releases on the same day as the console version. The game is being developed by Armature Studios, a development studio founded by several team members from the Metorid Prime trilogy. The handheld title will feature a 2.5D “Metroidvania” style of gameplay, though no other details are known at this point.
Both games will be released on October 15, 2013, with Arkham Origins available on PS3, PC, Xbox 360, and Wii U, and Blackgate available for both the 3DS and Vita systems. We’ll have more updates as they come.
Until then, Batman fans, are you excited about a prequel story? Sound off in the comments below!
