The much-anticipated end to Rocksteady's Arkham series, Arkham Knight stands as a testament to the damage that hype can do to a game. In the wake of the events of City, Batman has become withdrawn and more violent than ever while Gotham falls prey to a massive attack by Scarecrow, who is aided by a PMC led by the mysterious Arkham Knight, a heavily-armed figure that resembles the Caped Crusader and seems to be able to predict his every move. Knight's storyline goes to some brilliantly dark places and although some beats are predictable if you're a fan of Batman in general it can't rob them of their impact.

However, the gameplay has taken a bit of hit. While the free-flowing combat is as slick as ever, Batman's gadgets feel a bit trite and well-worn by this point. There's a huge emphasis placed on using the Batmobile to scoot around Gotham, and a lot of the game is set around using its tank mode to sneak up on and blow up stuff which hardly feels like the authentic Batman experience the previous games have offered. Gotham as an open world is also a miss as it robs the game of exactly the kind of atmospheric closed spaces that the series has thrived on, replacing it with a soulless explorable space. While what is here is of a high quality, it's hard for it to match the expectations set by the previous trio of Arkham games.