WARNING: If you plan to play the PC version of this game, DO NOT PLAY IT ON STEAM DECK!!! It felt like I was playing the launch version with crashes totaling in the double digits, falling through the game world, and I couldn't even activate the incomplete ending despite having done enough sidequests to get it.
This is definitely the weakest Arkham game for me. I know a lot of people give that title to Origins, but I really liked that game. That was the one I started with and it really engrossed me into the world. This one, while still good, has a ton of weaknesses that really hold it back for me.
Let's start with the story. For the most part, it's a pretty standard superhero story of our titular hero running around Gotham to stop various villains with the most important ones being the Gotham Knight and Scarecrow. The story works to get you from one place to the next, but it also includes some things I didn't really like, namely the fact they brought back Joker. I've heard about how thematically it makes sense and there's a decent enough explanation in-game for why he's back from the dead, but it honestly just feels like he's only here cause "This is a Batman game and you can't have Batman without Joker". He doesn't really do anything other than annoy me with his quips that tended to interrupt dialogue cause I wasn't standing in one spot letting him finish. They also took a lot of the emotional weight out of the game cause Joker just doesn't care (which is a part of the character I like, but only in small doses and not constantly through a 20 hour game). There's only a handful of moments where him being here felt justified, but they were far and few between. It also doesn't help that he basically spells out who the Arkham Knight really is like several hours before the fight that unmasks him.
Gameplay is fine for the most part. When you're just Batman running around solving mysteries, gliding around, and beating up thugs, it's your standard Arkham affair which has always been fun. The introduction of the Batmobile, though, is very clunky. When you're just driving around or fighting enemies in large areas, it's fine. Controls fine and feels satisfying taking out armored vehicles with it. When you're chasing things, running away from things, or fighting tons of armored vehicles in very tight spaces, though, it's very not enjoyable. It's a massive tank with a rocket on the back and it very much controls like that. During segments where I was chasing something, like the sidequests where you have to take out the heavily armored vehicles placed throughout the city, it wasn't uncommon for me to get turned around after bumping something a tiny bit and have to spend a lot of time turning back around and catching back up to the vehicle again. During some of the late game sections where you're having to drive very fast away from danger in circular tunnels, it wasn't uncommon for me to see the Batmobile turn upside down which would kill me and have me sit through those unskippable death screens where a character mourns/celebrates Batman's death over and over. The battles that include this thing, though, really only got bad in certain sidequests, mainly the one where you have to deactivate mines placed throughout Gotham and then destroy a ton of armored vehicles that come in. The problem with these fights is you can't go too far away from the mine, which gives less room for this tank to move. The game tries to help with the arrows that show where enemy attacks will go, but when there's like 10 enemies in one spot (cause they come in waves), these arrows will frequently just fill the screen and even if they say you're safe, I'd still get hit cause a pixel of this massive tank was still in front of them.
I do think the biggest wasted potential is having Scarecrow as one of the main villains. The Arkham Knight works fine as a villain, but Scarecrow is kind of just there. You'd think with him being the big bad we'd get some more of those fear toxin segments that were always the highlights of previous games, but no. There's one right at the end and it's not even all that good.
Again, I did really enjoy my playthrough of this game. There's a reason I kept jumping back in despite constant crashes (that probably would have been fixed if I stopped being stubborn and just played it on my PC instead of my Steam Deck). My problems really just come down to nitpicks as the Arkham series is a very enjoyable series where even its weakest entry still has a lot to be enjoyed.
This is definitely the weakest Arkham game for me. I know a lot of people give that title to Origins, but I really liked that game. That was the one I started with and it really engrossed me into the world. This one, while still good, has a ton of weaknesses that really hold it back for me.
Let's start with the story. For the most part, it's a pretty standard superhero story of our titular hero running around Gotham to stop various villains with the most important ones being the Gotham Knight and Scarecrow. The story works to get you from one place to the next, but it also includes some things I didn't really like, namely the fact they brought back Joker. I've heard about how thematically it makes sense and there's a decent enough explanation in-game for why he's back from the dead, but it honestly just feels like he's only here cause "This is a Batman game and you can't have Batman without Joker". He doesn't really do anything other than annoy me with his quips that tended to interrupt dialogue cause I wasn't standing in one spot letting him finish. They also took a lot of the emotional weight out of the game cause Joker just doesn't care (which is a part of the character I like, but only in small doses and not constantly through a 20 hour game). There's only a handful of moments where him being here felt justified, but they were far and few between. It also doesn't help that he basically spells out who the Arkham Knight really is like several hours before the fight that unmasks him.
Gameplay is fine for the most part. When you're just Batman running around solving mysteries, gliding around, and beating up thugs, it's your standard Arkham affair which has always been fun. The introduction of the Batmobile, though, is very clunky. When you're just driving around or fighting enemies in large areas, it's fine. Controls fine and feels satisfying taking out armored vehicles with it. When you're chasing things, running away from things, or fighting tons of armored vehicles in very tight spaces, though, it's very not enjoyable. It's a massive tank with a rocket on the back and it very much controls like that. During segments where I was chasing something, like the sidequests where you have to take out the heavily armored vehicles placed throughout the city, it wasn't uncommon for me to get turned around after bumping something a tiny bit and have to spend a lot of time turning back around and catching back up to the vehicle again. During some of the late game sections where you're having to drive very fast away from danger in circular tunnels, it wasn't uncommon for me to see the Batmobile turn upside down which would kill me and have me sit through those unskippable death screens where a character mourns/celebrates Batman's death over and over. The battles that include this thing, though, really only got bad in certain sidequests, mainly the one where you have to deactivate mines placed throughout Gotham and then destroy a ton of armored vehicles that come in. The problem with these fights is you can't go too far away from the mine, which gives less room for this tank to move. The game tries to help with the arrows that show where enemy attacks will go, but when there's like 10 enemies in one spot (cause they come in waves), these arrows will frequently just fill the screen and even if they say you're safe, I'd still get hit cause a pixel of this massive tank was still in front of them.
I do think the biggest wasted potential is having Scarecrow as one of the main villains. The Arkham Knight works fine as a villain, but Scarecrow is kind of just there. You'd think with him being the big bad we'd get some more of those fear toxin segments that were always the highlights of previous games, but no. There's one right at the end and it's not even all that good.
Again, I did really enjoy my playthrough of this game. There's a reason I kept jumping back in despite constant crashes (that probably would have been fixed if I stopped being stubborn and just played it on my PC instead of my Steam Deck). My problems really just come down to nitpicks as the Arkham series is a very enjoyable series where even its weakest entry still has a lot to be enjoyed.