The living conditions here suck. No way this is all up to code.

So much better than Arkham Knight is almost unbelievable. I should have started through this one. What happened to Rocksteady? Is this the fate of every once prominent medium-sized studio who goes full-blown AAA? Bigger and bigger, never better?

It's not only that it's more focused, it actually feels like there's a story to tell. It's not a great story, it's the usual superhero fanfare, but it works so, so well in the context of the game.

The Metroidvania-inspired exploration was great, the Asylum is moody and atmospheric, and the combat that at the time was innovative was implemented to perfection in this game with the more subdued fights instead of throwing 30 enemies at once at you like Knight did.

Also, while this is technically a stealth game, this game might just have the two best 'stealth section in a non-stealth game' I've ever played, since the both of them played so differently from the rest of the game: the Scarecrow sequences were amazing, and worked really, really well as this series introduction to Batman's past. The last sequence was especially great, it was a great 4th wall break and actually made me think for a moment my PS4 was fried lmao. And the Killer Croc sequence, though simpler, had me on the edge of my seat and tense through all of it. And best of all, both of them felt really fun to play, especially since they just didn't throw you back at the start of it for failing once.

The only criticism I can really muster is the whole Poison Ivy sequence. It wasn't bad, but narrative-wise it felt pointless and detached from the rest of the game, almost as if they just needed something to pad more content, and her boss was terrible.

Now on to Arkham City, after Knight I'm kinda uneasy but this made me hopeful.