I see Batman Arkham City GOTY is on sale on Steam. Is that one objectively better than the others?

  • I’m currently making my way through the series again after achieving 240% in Arkham Knight. So all are pretty fresh in my mind.

    All the games have their strengths and weaknesses:

    • Asylum is extremely linear but has some amazing sequences and really feels like you’re in an episode of the animated series. • City has a fantastic story and is more open world compared to Asylum. It definitely looks a bit dated these days and can be clunky to control at times. It is considered the best of the series for a reason though! • Origins is the prequel black sheep of the series. It wasn’t developed by Rocksteady and doesn’t have Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as the voices for Batman and Joker. The story is extremely short, but the boss battles are a ton of fun. It’s definitely worth checking out for at least one play through. Especially around the holidays! • Knight is the most polished and best looking of all the Arkham games. The story is a bit more generic / predictable than the rest, but the ending really wraps up the series nicely. The main issue people have with Knight is the Batmobile sections. While it does get overused, it’s not as bad as some make it out to be.

    All the games tie into each other. Even events from Origins are referenced throughout Knight. I would recommend starting with Asylum and going from there. That way you get the full story. If you start with Knight right away, you might be confused at a lot of big events that are directly related to the other games. The opening cutscene to Knight completely spoils the ending of City as well!

    TLDR: All are great in their own ways. For continuity, start with Asylum and work your way up to Knight.

    • Man Origins boss fights were great. I remember being in awe when fighting Deadshot. That fight was the definition of a slobberknocker. I don’t remember much else from that game but that fight stuck with me.