The console renditions of Batman Arkham series of games have been heralded by gamers and critics alike as one of the best and freshest videogame series in a long time. No other game based on a comic book character absorbs the player so much,; you dont play as the Batman - you are the Batman. Perching in the shadows, gliding from between rooftops, kicking bad guy butt, grappling a distant balcony, disappearing in puff of smoke.
What has gradually become a staple of the Arkham games is the ability to change your batsuit to one of the many available. Though these are usually renditions of well known variations from the comic or movie universes and usually just cosmetic, it is a welcome addition.
Arkham Knight, available this fall for next-gen consoles and PC only, is reportedly the last game in the Arkham series, and is set after the events of Arkham City. And because of the damage the batsuit recieved during that game (progressively throughout the game, as usual) Batman, as seen in released images, is wearing a whole new suit for what promises to be his most testing moment to date in the Arkham universe. Speaking to GameInformer, developer Rocksteady Studios reveal more about the suit...
Art Director David Hego: “You put them next to each other, and you can see that they’re coming from the same family. You get the same elements on Batman’s suit, you have the same shapes, you have different metal shaders between carbon fiber and the brushed metal shininess. That’s the visual story. The story behind it is that Batman has this new car, and he’s doing all this crazy s--- with it, and he needs to eject at mach 3 out of it.”
Lead Character Artist Albert Feliu: “I remember having a meeting with David a year and a half ago, and we were talking about what we could do to make Batman’s suit really special. The Batmobile was there, and we started talking. We wanted to do something that was awesome – it was going to look amazing in terms of shaders and new techniques, but it needs to look different. We couldn’t go the same way. We had to diverge in a new direction, where people would notice that this is a next-gen Arkham. That was our goal – all the materials, all the leathers, and everything that kind of went with that. It takes five or six times more time to make Batman than any other character, so it was heavy and it was hard work, but I thought it paid off in a way.”
Studio Head Jamie Walker: “He can move in it. That’s very important to us to have an authentic feel. Parts of it that haven’t ever been before are now articulated as well, so they all move in a different way. The cape still covers the shoulders, but now he has the armor on top."
Lead Character Artist Albert Feliu: “If you imagine, if you were gliding down like Batman, down a city, to support that amount of muscle and weight, it makes more sense that it was attached to the cowl. What we did was build this armor thing, and one of the purposes of it was to hold the cape in place when it’s gliding around and all this ridiculous force to keep Batman and the cape attached. The cape is actually still there, it’s just that it’s covered.”
Art Director David Hego: “It’s maybe a little more realistic and a little less theatrical than what we had before. It makes a little more sense of how it would work if someone were crazy enough to do it. There are maybe a few more questions answered with the tech and how it could work together than we did before.”
Also we have a leaked image, courtesy of Batman-Tube, showing a new batsuit that will be available with the DLC Cold, Cold Heart for Batman: Arkham Origins (Xbox 360, PS3, PC) when it releases April 22nd. It is unclear if this new suit is purely cosmetic or whether it features unique abilities, but it does look damn cool (sorry)...
