More Batman: Arkham Knight details surface
Following yesterday's exciting announcement trailer, Rocksteady has leaked out more details concerning Batman: Arkham Knight.
For starters: retailer GameStop released a promotional image encouraging players to pre-order the game. It promises that players who pre-order the game will get to play as Harley Quinn in four exclusive challenge maps. The image also states that the game will be released on October 14, 2014. This release date has not been confirmed, but it might turn out to be the case.
More details have come from the latest issue of GameInformer. For one thing, the map will be five times the size of the one in Arkham City. The streets will also be wider to accomodate the size of the Batmobile.
The Batmobile will be a core gameplay element, described as an "unstoppable force" by game director and Rocksteady co-founder Sefton Hill. Batman can eject himself out of the Batmobile at any time, jumping straight into the air. Players will also be able to summon it with the push of a button. To reach Batman, the Batmobile will smash through other vehicles, traffic posts, or even the corners of buildings. "We wanted to make the best car in any game ever," Hill said. "That was our mission statement right from the start."
Batman will have new combat moves and takedowns, and it sounds like he'll need them: as well as Scarecrow, Harley Quinn, Penguin, and Two-Face, Batman will have to face an entirely new villain. Rocksteady has teamed up with DC writer Geoff Johns to create a new character for the game.
"We hadn't in the previous games introduced someone new to the universe," said Hill. "We wanted to introduce someone who could really challenge Batman to go head to head with him in lots of different ways. We're not talking about those ways just yet but this guy is definitely a formidable foe for Batman."
Hill also confirmed that Kevin Conroy will voice Batman, as he did in the Batman animated series and in Rocksteady's previous Arkham games. (Arkham Origins was developed by Warner Bros. Games Montréal. In that one, Batman was voiced by Roger Craig Smith.) This is one of the most exciting things to come out of the interview in my opinion.
Hill additionally revealed that the game will be single-player only. "We don't have the time to do multiplayer. We want to focus on making the best single-player experience we can. We don't feel that it needs a multiplayer element."
I, for one, am hugely excited about this game. Hopefully it will be released in October like GameStop believes.