Batman: Arkham Origins Next-Gen Remaster Unites Gamers

Batman: Arkham Origins next-gen remaster unites fans in what is seriously an underrated entry in the series.

The Batman: Arkham series from Rocksteady Studios is arguably the best superhero video game property there ever was, and that’s a hill I will die on (not literally, I’m not ready to go just yet).

When Batman: Arkham Asylum was originally released in 2009 for PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, it raised the bar for what should be expected in terms of quality from comic book adaptations in the world of video games.

Two years later, we were treated to Batman: Arkham City, which improved on its predecessor in almost every way, not only in terms of gameplay and visuals, but also in exploration.

I have nothing against Batman: Arkham Asylum; it’s an all-time great game, but as we glided through Arkham City as the Dark Knight for the very first time, it instantly became apparent that we were experiencing quite the upgrade.

Fast forward four years, and the Rocksteady Studios trilogy was complete with Batman: Arkham Knight. Sure, at least on PC, this game had a terrible launch, but it ended up being my favourite game in the series.

In Arkham Knight, Batman had a larger city to explore, more enemies to punch in the face, and gadgets to play with. Oh, and we could also drive the Batmobile! What’s more, Batman: Arkham Knight looks so good that it could pass as a current-gen game.

In addition to the Rocksteady Studios trilogy, we also had a couple of fun spin-offs developed by other studios, namely Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate (Armature Studio) and Batman: Arkham Origins (WB Games Montreal). It’s the latter that is the topic of today’s discussion.

Released on 25 October 2013 for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, as the name of the game suggests, it takes place before the events of Arkham Asylum. In particular, it centres around Batman encountering The Joker for the very first time.

Was Batman: Arkham Origins as good as the entries by Rocksteady Studios? Probably not. However, in my humble opinion, it’s a very underrated game that deserved more credit than it perhaps initially received, and it certainly should have been included in 2018’s Batman: Arkham Collection.

“Batman: Arkham Origins deserves to be remastered,” declared Redditor Chunky-overlord.

“You know what’s really annoying?” they asked. “You can play Arkham Asylum, City and Knight on modern consoles, but not Origins. I understand it was made by a different studio, but not giving it a remaster doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.”

Fellow members on the thread were also quick to defend Batman: Arkham Origins.

“If they remaster it, they can fix some of the odd design choices at the same time,” replied Going_really_Fast. “But as the ugly duckling of the franchise, I don’t foresee it happening any time soon.”

“And all of the glitches,” added Rebuttlah. To be fair, I encountered a game-breaking glitch that had Batman trapped in an elevator before being permanently dropped out of bounds. I had to wipe everything (including the save and install) to get past it.

“Honestly, it was one of the better ones in the franchise. It had the best boss battles. The multiplayer was even cool and unique. I loved the Christmas vibe too. And seeing a more angry and aggressive Batman is always fun,” explained thescreamingpizza.

“One of my favourite games ever, man. They got so many things right, even if the gameplay isn’t as polished as the mainline Arkham series,” replied Crivrea. “Roger Craig Smith is also great as Batman. I’d love to see this game on modern consoles, even just for the visual aesthetic alone.”

Batman: Arkham Origins is still playable on PC via Steam and is backwards compatible on modern Xbox consoles. Sadly, for PlayStation gamers, it’s currently only playable on PS3.