Bat Bastards: The Left behind Arkham Games – Part 2: Arkham Origins Blackgate HD Review

Developer: Armature Studio | Platform: PS3 | Playtime: 10:10

Arkham Origins having multiplayer was a symptom of the time period it released in, Blackgate exists for a similar time era trend. The 3DS and PS Vita at were height and it was a massive market to not take advantage of. Of course you couldn’t get the full console experience on the handhelds, so they got side games related to the main game. In this case, Arkham Origins: Blackgate is a metroidvania title set in the titular prison. I played the HD version that released on consoles. If Origins didn’t get included in collections, this one certainly wasn’t going to be. Didn’t stop me from trying it though. It’s almost, almost, a good game, but just falls short. This is the most conflicted I’ve felt on a game in a while.

Major story spoilers are marked as such. Moderate gameplay spoilers throughout.

Reader Discretion is advised.

Set three months after the events of Origins, a regular nightly patrol leads Batman to have his first encounter with Catwoman, who is subsequently arrested. Two weeks later, a riot breaks out at Blackgate, with The Joker, The Penguin and Black Mask all claiming territory. Batman goes in to sort the situation, with assistance of the recently incarcerated Catwoman.

Before I go any further, I have to question some decisions here. How was the handheld side game to a second studio filler title (no disrespect to Origins) allowed to have such a big Arkhamverse moment like the first meeting of Batman and Catwoman? Having someone like Bronze Tiger already exist is a cool little bit of world building but then they do something stupid like having Solomun Grundy appear with no build up, completely ruining the reveal in Arkham City. Just some baffling narrative decisions here.

The gameplay as I mentioned is that of a Metroidvania – new areas unlock with the acquisition of new gadgets, works perfectly for Batman and all his gadgets. No complaints there. The map is split into three key areas – The Cell Blocks, Administration and Industrial, taken over by The Penguin, The Joker and Black Mask respectively. The game is pretty cool in the way that it lets you tackle these areas in any order, meaning any of the big three could be your last boss. You’ll have to tackle their midpoint boss first – Deadshot for Joker, Bronze Tiger for The Penguin and Solomon Grundy for Black Mask (I already complained above, I won’t complain again).

Depending on which of these bosses is fought last, a different ending will appear – so I read, I beat the big three but didn’t play the last 10% of the game because I became fed up. The differences are minimal, just showing each of the three getting out of Blackgate. The real story end is okay I guess? It works but is as bland as the game could allow. Here’s your Major spoiler warning.

Turns out Catwoman lied about hostages being stuck in Blackgate, in reality she was there under the employ of Amanda Waller to retrieve Bane for the Suicide Squad. Ultimately Catwoman gets away and Waller doesn’t get Bane, still managing to retrieve Bronze Tiger and Deadshot who she expresses interest in through shadowy cutscenes throughout the game. It’s a bit of a nothing ending since City shows us Bane has been off doing his own thing. As for Deadshot, Bronze Tiger and Deathstroke (who was teased at the end of Arkham Origins), that plot thread also goes nowhere since WB took the Suicide Squad game from WB Montreal and gave it to Rocksteady, who have chosen their own team as seen in Kill the Justice League. In short, nothing this game does matters in any capacity.

End of Major spoilers.

Why did I become fed up then? It’s a combination of things – the size of the map and the lack of ease in navigating. Each of the three playable areas are absolutely massive and labrynthian to a fault. There’s no need for the place to be that large and obtuse to navigate. There’s a lot of going back and forth between the three areas, and over the course of 10 hours I hadn’t got the grips of the layout of any of them. Each has a couple of exits, but only one primary entrance, with a second access point being unlocked somewhere in the mid of the region. That didn’t help at all, I felt like I was just being dumped in the middle of the map and told to have fun.

Speaking of map, the one in Blackgate is atrocious. The game plays in 2.5D which works for just playing but makes traversal more difficult. The map is a 3D model that barely takes into account the shapes of the rooms you enter, on top of that – none of the areas are labelled. I found my way to most objectives by taking one look at the object marker and just hoping for the best.

I appreciate what the game was trying to do – Batman works really well as a Metroidvania but by the end I just couldn’t bring myself to play anymore. I’m not sure if I can recommend it either, considering it’s not available on modern platforms. I’m glad I tried it to say I don’t care for it, but I can’t imagine that’s reason enough for anyone else.