Dual Play

Dual Play is a new gameplay feature in Batman: Arkham Knight.

This new mechanic allowed the player to seamlessly switch between Batman and his allies with a single press of a button, but only during certain conditions.

In combat, any active combos are kept when switching, allowing players to keep their combo going. If a special move was available, the players could change the character without losing it. An additional circular meter appeared on screen, and was filled by performing any combat moves. Once it was full, the player could instantly take out any enemy upon changing character.

In Predator mode, the player needs to be out of sight and on a vantage point to change characters. They could command the NPC character to take out any normal sized enemy upon changing character, up to three times. After the three uses are consumed, the player could still change character, but could no longer instantly take out enemies upon doing so. If there was another character present, Minigunners could be instantly taken out by sneaking behind them and pressing the takedown button. This however, was noisy, and often attracted the attention of nearby enemies.

In free play, the Batmobile works similarly to the Dual play characters, as it is summoned/entered with the same button which is used for switching characters. If the car is near Batman during combat, the circular dual play meter appears, and when filled, Batman can perform an environmental takedown.

There are three major instances where Dual play is involved on story mode, Robin as part of the main story, Nightwing during the Gunrunner side mission, and Catwoman during Riddler's Revenge side mission.

Dual Play Pairs

 * Batman and Robin
 * Batman and Nightwing
 * Batman and Catwoman
 * Batgirl and Robin
 * Robin and Nightwing

Dual Play Challenge Maps

 * Gotham Knights (Batman and Nightwing, Combat)
 * Assault on GCPD (Batman and Robin, Combat)
 * Uncontainable (Batman and Robin, Predator)
 * Chemical Reaction (Batman and Nightwing, Predator)
 * Guardians (Batman and Nightwing, Timed Endurance Combat)
 * High Flyers (Robin and Nightwing, Predator)
 * Duet (Batman and Robin, Round-based combat)

Trivia

 * A few years prior, a trailer for Arkham Asylum of a Co-Op Mode was made of which Batman and The Joker team up to take out several Blackgate Prisoners and at points using special moves similar to Dual Play Takedowns. It also showcased some extra gameplay mechanics like Batman running on a wall. The models of Batman, Joker, and the Prisoners were taken from Arkham Asylum.