Batman: Return To Arkham is a 2016 remaster compilation of Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City, for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It was developed by Rocksteady Studios and Virtuos Studios. Batman: Arkham Origins was not included in this compilation; this is due to it being the only main title in the series not to be developed by Rocksteady Studios themselves, however, items used by Batman in that game, along with references to characters and along with the appearance of two of Black Mask's assassins are featured in Batman: Arkham Knight, helping to confirm Origin's canonicity within the series despite Warner Bros. Montréal being the game's main developer. The compilation includes both games and all their downloadable content. It was originally set to be released on July 26, 2016, but was delayed; it was released on October 18, 2016.
Differences to the original games[]
Both[]
- The remasters replaces Unreal Engine 3 with Unreal Engine 4 and feature improved graphics, lighting effects, and more prominent shadows. Arkham City's framerate is unlocked, allowing it to occasionally rise higher than the original.
- PS4 version no longer allows 2 different control schemes, with B being the default one, similar to Arkham Origins and Arkham Knight.
- The Joker's hair is slightly darker, likely to better match his appearance in Arkham Origins and Arkham Knight.
- Many character models (especially alternate skins) have much more detail in them.
- The fibers in Batman's suit and Catwoman's suit show more prominently and the clothes that the inmates wear show tears and blood splatters (Arkham Asylum with the Blackgate Prisoners and Arkham City with the Political Prisoners).
- The Bat symbol on the Batsuit shows more prominently and the damage looks realistic.
Arkham Asylum[]
- There's now rain during free roam and Batman's suit gets wet.
- Batman's mouth has a different design, although the Armored Batman skin retains the original mouth design.
- The Joker has a brighter design than in the original, his shirt has a slightly different cut, and two chains are attached to the jacket. His bowtie has also been altered, being smaller and more tied as opposed to the original version being slightly bigger and looser.
- The cutscenes look more clear, there are no motion blurs, and no camera shake on some scenes.
- Batman gains the cuts on his right cheek earlier in this than in the original, getting them during his fight with Bane instead of the fight with the two Titan Henchmen in the Botanical Gardens. Also unlike the original, there is no blood on the cuts now, with the cuts themselves looking more detailed and deeper.
- Killer Croc might be slightly more aggressive, attacking Batman more often. And now he will oftentimes appear in different spots and charge at Batman, making the encounter slightly more challenging. (At times he might immediately jump up from the water after getting hit by a Batarang and can even appear from the water not far behind Batman before charging at him)
- There are slight changes in color schemes, most notably on the main menu, being less blue and leaning towards grey/green.
- Detective Mode now has a design on the outer edge.
- When Poison Ivy is under the TITAN effects near the end of the game the looks of the playable area are red instead of normal colors.
- The TITAN Joker's fingernails aren't long in the cutscene before his battle with Batman (in the original version his fingernails are long in the cutscene), although the TITAN Joker trophy still has his finger nails being long.
- Along with the damage to the Batsuit as in the original release, the Batsuit will now also become visibly dirtier and grimier as the story progresses.
- Scarecrow's actual eye shape can be seen more clearly in the real world when Batman isn't under the effects of the Fear Toxin and through the orange glow surrounding the eye pieces of Scarecrow's mask from the Fear Toxin, this is most noticeable when he's about to crush Batman after spotting him, and especially during his game over screen.
- The Joker is now playable on both the Playstation and Xbox versions of the game, rather than having the character be Playstation exclusive as he was in the original release of the game.
Arkham City[]
- Batman's cape/cowl is now dark grey, instead of dark blue/purple.
- Batman's cape also shows the fibers in it, not just a smooth black color.
- The Joker's Titan Disease makes him look more affected by it, with the addition of partly bloodshot eyes and scabbier looking skin and sores on parts of his face, the Joker is also shown with slightly more hair loss as well as a slight grey tinge on the roots of his hair.
- This also applies to Batman as well, as the Titan Disease progresses Batman will appear much paler than in the original release, with the addition of his face appearing to have broken into a cold sweat, by the end of the game just before he takes the antidote, the veins on his face appear much more faded and have spread more. However, the pale skin doesn't apply to the exposed skin from the damaged portions of the Batsuit.
- Clayface Joker retains the lighter design of the Joker from Arkham Asylum.
- All the DLC costumes are available for use within the main game from the beginning, instead of requiring the game to be beaten or a cheat code to be used.
- The Penguin's character model has changed only for the head section, he now has a different head model, giving him a closer facial resemblance to his Arkham Knight appearance, and he now also has striped trousers instead of plain black, though because of the new head model it is possible to see through the bottom of the furred portion of the Penguin's coat.
- In the church, the Riddler's projection screen is now green instead of a light yellow.
- Like Arkham Asylum, there are slight changes in color schemes, such as the Gotham skyline, now blue instead of orange, the Industrial District is the only area to retain this orange hue in the sky.
- The wet grounds of Arkham City now reflect under lights.
- The slight lag in the subtitles when listening to Thomas Elliot's voice message has been fixed.
- The leather on Catwoman's suit is shiny instead of a dull black.
- Talia's hair is black but her belly button isn't pierced.
- When Detective Mode is active, the white eyes of the mode will have a slight glowing effect to them.
- Two-Face's scared side is shown having more of the muscle missing, exposing parts of Dent's skull on his head, cheek and chin along with the bones of his left hand and his elbow.
Trivia[]
- Out of the two games, the Arkham City remaster has numerous visual bugs not present in the original version of the game:
- For some reason at the beginning of the Identity Thief side mission, the Political Prisoner has a visual bug that gives him an odd checkerboard texture on his jacket as well as his scarf, this checkerboard texture also covers his hands, giving the impression that he's wearing gloves, in the original the blood could be seen on his hands, while in the remaster the blood can only be seen when using Detective Mode thanks to the visual bug obscuring the blood on his hands.
- In the Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC, Wonder Tower is completely missing.
- By discovering and unlocking Scarecrow's Boat, Batman finds an Inmate screaming under Fear Toxin. In the remaster there appears to be a visual bug where the Arkham City logo on the inmate's shirt will randomly be missing or intact.
- In the Harley Quinn's Revenge DLC using Detective Mode as Robin will cause the activated white eyes of the mode to glow brighter than they should compared to Batman's in the base game.
- During the second Identity Thief side mission, using Detective Mode on the second victim while looking for clues would oddly show the victim as still having his face, with misplaced eye holes just below the victim's actual eyes.
- If Batman or any playable character dies during the Predator Challenge Maps, the Riddler during his game over screen will appear with a bright glow surrounding him.
Gallery[]
Official Batman- Return to Arkham Announce Trailer
The Announcement trailer
Batman- Return to Arkham Launch Trailer
The launch trailer for Batman: Return to Arkham
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Return to Arkham