Batman: Arkham Origins is the next installment in the insanely successful Batman: Arkham series, but will the highly anticipated sequel be a child born from a labour of love or a dehydrated cash-cow? We at mxdwn Games loved the previous two Arkham games but there is a growing sense of unease surrounding this project. Check out the badass reveal trailer and hit the jump for the scoop on Arkham Origins.
Rocksteady, the studio that lifted the curse of the bad comic book video game and gave wings to the Dark Knight, is satisfied that the Arkham story had been told and moved on to other, non-batmanny projects. Warner Brothers, however, are unwilling to let this tasty little earner slip away just yet and have handed the game off to their own in-house studio, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment Montreal. WB Montreal was created by Warner Bros. to concentrate on producing games based in the DC Universe, which is cool, but Origins will be their first real endeavour. It’s worth noting that WB Montreal was the studio who converted Arkham City for the WiiU, so they should be intimately familiar with the series and could very well pull off a perfectly fine Batman game.
The release trailer looks great of course but it’s more of a pre-rendered cut-scene and does little else but highlight the shallow plot of the game. WB Montreal had a wealth of material to work with but instead have created a ridiculous scenario where a bunch of assassins are trying to kill the bat on Christmas Eve. There’s no Arkham in this game and it’s not really anyone’s Origin story but it sounds cool so they named it that anyway. And as much as we want to play a “Batman Saves Christmas” special, the Thanksgiving themed Assassin’s Creed has soured our taste for holiday based games.
Having said all that, the developers all seem like intelligent and passionate Batman fans and this could very well turn out to be the best game yet. Remember to check out mxdwn Games the for latest on Arkham Origins and possibly some embarrassed word eating.