Batman: Arkham Origins Officially Announced

Ever since Arkham City came out we’ve been getting little tidbits and rumors about the next game in the series, chief among them being that the game will take place in the Silver Age and have Batman and the Joker’s first time meeting. Well, that prequel has finally been announced, with some changes I’m not sure how to feel about.

Game Informer released the cover for their May edition a few days back, revealing Batman: Arkham Origins. The game will take place years before the previous two Arkham games. Batman will be fairly new to superheroing, meeting many of the villains we’ve in previous games for the first time. Presumably the Joker will be among them, but the cover also revealed that Deathstroke will be making his debut in the “Arkhamverse.”

The change I mentioned above is that, unlike the previous two games, Arkham Origins will not be developed by Rocksteady. Development of the game has been handed over to WB Games Montreal, who made Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition. The studio will be given access to the custom Unreal engine Rocksteady had modded for the first two games.

Leading this game is creative director Eric Holmes, best known for his work at Radical Entertainment where he served as lead designer on The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction and Prototype.

But wait, there’s more. On the same day as Origins release, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate will be coming out on the 3DS and Vita. The game will be a Metroidvania style game that will take place after the events of the main title. Blackgate is being developed by Armature Studio, a relatively new studio formed by the leads of the Metroid Prime trilogy.

Overall, I’m kinda iffy on this new game. Prototype and Ultimate Destruction were fun games, but they were really over the top and shit, so I’m not sure how Holmes will handle a series based around stealth gameplay. Plus, I have no basis for the studio developing it so I don’t know if they could pull it off. And I don’t really care about the handheld game.

Batman: Arkham Origins is set for release on October 25th, 2013, for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U, and PC.