After the rather ambiguous end to Arkham Knight, fans wonder where the Arkham games will take the caped-crusader next. Even more ambiguously, Warner Brother Games recently released an image with text that simply says, “Save the Date: March 8th.” In preparation for what is to come in March, consider puzzle pieces leading up to this date.
Last year, at the Geoff Keighley’s Game Awards, Kotaku news editor Jason Schreier believed the new Batman game would be revealed. Just before the show, he said he expected to see “new Zelda footage, new Mass Effect footage, Prey, maybe Guardians of the Galaxy and perhaps some bats and/or men.” That last bit of teasing did not come to fruition.
As the night continued, Schreier’s followers started to provoke him on twitter. In compliance, Schreier stated that WB Montreal’s next game will feature Damian Wayne, the nemesis system from Shadow of Mordor and a debut trailer that ends on Penguin.
With no additional information stemming from Playstation Experience 2016, it is time to go over the speculations and rumors surrounding the future of DC games. Arkham Knight marked the end for Rocksteady Studios’ Batman games, excluding their new delve into virtual reality. However, it is not likely Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment (WB) will let the series end.
With five million copies sold one week after launch, Arkham Knight was WB’s most profitable Batman game yet. Outlets speculate that WB Montreal, the same studio that developed “Batman: Arkham Origins,” is currently working on the next phase of Batman video game.
The facts: WB Montreal is working on a DC game. Early speculation assumed the game would be a Suicide Squad RPG. The Squad was heavily teased in WB Montreal’s past Arkham games. These speculations continued when a member of NeoGAF, a reputable gaming forum, said to have information on WB Montreal developing projects from an anonymous source. The source claimed WB Montreal was indeed working on two games, one of which being Suicide Squad.
The game was said to be “a brawler” in which you “create your own avatar” and would have co-op capabilities. Accordingly, the game is targeted for a 2017 release date. Unfortunately, this source and his or her information cannot be confirmed, and marked the end of the Suicide Squad game rumors.
With that being said, as more information continues to surface, more and more evidence points to development of a Batman game starring Damian Wayne. The first of the rumors came from the very same NeoGAF member. The source claimed that the game would take place “10 years in the future” and that an older, grittier, bearded Bruce Wayne would be mentoring his son Damian to be the new Batman.
WB Montreal’s apparent Batman game was said to “only [just begun] to roll in production” and it would be some time before we saw anything concrete. Although there is no way to confirm this information, it can be confirmed that WB. Montreal is going through a rather large hiring process. This process has allowed information about their upcoming project(s) leak. Recently, WB Montreal has posted recruitment videos which discuss “expanding the DC universe in an interactive space.” The clips show an open-world game in development. The clips also show detailed images of a new map not previously seen in past Arkham games.
We took it upon ourselves to analyze some of the footage, and one of the images spawned from the clip shows programing for large scale street traffic, like one would see in “Grand Theft Auto” or “Watch Dogs.” This is a featured item that was not evident in any previous Arkham games.
Many other hints can be found in the video as well, some of which bring the rumors to a different conclusion entirely. “Barry” can be found written on a white board within the creative team’s conference room, along with a “Trinity” graphic novel.Both of these elude to Justice League tie-ins. “Barry” presumably referring to the Flash’s alias, Barry Allen.
However, a new rendering of Batman is clearly visible in the clip, which brings speculation back towards a new Batman game.It is important to note that much of the speculations listed do not come from reputable sources, and there is no confirmation that the upcoming game will be cannon to other Arkham games, or if it will even have “Arkham” in the title.
Speculation aside, it can be confirmed that WB Montreal is developing a new DC game. Whether it be Suicide Squad, Batman, or something else entirely, remains to be seen.
