Batman: Arkham City - Game of the Year Edition

the 2/3 famous arkham trilogy. Every gamer should play, Every studio execs should play. Every developer and any visual artist should play. Arkham trilogy is a course to be taught at art/digital art/modern art/game studios/software development. The game engines since then have deteriorated in terms of visual appeal per computing, Return on upgrade of game engines is been deteriorating.

On the groundwork laid by Arkham Asylum Rocksteady built a magnificent game. A crown jewel of the best of media adaptation, the seventh console generation, and design ambition reined in by discipline. Shifting from Asylum's Metroidvania to an open world design, with a basic premise shamelessly pilfered from John Carpenter movies (and George Carlin jokes) they pushed everything to its real maximum here, and that discipline keeps things from getting out of hand. The result is the best example of this sort of game ever made. Where Horizon Zero Dawn would end up spending way too much time not having the player murder robot dinosaurs, Mad Max's story would spiral off into absurdity, The Witcher 3's attempt at difficulty felt artificial and forced, but here, everything works, the flowing-combo system Asylum started is perfected here, and no game that lifted ideas from it did it better, or even equaled it.

Adam West called it back in the 80s when he wrote that the ideal video game for Batman would highlight his being a creature of stealth and shadow. And here, despite the open world, it continues where Arkham left off in proving him dead right. The 'city' (an open-air prison farm in a cordoned off district of Gotham, itself replete with innumerable landmarks and references for fans of the animated series and the comic books to delight in) may be open but it's not a 'flat' sort of open, with environments riddled with vertical space, puzzles, tight-knit corridors, opportunities to ambush or be ambushed, special interior areas with their own unique twists and all of it for the game's central stealth and combat mechanics of the shifting game of cat and mouse wrapped around a story with the same dynamic.

It is Rocksteady's masterpiece. They couldn't outdo it in Knight, which got bogged down in too many ideas pulling in too many directions at once, and after Knight, well...there would be no more games like the Arkham trilogy ever again.

story mode is incredible, but some of these challenge maps make me want to break my desk in half

This is actually my 4th play-through for this game across Xbox, PS4, and Steam. My original Xbox play-time was somewhere near 180 back when it first came out. I enjoyed it a few years later on PS4, and did the same just now. It's till a 9.5/10 game and has aged as well as Super Metroid

This is one of the best stealth games I have ever played. It kind of reminds me of earlier assassins creed games. Would recommend.

BEWARE: Modding and/or starting this game with a controller attached will DISABLE achievements! The game will register some when you boot it without a controller connected, but others are missable!
Other than that and lack of windowed borderless, it's one of the best games out there, specially for the price it's going for these days.
Oh, the riddler stuff is a joke not even Joker would pull off....

This game really makes you feel like you're breaking the bones of convicted Jaywalkers. 10/10

In all seriousness, game is great. Combat is simple yet rewarding; more like a fast-paced puzzle than any other fighting game. for a greater (and more rewarding) challenge, new game + removes all the training wheels. Terrorizing inmates becomes a little more rewarding once you realize they're only 2 bullet sprays away from killing you.

This game is exceptionally crafted, indeed the whole series has been something of a masterpiece. It's a pleasure to replay, and there are plenty of things to keep you coming back, if you're a fan of the Batman franchise.
Worth every penny!

The GOAT Batman Arkham game. Mark Hammill kills it as the Joker and each mission and side quest is unique and enjoyable.

The game will constantly move you across locations while providing new combat and stealth tools to keep things fresh.

Every decision you've ever made ends in death and misery. People die. I stop you. You'll just break out and do it again.

very good combat. i like sneakin around

Good game, with some negative things. I wanna make this review short so

7.6/10
I want to keep it simple.

If you have not played any Batman games before then you can start with this game. I did, and it changed how I looked at DC and Batman going forward. Biggest and best Villain Gallery in all of fiction!!!

story can be a bit silly but gameplay is amazing

It's Arkham City, if this was a scoring system I would give it a 10 and have an hour of reasons as to why.

Hands down the best Batman game ever made. Fun gameplay that still holds up, an incredible soundtrack and one of the most shocking endings I've seen in a game. Truly one of Batman's greatest triumphs in gaming.

Ooooh my God what an insane game did i just played, i was glued to the screen for around 4 hours everyday for week just to play this game, what an insane storyline, crazy character development, and top it all amazing combat and free roam mechanics. Definitely recommend others to play this game without a second thought,
and other than that playing as catwomen was a treat its like the cherry on top. 9/10

Batman: Arkham City – The Definitive Dark Knight Experience

⭐ Rating: 10/10

If Arkham Asylum was the perfect Batman game, Arkham City takes everything great about it and makes it even better. Rocksteady expands the world, refines the combat, and delivers an unforgettable story featuring some of Batman’s greatest villains.

✅ Pros:

Massive Open World: Arkham City is a dark, atmospheric playground filled with secrets, side missions, and iconic locations.

Refined Combat & Stealth: The Freeflow system is smoother than ever, with new gadgets and enemy types adding variety.

Engaging Story: A gripping narrative with shocking twists and a perfect Joker performance by Mark Hamill.

Tons of Content: Side missions, Riddler challenges, and Catwoman’s story add hours of gameplay.

Legendary Voice Acting: Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill, and the rest of the cast deliver top-tier performances.


❌ Cons:

Some side missions feel a bit short or underdeveloped.

The open world can feel overwhelming at first.


Whether you're a Batman fan or just love great action games, Arkham City is a must-play. It’s a masterpiece that sets the standard for superhero games.

Final Verdict: Play it. Love it. Be the Bat. 🦇

After playing all the Batman Arkham games, I can confidently say that Arkham City was way ahead of its time. Following Arkham Asylum, this game took everything to the next level, expanding the world, improving the combat, and delivering an unforgettable Batman experience.

The open-world design makes you feel like the Dark Knight, gliding through Gotham, taking down criminals, and solving mysteries. The combat is smooth and satisfying, and the story is one of the best in any superhero game. Mark Hamill as the Joker and Kevin Conroy as Batman make every cutscene feel like a classic Batman animated episode.

Even years later, this game holds up as one of the best Batman games ever made. If you haven't played it yet, you're missing out.

Highly recommended!

i cant provide a fair review since i grew up playing these games on the xbox 360 however this game is great the story the combat and the gadgets. They improved what was so wrong with asylum by 10 times and there is alot to offer in terms of things to do including more challenge maps and new game plus. I would def recommend this game to anyone who likes the batman titles

I have been playing this game consistently for the last 2 or so weeks. It really lives up to the series even as a game released in 2012. The story lives up to itself boasting a host of beloved characters such as Joker and Poison Ivy-not to mention the opportunity to play as Catwoman in the main story.

The gadgets make up for a fascinating experience as you brave Arkham City fighting crime, traversing the well detailed landscape, and the many side missions keep you busy. The quickfire system is relatively easy to learn along with the special combos.

Listening in to the thug's conversations really does add to the immersion of the world. Hearing the many topics the criminals talk about going throughout Arkham City has a certain charm to it and keeps encouraging gameplay.

Control wise this is relatively simple. Left click to strike, right click to counter, use the numbers on your keyboard to select a gadget, hold right click to aim, left click to fire. This provides a much more simple system to learn controls than the console version.

The combat and predator maps have lots of replay value boasting a variety of enemies and challenges. You have scoreboards and medals that keep you wanting to replay whether it just be for fun or achievement.

Some shortcomings of this game however is map design. I found myself getting absolutely lost many times in the game and the map itself sometimes labeled an exit where the exit was not even close to. Another thing is in the said combat maps and challenges. Some achievements are so specific in the map it makes it difficult to achieve.

For example the achievement in a map may be "Take down a specific enemy through a wall" or something and there would only be one enemy of that type and only one wall. This leads to having to time a takedown perfectly with a specific enemy in order to achieve that goal. Additionally it is not made clear which walls you can punch through and which need the explosive gel to work. I know Origins fixed this issue but it is still something to consider.

One other thing is that I find that sometimes when fighting large groups of thugs Batman does not respond to the input command. This was especially challenging where there where absolute swarms of enemies moving towards me. I would tell him to do a triple counter or sometimes even a single counter and he did not respond.

Additionally the alternative characters don't have as much going for them. Whilst Batman has probably 6-7 gadgets with most being useful in combat or predator. Catwoman, Robin, and Nightwing only present 3 gadgers each. Of which pale in comparison to Batman's in quality.

Overall though it is a great game with lots of replay value.

Arkham City is a brilliant game, just like the other games in the series (even Origins to some extent) but it's also just as frustrating sometimes.

I don't know whose decision was it to include those Riddler informants in almost every combat encounter, including the ones in campaign missions but I hated how a side mission/activity bled into the main story like that. The whole signature free flow combat sytem of the game favours and revolves around getting a higher combo but because of those informants at every turn you have to be "careful" when beating up thugs as you need to leave the informant for last. I know it's optional to deal with them and I didn't even bother to do all of the Riddler stuff anyways but after finishing the game I have maybe more than five combat encounters that left me satisfied. I wish it was the same deal with Origins, where informants are usually on their lonesome in the wild and the challenge is to simply find them all rather than having to deal with them even when you don't want to. Riddler's overall side missions are fine on their own (didn't bother to complete them all either unfortunately) and almost all of the puzzles I cared to get through were great, yet the informants and the sheer amount of other challenges you are expected to complete (around two to three hundred just to be done with the initial string of missions if my memory serves me right) to get to him just wasn't all that appealing to me.

Then--and I believe it'll be a highly unpopular opinion--the narrative felt way too convoluted. I do love how the entire game kinda felt like a long, long episode of BtAS (which I love) but with the amount of villains that get introduced and effect the story became a little too much for my taste after a certain point. Almost none of them get the screen time they need to meaningfully establish themselves in the overall story and the worst of all the "main" villain was just a tad bit too... Passive, I guess, to truly make me feel like they were a threat I needed to take down. To give writers some credit, there were many moments that prevented me from just putting the controller down, I needed to see where the story was going to take me and it does have quite an impactful ending as well with intricate and clever details hinting at the that final resolution yet I just think the story loses its focus often and stretches itself far too thin. Many of the missions and characters can merit their own game if you'd tried hard enough or even maybe combined a couple of them together. However, too much is indeed too much sometimes.

Talking about convoluted, I also have to say I didn't enjoy how City just throws everyting at you the moment you start the game. On one hand, there is just so much to do in Arkham City; with numerous side missions, activities, challenges and just stuff to find and to an extent simple events to behold, you are never a moment bored or feel aimless. On the other hand however, everything happens at the same time which can feel overwhelming at times. Just by going from one mission to another you can encounter several of those activities and those just don't wait for you either. You actively have to intervene most of them and if you don't feel up to it at the time and would rather do them at your next convenience, tough luck, you simply can't as they just get triggered at random intervals as you make your way throughout the game which to be fair, is highly immersive and very on-brand with Batman mythos but I felt it was too much for me. Maybe it's just my inexperience with open world games but I gotta say I felt a lot less "attacked by" with Asylum or even with Origins rather than with City. Can be completely personal.

Finally, to be done with the negatives, I have to mention the performance issues. Even though the game runs fine on stable 62 fps (for some reason) most of the time, I often encountered sudden dips mainly before and after cutscenes and sometimes even roaming around in the open world. I think this is a mixure of the game getting significantly old which can explain certain issues whilst running on modern systems and this particular port being not the best quality, even for its time. I'd like to say this was all there was but at certain moments during Clayface boss fight, right after he hits a wall and explodes, I was suddenly watching a slideshow, and it wasn't a short time issue either as I had to wait a solid half-minute for it to stop. The thing is, it wasn't a one time occurance since the particular moment I mentioned happens a couple times during the boss fight and every time it did, I was having the same issue. To the point I thought some Asylum-esque fourth-wall-breaking shenanings were happening. In short, you can take this as your final warning to finally play City since you might be dependant on some community patches to run it on your top-of-the-line system in the near future.

At this point, right before I get into why I really like City after going through every single issue I went with mentioned up above, I have to confess that I had extremely high expectations from it. This was supposed to be the absolute best Arkham game after all, this was the game that Rocksteady ironed out every tiny inconvenience there was in Asylum to finally come up with a masterpiece of a game and to a point it actually is. Every single voice actor showed up for their character even for minor mobs all over in the game's world, overall art design is simply perfect and when combined with the still decent graphics the game just refuses to age and I can confidently say between Asylum, Origins and Knight I enjoyed City's combat the most, free flow combat system at its core is simply one of the most enjoyable combat systems in the entire gaming industry anyways or hell just being Batman with all the cool gadgets he has never gets old and is an absolute treat. Even a couple aspects I listed on their own can create a worthwhile game and City just has all of them combined. So yeah, even with with all the minor issues holding it back I think it's a good if not a great game. Then why this review, why I couldn't have just typed "Great game, recommended." and called it a day?

Well I tried. I tried to love City, tried to thoroughly enjoy it. But one Riddler informant at a time or just me getting overly stimulated with everything being thrown at my face or just slightly struggling with traversal (I just think without every upgrade, it can be annoying honestly) or maybe finding some of the places the story took me feeling a little unnecessary, I simply couldn't. Moments I purely enjoyed were almost only limited to combat challenges where I could finally beat the everliving sh*t out of some goons without having to deal with some green-glowing son of a b*tch getting in my way as one of the coolest superheroes ever created. Pure bliss. To the point that I can go and say those combat challenges were the reason why there is a blue thumbs up above this mess of a review.

At the end of the day, I don't know what to blame. My shoddy taste? Expectations? Asylum being my first in the Arkham series and holding a special place in my heart? Not sure, and none of those make City any less great. I just... Couldn't love it despite all my hopes. Still recommend it though. Definitely play it as soon as you can before it becomes unplayable without mods or community patches.

I've replayed this game about 4 times already to the end, and damn. Everything about it seems really badass. You can push Batman's Arsenal and Fighting skills to their absolute limit. And enemies also feel like they can kick the living fuck out of you because batman is but a human just like them.

The game also boasts a gigantic amount of collectables and puzzles that I still haven't come around to finishing them all. Plus other side missions that you can do even after the main story.

Truly a Game of The Year.

While This Is Not My Favorite Arkham Game, This May Be The Greatest Arkham Game. The story is great and I like how you can also control Robin and Catwoman. Batman and Robin Control Fantastic Although Catwoman's Controls are a Bit Unfortunately Clunky and Can Cause Some Frustration. Some Very Cool Boss Fights and A Few Misses but Overall The Game Ran Great and It Didn't Need To Be Patched On My End To Run Like Asylum Did. I Only Had A Few Freezes and Crashes But They Were Exclusively During The Final Fight of The Harley's Revenge DLC. Overall This Runs Good On PC So My Rating Is Console 10/10 and PC I Would Rank This A 9/10 For Those Few Little Hiccups.

The best Batman game I have player so far.
Fighting system and it's diversity is really good.

combat is chef's kiss and there's no batmobile, story plus kevin conroy voice is immaculate

A great game. Simple as that. Could use a few less Riddle trophies, but good thing those are optional.

great game, the story is one of the one I played

Even in 2025 this game holds up. The combat is satisfying and smooth, rewarding the player for well-timed actions with extremely gratifying power, but punishing mistakes with a realistic pressure. The graphics remain good enough to be engaging, movement is smooth and intuitive, and the voice acting is enjoyable. Would recommend this game to anyone who enjoys a more story-driven combat game and the simpler, tighter sandbox experience

In my opinion the second most goated arkham game with such a good combat system and story. The characters are good, the villains are good, everything is good. The traversal, thank god they added the grappel booster it makes the traversal so much better.

This is probably without exception my favourite game of all time. I have 70 hours on steam but probably about 700 on ps3. It was just the right game at the right time for 9 year old tom. Was it wayyyy too inappropriate for me? absolutely, but i loved the darkness and grime. Every part of the environment is suspended in the process of falling apart, along with that shitty wet slushy snow i dont think ive seen a better depiction of a dying decaying urban landscape. This game is so sick.

very cool game i like as the mechanics are very smooth making for an overall good game

Loving this game. Great story and easy to play. Well, you can make it as easy as you want. Zsaz's phone calls are annoying, but you can ignore them for a bit and focus on other quest.

Arkham City is often referred to as the best game of the series. I think it is but I don't think that its a major blowout like most people say.

City's story is a 8.5/10 for me. The game starts off strong with Batman getting captured and Strange's intro but then slows down for the whole penguin story line. Once the penguin stuff is done the next few acts up until the Hugo tower are just ok for me personally. The joker ending is great tho. My problems with the story are mainly just that is moves to fast and the whole Hugo working for Ra's was a lame "twist".

Boss fights in this game are good solid 9.8/10. Grundy fight is awesome, Ra's fight is good, Mr freeze is great, and the Clayface fight is fire as well. I think origins has better tho so I cant give this a 10 but its so close.

This games combat is a 9.5/10 almost perfect. The combat feels much smother then Asylum, has better gadgets (more fun as well) and the combos are better designed. Arkham Knights combat is a 10/10 for me so i cant give city a 10 but 9.5 feels fair.

Now for setting this game gets a 8/10. They wanted to get a bigger world for this game and they did that but it wasn't executed perfectly. The Citys pretty bland and the gliding is not amazing so at times makes it hard to get around (NOT AS HARD AS ORIGINS THO THAT GAME WAS 10x WORSE). When compared to the best settings being Knight its only right to not give this an insanely high score

Story 8.5/10
Boss fights 9.8/10
Combat 9.5/10
Setting 8/10

Overall 8.9
Personal score 9.4 (Mainly due to how well the game was made and my personal enjoyment)

Overall City's a great game and an almost perfect Batman game but it still has some weakness's. It feels like one of the most polished entry's in this series and it deserves to be ranked so high when comparing them.

This is my All time Favourite Batman game the mobility is fun the villains are great

And i do like collecting all the riddler trophies

Great game Highly recommend

It hurts to play this game, its addicting I want to play but can't I need to play more I want to play more I need more

Absolute masterpiece! The best freeflow combat in gaming history. Incredibly fluid, allowing for seamless transitions between attacks, counters, and gadgets. Every fight feels satisfying and dynamic. Gotham is rich with detail, filled with iconic villains and exciting (but very hard) challenges and side missions. Everything is flawles. Great gameplay, immersive world, and captivationg story. Unforgettable experience. As a video game 9.5/10, but as a Superhero game 100/10! Recommendation!

A great sequel to the first game and probably the best story out of the series

Note: I hate Riddler and ESPECIALLY his challenges (Riddler's Revenge)...I'll never touch them again

I love the game and i really enjoy it playing the game this game has it all, it has strategic, action, stealth, open world and love the characters of the game villains and hero i rate this game 10/10 perfect.

Best story of the three I just hate the Catwoman parts so much it's just annoying moving around the city

Excellent game! bought it on sale on my PC after having played through it multiple times on my old XBOX 360 and Wii U! I would totally recomend this to anyone who is a fan of Superheroes or action games. Just a tip though, when I downloaded the game I had to turn of anything to do with PhysX for it to run properly, but that may not be an issue you face.

This game is AMAZING in every way, the story is easily the best we have ever gotten for the arkham series. Everything had so much build up and was good in every way. You could play this game for hours and not get bored, Although some parts aren't AS GOOD as others (Like the deadshot boss fight, the bane side mission, etc.) It is still a wonderful game and worth your money. Since (As of right now) the arkham games and other WB games have -80% deals, this game is a steal. The suits are also very accurate to what they were going for. But the catwoman missions are the most boring part of the game, and it really turns you off sometimes. but besides from that, this game in my eyes is a:

8/10

because of the shit show that is modern gaming -crazy gpu prices, unoptimized ports, and live service games filled with micro-transactions. this is the best time to clear your backlog of old games.

play it and enjoy being batman

This is a step up from Arkham Asylum in almost every aspect.

Arkham City is so much fun to explore and traverse. The combat system has been refined and is now better than ever; it feels way more fluid.

The story wasn't so good, though. Too many villains with no clear focus, too much stuff going on that ends up being filler. The scope of Arkham Asylum's story was less broad, and it worked better overall.

The DLC is quite good, but it's clear it was cut content from the base game to be sold separately (scummy).

I'm not a big fan of collectibles, and there seems to be WAY more than before, but since the game is so much fun, I really don't mind this, and they're optional, so.

Anyway, good game.

Objectively the best game in the series, although I prefer Arkham Asylum overall I cant deny the sequel did improve pretty much everything they needed to for a worthy sequel. The combats been expanded with more quickfire moves, more gadgets, smoother gameplay making for higher combo potential, gliding is way more fun around the city, more sides-mission available, bigger cast of batman villains throughout the game, playable characters besides batman (robin, nightwing and catwoman)

Storys great in this one picking up from asylum and introducing a bigger cast of batman characters increasing the stakes, combat and predator challenge rooms make a return with ALOT more rooms and maps to complete so if you're keen for the 100% of this game you'll get alot out of this game content wise after the base game, also a story DLC is included and that's about one hour long in length, its worth your time as it gives some closure for the end of the main campaign deffo worth playing.

Awesome superhero game that is pretty much essential when seeking out to play one, this game deserves the recognition it gets.

Getting all the achievements in this game is harder than I expected

It's a really fun game, and also works on solely computer graphics and just 4GB RAM (would recommend buying more RAM for a better experience, which I did) Would recommend, though, 10/10.

Gameplay : 5/5
Graphics : 4/5
Audio (Sound effects, voice acting) : 5/5
Soundtrack : 4/5
Story : 5/5
Characters : 5/5
Worldbuilding : 5/5
Immersion : 5/5
Replayability : 4/5
Bugs Cleanliness : 4/5
Price/Quality Value : 5/5

Difficulty (1-Very easy, 5-Very difficult): 2/5

Overall : 4,6/5, Peak

Its been year since this game first release and its still one of my favorites games of all time. If your a big batman fan or even a fan of Heroes, than i recommend you to play Batman Arkham series!

Really fun game, but fuck the riddler revenge pack