- Warner Bros. wanted to have a 2.5D-style Arkham game in the style of Metroidvania- The company chose Armature because the studio was familiar with that style of game- Takes place after the end of Origins- Set on the isolated island at the Blackgate Penitentiary- Prison uprising has occurred- Intro level in Gotham- Batman goes to Blackgate in order to put a stop to the riot- 2D animatics with full voices tell the story- Batman moves through a side-scrolling game world- He’ll pick up near gear and take on enemies along the way- Interconnected passages and prison secrets- Not focused on leveling up abilities like the console games- Instead, it stays true to the subgenre’s formula- All of Batman’s improvements came through gear pick-ups and upgrades- Team wanted to give players more of a sense of collection- Mostly set along a 2D plane- Takes full advantage of the visual three-dimensionality of the environments- Explore, fight, and interact with the foreground abnd background- Can grapple up to gargoyles on a background balcony while a crowd of armed inmates pass by- Enemies will go after Batman from all angles- Go to the foreground or background to tackle a designed foe- Combat similar to the console Batman games- Button taps to attack, counter, and use gear are in place- Freeflow combat system- Built from the ground up- Batarang: stun enemies or hit distant objects- Line launcher: cross wide gaps- Explosive gel variation: shoot from a launcher onto spots around the screen- This lets you get involved with entertaining takedowns such as dropping a chandelier on enemies from above- More gadgets will also be in the game- Has a version of the predator mode- Game has a few more layers of feedback- Ex: can see the sightlines of enemies- This lets you know if enemies can see you or not- Same kind of vantage points, floor grates, silent takedowns, glide kicks, weapon use, and breakable walls as in the console games- Game is split into various sections- Each can be accessed once you figure out a way inside- No save rooms- Modern checkpoint system- Can manually save whenever you desire- Can defeat the bosses in any ordder if you find out where you want to go- “We don’t want you to break the game, but if you can exploit it in a certain way that we haven’t thought of, that’s awesome. So it’s conceivable the players will have abilities that don’t necessarily jibe that great with the boss. We’ve taken some cues from other games where if you have a particular item against a boss, you’ll just rip them a new one, but we don’t tell you what that item is”- Will have detective mode- Tap a button and the screen fades into a digitized overlay with detailed info- Green enemies: enemies haven’t seen you- Red enemies: enemies are onto your location- Move a reticle around the screen to focus Batman’s attention- Can use this to uncover secrets- Uncover clues and analyze dangerous situations in detective mode