Everything to Know about Batman: Arkham Knight + Essential Tips to know

It’s time to don the cape and cowl, or just pick up a controller, and bring justice to Gotham City once and for all. Batman: Arkham Knight is the grand finale in the beloved superhero action series, delivering a moody and twisted story, multiple playable characters, and the ability to finally hop in the Batmobile and bring down Gotham’s goons on four wheels. Arkham Knight is available now on PS4, Xbox One and PC; here’s everything you need to know before you dive in.

What’s the story of Batman: Arkham Knight so far?

Batman: Arkham Knight is the finale of the Arkham trilogy, and takes place a year after the events of 2011’s Arkham City. The first two games centered on Batman’s pursuit of the Joker, first, in the maddening walls of the Arkham Asylum facility, and later in the more sprawling Arkham City, an enclosed series of slums that houses the area’s criminals.

If that’s not enough for Mr. Wayne to worry about, the Scarecrow eventually infects Gotham City with a new brand of his terrifying fear toxin that causes all of the city’s civilians to evacuate. With Gotham emptied of everyone but villains — including the Arkham Knight, a masked, mysterious antagonist made just for this game — Batman and his allies face their toughest challenge yet.

What’s new in Batman: Arkham Knight?

Arkham Knight adds new layers to the series’ tried-and-true melee combat, most notably the ability to finally drive the iconic Batmobile. Batman’s signature speeder isn’t just a means of getting around in the game; you’ll also be able to turn it into a tank and launch immobilizing rockets at bad guys, or leap out of it while driving, to seamlessly transition into hand-to-hand fighting. The Batmobile will be able to crush most environmental obstacles in its way, and there will be dedicated in-game racetracks that test your skill with the vehicle.

Even when you’re not in Batman’s whip, there’s plenty of new stuff to do. Arkham Knight heralds the launch of a new Dual Play system, which lets you take control of Nightwing, Robin or Catwoman whenever they’re fighting by your side. You can still keep your combo meter going when flipping between characters, and can even perform extra-flashy takedowns in which Batman and one of his sidekicks double-team an adversary.

Holy DLC, Batman! How much add-on content is there?

While the core Arkham Knight game promises a meaty experience for your $60, the amount of special editions and separate downloadable content is kind of overwhelming. There’s a Harley Quinn story pack that was given to anyone who pre-ordered the game, as well as a Red Hood story pack that was exclusive to those who pre-ordered at GameStop. Various in-game upgrades, Batmobile skins and Batman costumes were available to those who pre-ordered the game from different retailers. But, given the series’ history, it’s safe to expect all of the aforementioned content to eventually go on sale for anyone who owns the game.

Don’t worry, there’s plenty else you can buy if spending $60 on a game isn’t enough for you. The game’s $99 Limited Edition has a SteelBook case with an art book, an Arkham Knight comic, a costume pack and a cool-looking Batman statue. The hilariously titled Serious Edition is currently listed on Amazon for $69, and includes an in-game skin based on Batman’s first appearance, and a limited-edition Arkham Asylum hardcover graphic novel.

Essential Batman: Arkham Knight tips to know before you play

1. Please, please, please turn on the toggle for the Batmobiles Battle Mode

After you’ve been to the Gotham City Police Department for the first time, venture into the game options and set the Batmobile’s tank mode toggle to on. A tap of the right bumper or R1 will now switch Batmans armor-plated city sled between drivin’ and blastin’ modes, making for a more sensible control scheme overall. The tank’s vulcan cannon goes on left trigger and its primary cannon goes on the right, just as the video game tank god intended.

Before this change, the Batmobile turns into a roving gun whenever you hold the left trigger – or whenever you want to brake in the Batmobile and mistakenly extend Batmans cannon with embarrassing prematurity. Another bonus with toggle: The drift button is mapped to Square or X, making it far easier to handle tight corners in the Batmobile. Not that you should be too worried about threading through alleys: Batmans car can withstand plenty of scrapes without losing speed, so don’t worry about garbage cans, benches, trees or any of the pointless attempts at obscuring Gotham’s terribleness.

2. You can get the shock gun as soon as you arrive at the GCPD

You can take the shock gun, or Remote Electrical Charge in gadget parlance, as soon as you arrive at the Gotham City Police Department for the first time. Its locked up in the evidence room, but its shielded only by a pathetic layer of glass, belongs to you in the first place and – oh yeah – YOU ARE BATMAN. Just take it.

As you leave the room you’ll overhear police officers consider and then quickly cancel the idea of stopping your impromptu removal of evidence. You can march out with confidence, knowing that you’ve gotten early dibs on one of the most useful gadgets in the game. Its handy in solving a few of Riddlers conundrums later on, but you’ll really want to fire it during combat (LT + Circle, or LT + B), where it will stun enemies, trigger their machine guns in undirected fire, and remove electrical shielding from the crooks you cant normally punch.

3. Pick people up and punch them AGAIN

The wonderful cadence in Arkham Knights combat has you flitting between numerous goons, delivering a biff here and a pow there. Some enemies are temporarily knocked down, leaving you free to deal with the others behind you, but your merciful restraint is costing you in the combo meter. If you have a chance, you can press RT + Circle (or RT + B) to lift up dazed opponents and thrust them back into the fight.

Why do we fall, minor henchman? So Batman can pick us up, pepper us with punches and extract that delicious combo juice. A well-timed pummelfest can help push you past the 8x multiplier quickly, which then lets you do an instant takedown of a tougher enemy nearby.

4. Demolish Brutes with environmental hazards

Brutes, the large and padded men populating every respectable supervillains menagerie of minions, can really trip up your flow. Usually, you need to stun them with your cape (you know, like how you were stunned and dazed as a child when you ran through sheets on the clothesline) and then punch them 15, 20 times while countering incoming blows from behind.

To speed up the process, try pushing or luring Brutes to environmental hazards, activated with Square + X, or X + A. They glow blue in unison with enemies that are in range, and they’re indiscriminate in who they knock out permanently – even a Brute at full health wont get up after you knock them into an electrical box or drop one of Gotham’s many industrial lamps on them. The city planners must have gotten them with that bulk shipment of stone gargoyles.

5. Dont bother with watchtowers until you have the Remote Hacking Device

The Arkham Knights propensity for erecting towers all over Gotham seems to hint at his true identity as a disgruntled Ubisoft game designer. His militarized towers don’t reveal anything other than an opportunity to punch optional dudes, though, so their difficulty tends to be higher than most challenges stemming from the main story. As such, they’re often guarded by emplaced sentry guns, which are huge pains in the bat-posterior.

You’ll come across a few of the Knights watchtowers early on, but don’t bother swooping through the red lights until you’ve obtained the Remote Hacking Device in the story. The wireless gadget lets you temporarily blind sentry guns, letting you tussle with tower guards without having to worry about getting shot. Even a fully upgraded batsuit can only shield you from bullets for so long, and the hassle without hacking just isn’t worth suffering through a lengthy loading screen.

Is Batman: Arkham Knight a good game?

Ultimately, Batman Arkham Knight is mechanically and gameplay-wise the best in the series. It is the best version of the Arkham-style of gameplay and Rocksteady’s magnum opus. While it does more good than bad, the Batmobile ultimately leaves a sour taste.

Why is Batman: Arkham Knight Rated R?

“Large bloodstains/pools of blood appear in crime scenes and in the aftermath of violent acts,” the ESRB adds. Players also will be able to shoot unarmed characters and a hostage, says the ESRB.

Is Batman: Arkham Knight a difficult game?

Does Batman Arkham Knight Include Difficult Trophies and Achievements? If New Story +’s Knightmare difficulty is too challenging for you, however, Batman Arkham Knight features plenty of slightly less challenging —but still difficult— trials that reward you with shiny trophies, achievements, and bragging rights.

What bad words are in Batman: Arkham Knight?

During the course of the game, players can shoot unarmed characters and a hostage. Neon signs in a red-light district read “live nude girls” and “XXX.” The words “b*tch,” “gobsh*te,” and “a*s” appear in the dialogue.