Batman: Arkham Knight trailer review

Rocksteady have just released the second trailer for the upcoming ‘Batman: Arkham Knight’ video game, set to launch this October on PS4, Xbox One and PC. And it looks utterly incredible. I’ve got to be honest here, as excited as I have always been for Arkham Knight, the first trailer didn’t exactly floor me. The cinematic style they were using looked strange, with characters looking different to what they have done in previous video games (particularly Two-Face and Harley Quinn). Yet in-game screenshots released at the same time featured more familiar character models strangely. Furthermore, the trailer didn’t really reveal a lot about the game itself. This trailer though is a stunning improvement.

Kevin Conroy returns to voice Batman

The first thing you’ll probably notice watching the trailer is how beautiful the game looks. And rightfully so. While some of the games recently released for the PS4 and Xbox One haven’t had such an impressive graphical improvement as we would have liked, it could be argued that a lot of these games are actually held back because of their presence on PS3 and Xbox 360 systems as well. Arkham Knight has no such restrictions, and it really shows here as the city of Gotham and those who inhabit it have never looked better. Also, while Roger Craig Smith did an admirable job of voicing the Caped Crusader in Batman: Arkham Origins, one of the standout moments in the trailer for me personally was hearing Kevin Conroy back for the one, admittedly badass line he has in the trailer. Batman’s suit has a nice, armoured design this time around, although I can’t deny I miss the more comic-book styled suit from Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. And speaking of Batman's suit, it's awfully interesting that the Arkham Knight character seems to share Bruce Wayne's fashion sense. With still no word or clues to his identity, we're left to speculate who the Knight is and what his goals are. Maybe he's not just imitating Batman, but also Bruce Wayne, making the man under the mask Thomas Elliot, also known as Hush who appeared in Arkham City crafting a Bruce Wayne mask. Perhaps the Joker has risen from the dead and has now adopted the Arkham Knight persona? Could it be Quincy Sharp, who in Arkham Asylum was revealed to believe he has been possessed by the ghost of Amadeus Arkham? There are so many possibilities to who the Arkham Knight is, and so far no hints, and I love the mystery of it all.

The Arkham Knight promises there will be "No more Batman."

There doesn’t seem to be any new villains or characters in the trailer besides the Arkham Knight himself, but with the amount of things going on in this game, and not to mention the plotlines set up in Arkham City that will no doubt appear in this game such as the Hush and Azrael storylines, and it’s probably a good thing Rocksteady don’t appear to be cramming in as many villains as possible. We do get to see Oracle make a physical appearance for the first time in the series, despite being a major character in the first two games. Two villains I noticed in the trailer that I was really excited for was Scarecrow, who appears to be the main antagonist in some sort of way, making good on his hidden threats to Batman and Gotham from Arkham City. And after the spectacular Scarecrow sequences from Arkham Asylum, who isn’t excited for this particular villain to return to the series in a big way. The second is Two-Face (see what I did there?). Two-Face is in particular probably my favourite Batman villain, so while I was glad to see him make an appearance in Arkham City, I was equally disappointed when he had a very minor role in that game. So naturally I’m excited again to see him back in action for a hopefully bigger role in Arkham Knight.

Scarecrow's reappearance suggests a return of the thrilling fear toxin sequences from Arkham Asylum.

Batman: Arkham Knight is looking utterly fantastic, and with Rocksteady back we can expect a true return to form for the Arkham series after the slight dip in quality with 2013’s ‘Batman: Arkham Origins’. Rocksteady’s return, along with new gameplay features such as the Batmobile, a major graphical improvement thanks to next gen and an exciting new story to enjoy is more than enough to get me excited, and I look forward to hearing more about the game over the summer until it drops in October. 

What did you think of the trailer? Are you excited for Batman: Arkham Knight, or are you tired of this franchise? And who do you think the Arkham Knight is? Leave a comment and let me know.