Batman: Arkham Asylum

Overview

Batman: Arkham Asylum is a 2009 action-adventure game developed by Rocksteady Studios and published by Eidos Interactive together with Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. It was written by longtime Batman writer Paul Dini. In the story, Batman battles the Joker, who plans an elaborate takeover of Arkham Asylum, traps Batman inside with many of his imprisoned enemies and threatens Gotham City with hidden bombs.

It is played from the third person, with a focus on combat, stealth, detective skills and gadgets. After a linear opening that works as a tutorial, you can roam the island freely, though some areas stay closed until you reach story milestones or find the right equipment. Combat is about chaining attacks against several foes while avoiding damage, and stealth lets Batman hide and take enemies out one at a time using gadgets and the environment.

Development started at Rocksteady in May 2007 with a team of 40 that grew to about 60 over roughly 21 months. The design drew on Batman comics by Neal Adams and Frank Miller and on Grant Morrison and Dave McKean's graphic novel Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Earth. It was built on Unreal Engine 3. Kevin Conroy, Mark Hamill and Arleen Sorkin returned as Batman, the Joker and Harley Quinn from Batman: The Animated Series.

It was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on August 25, 2009 in North America, August 28 in Europe and September 3 in Australia, with a Windows version in September. A Game of the Year Edition followed in 2010 and a remastered version for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2016.

Reviews were glowing, with praise for the story, atmosphere and combat, and some criticism of the boss fights. Many called it the best comic book game ever made, and it held the Guinness World Record for Most Critically Acclaimed Superhero Game Ever, based on an average review score of 91.67, until Arkham City passed it.

It sold nearly two million copies in its first three weeks and 4.3 million by October 2011. Its success launched the Batman: Arkham series, starting with Batman: Arkham City in 2011.

Official trailer

Batman: Arkham Asylum Launch Trailer, Batman Arkham Videos. Watch on YouTube

Gameplay

BATMAN: ARKHAM ASYLUM | Xbox 360 Gameplay, BenedictPlays. Watch on YouTube

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

Action-adventure

Developer

Rocksteady Studios

Publisher

Eidos Interactive / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Series

Batman: Arkham

Engine

Unreal Engine 3

Composers

Nick Arundel, Ron Fish

Writers

Paul Dini

Producers

Daniel Bailie, Nathan Burlow

Directors

Sefton Hill

Modes

Single player

Yes

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

No

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Disc IDs

The serial printed on the disc and the case. It tells you which region a copy is from.

Achievements

Achievements47 (1,000G)

1000G possibleYes

Total

47

Gamerscore

1000

100% time

15 to 25 hours

Playthroughs for 1000G

1

1000G without online

Yes

Online trophies

0

Online note

All 47 achievements are offline single player.

DLC has trophies

No

DLC note

No DLC achievements on the base list; 47 for 1000G.

Gamerscore, base game

1000

Missable trophies

• Party Pooper (10G): knock out the henchmen celebrating your arrival
• Leave No Man Behind (10G): rescue the guards and henchmen from Joker toxin in Decontamination

Grind

• Perfect Knight (75G): 100% completion
• Riddle Resolver (20G): 85% of Riddler challenges

• Shocking Rescue Take down Zsasz in the Patient Pacification Chamber 10G 98.68% of players
• Leave No Man Behind Rescue the guards and henchman from the Joker toxin in Decontamination 10G 95.39% of players
• Malpractice Needs More Practice Survive the onslaught from the deformed Joker henchman 10G 97.33% of players
• Born Free Escape from Intensive Treatment to the island surface 10G 91.5% of players
• Just What The Doctors Ordered Save all the doctors in Medical 10G 85.53% of players
• Daydreamer Survive the nightmare of the Scarecrow's fear gas 10G 84.34% of players
• Baneful Payback Defeat Bane 25G 83.18% of players
• Breaking And Entering Gain access to Arkham Mansion after it is locked down by the Joker 10G 80.46% of players
• Recurring Nightmare Face your biggest fears and keep your sanity 10G 77.27% of players
• Zsasz Cut Down To Size Save Dr. Young from being killed by Victor Zsasz 10G 76.99% of players
• Solitary Confinement Capture and lock up Harley Quinn 25G 74.83% of players
• Double Trouble Defeat two Titan Henchmen at once 25G 72.48% of players
• Resist The Fear Conquer the effects of the Scarecrow's fear gas 50G 69.95% of players
• Crocodile Tears Venture into Killer Croc's lair and come out alive 50G 69.25% of players
• Poisoned Ivy Defeat the giant Titan Ivy plant 50G 67.22% of players
• Big Bang Complete story mode on Easy difficulty 50G 65.84% of players
• Bigger Bang Complete story mode on Normal difficulty 50G 54.64% of players
• Biggest Bang Complete story mode on Hard difficulty 50G 15.71% of players
• Party Pooper KO all the henchmen celebrating your arrival at the party 10G 45.95% of players
• Freeflow Combo 20 Complete a combo of 20 moves (any play mode) 10G 70.28% of players
• Freeflow Combo 40 Complete a combo of 40 moves (any play mode) 10G 17.67% of players
• Night Glider Glide continuously for over 100m 5G 44.59% of players
• Rope-A-Dope-A-Dope String up one henchman and drop him to surprise a second (any play mode) 10G 53.32% of players
• Mano-A-Mano Defeat Titan henchman without using Batarangs (any play mode) 10G 22.29% of players
• Catch! Catch a Batarang (any play mode) 5G 39.6% of players
• Freeflow Combo 5 Complete a combo of 5 moves (any play mode) 5G 99.69% of players
• Freeflow Combo 10 Complete a combo of 10 moves (any play mode) 5G 88.09% of players
• Freeflow Perfection Perform a perfect combo including all of Batman's combat moves (any play mode) 10G 9.76% of players
• Freakshow Rodeo Ride Titan henchman and knock down 10 thugs (any play mode) 10G 67.79% of players
• Freeflow Bronze Achieve 8 medals on combat challenges 10G 15.44% of players
• Freeflow Silver Achieve 16 medals on combat challenges 25G 9.46% of players
• Freeflow Gold Achieve 24 medals on combat challenges 50G 7.45% of players
• Predator Bronze Achieve 8 medals on predator challenges 10G 21.25% of players
• Predator Silver Achieve 16 medals on predator challenges 25G 13.2% of players
• Predator Gold Achieve 24 medals on predator challenges 50G 10.94% of players
• Invisible Predator Complete one predator challenge by using only Silent Takedowns and without being detected 10G 19.14% of players
• Flawless Freeflow Fighter Complete one combat challenge without taking damage 10G 25.58% of players
• Crack The E Nigma Solve every riddle on the island 20G 29.22% of players
• Arkham Analyst Solve 5% of Riddler challenges 20G 86.94% of players
• Cryptic Investigator Solve 10% of Riddler challenges 20G 82.01% of players
• Lateral Thinker Solve 25% of Riddler challenges 20G 71.59% of players
• Mystery Solver Solve 40% of Riddler challenges 20G 57.42% of players
• Conundrum Cracker Solve 55% of Riddler challenges 20G 46.05% of players
• Mental Athlete Solve 70% of Riddler challenges 20G 38.85% of players
• Riddle Resolver Solve 85% of Riddler challenges 20G 34.01% of players
• World's Greatest Detective Spirit of Amadeus Arkham revealed 20G 28.55% of players
• Perfect Knight 100% Complete 75G 7.26% of players

Space and patches

Space needed6.67 GB

DLC

Challenge map packs came out in autumn 2009. The Joker was playable in the challenge maps only on PlayStation 3 and Mac OS X, so the Xbox 360 version does not have him. The game has been removed from the Microsoft Store, so the maps can no longer be bought there.

Items

Name	Adds	Obtainable today
Insane Night	Released 17 September 2009. Two challenge maps: Totally Insane (combat) and Nocturnal Hunter (stealth).	no
Prey in the Darkness	Released 23 September 2009. Two challenge maps: Heart of Darkness (combat) and Hothouse Prey (stealth). In North America it was released only on PS3 and Mac OS X.	no
Dem Bones	A challenge map, a pre-order bonus at some retailers.	no
Crime Alley	A challenge map, a download code in the Collector's Edition.	no

Playable today

Playable offline todayYes

The story and challenge maps play offline from the disc.

Online

Plays offlineYes

Single player only, with no online multiplayer. Challenge map scores are ranked on online leaderboards over Xbox Live.

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale
Metacritic	Xbox 360	92	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
IGN	9.3	10
Game Informer	9.5	10
Computer and Video Games	9.2	10
GameSpot	9	10
Eurogamer	9	10
The Daily Telegraph	9	10
Wired	9	10
Edge	8	10
Giant Bomb	5	5
X-Play	4	5

Staff and cast

Staff

Role	Name
Director	Sefton Hill
Producer	Daniel Bailie
Producer	Nathan Burlow
Programmer	Ben Wyatt
Artist	David Hego
Writer	Paul Dini
Composer	Nick Arundel
Composer	Ron Fish

Cast

Character	Actor
Batman	Kevin Conroy
Joker	Mark Hamill
Harley Quinn	Arleen Sorkin

Notes for collectors

• A secret room in the warden's office holds hints, blueprints and concept art for the sequel. It stayed hidden for six months after release until Rocksteady revealed it.
• The Xbox 360 version does not have the Joker as a playable character in the challenge maps. That was exclusive to PlayStation 3 and Mac OS X.
• The Game of the Year Edition came with 3D glasses, and two of its six challenge maps were left out of the North American release.
• The Batmobile and Batwing were planned as playable but only appear as scenery.
• Mr. Freeze, and a garden maze run by Poison Ivy with a Mad Hatter tea party, were considered and cut because they did not fit the tone.
• The achievement list has 47 entries worth 1000 gamerscore. Several of them are for solving percentages of the Riddler challenges.

Credits

Publisher

Eidos Interactive / Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

Developer

Rocksteady Studios

Director

Sefton Hill

Released

2009-08-25

Age rating

T (Teen)

Disc ID

534307F6

Region

US

Time to beat

about 12 hours

Copies in the shop

• Batman: Arkham Asylum (XBOX 360) CA$14.99
• Batman: Arkham Asylum – Game of the Year (XBOX 360) CA$14.99