Batman: Arkham City is a 2011
action-adventure game developed by
Rocksteady Studios and published by
Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. Based on the
DC Comics superhero
Batman, it is the sequel to the 2009 video game
Batman: Arkham Asylum and the second installment in the
Batman: Arkham series. Written by veteran
Batman writer
Paul Dini with Paul Crocker and
Sefton Hill,
Arkham City was inspired by the long-running comic book
mythos. In the game's main storyline, Batman is incarcerated in Arkham City, a super-prison enclosing the decaying urban slums of fictional
Gotham City. He must uncover the secret behind a sinister scheme orchestrated by the facility's warden,
Hugo Strange. The game's leading characters are predominantly voiced by actors from the
DC Animated Universe, with
Kevin Conroy and
Mark Hamill reprising their roles as Batman and the
Joker, respectively.
The game is presented from the
third-person perspective with a primary focus on Batman's combat and stealth abilities, detective skills, and gadgets that can be used in both combat and exploration. Batman can freely move around the Arkham City prison, interacting with characters and undertaking missions, and unlocking new areas by progressing through the main story or obtaining new equipment. The player is able to complete side missions away from the main story to unlock additional content and collectible items. Batman's ally
Catwoman is another playable character, featuring her own story campaign that runs parallel to the game's main plot.
Rocksteady conceived ideas for a sequel while developing
Arkham Asylum, commencing serious development of
Arkham City's story in February 2009. The layout of Arkham City has a virtual footprint five times that of
Arkham Asylum, and the city design was modified to accommodate Batman's ability to swoop and glide. Over a year and $10 million were spent on the game's marketing campaign, and its release was accompanied by two music albums; one containing the game's score, and the other featuring 11 original songs inspired by the game from various mainstream artists.
Arkham City was released worldwide for the
PlayStation 3 and
Xbox 360 video game consoles in October 2011, followed by a
Microsoft Windows version a month later. The game received critical
Acclaim, particularly for its narrative, character and world designs, soundtrack, and Batman's combat and navigation abilities. It was tied for the highest-rated video game of 2011 according to review aggregator
Metacritic, and was the recipient of several awards from media outlets, including Game of the Year, Best Action Game, Best Action Adventure Game, Best Adventure Game, and Best Original Score. Like its predecessor, it is considered one of the
greatest video games of all time. A spin-off
mobile game,
Batman: Arkham City Lockdown was released in December.
Arkham City has received several re-releases, comprising: a
Game of the Year edition in May 2012;
Wii U and
OS X versions in November and December 2012, respectively; and a remastered version for
PlayStation 4 and
Xbox One in October 2016. A prequel to the series,
Batman: Arkham Origins, was released in October 2013, and a narrative sequel,
Batman: Arkham Knight, was released in June 2015.
As of September 2021, the only known pre-release build was created Janurary 6th 2012 for the
XBOX 360. This build does not seem to offer any cut content or functions. Curiously it is dated just before the GOTY release but does not contain any DLC.
The Wii U stage demo files are present inside the retail build of the Wii U version of the game. It requires a modification of the Gusto-BmGame.ini to access:
[BmGame.RGameInfo]
bWBDemoBuild=true
Data mining the
PlayStation 4 versions reveals that the game actually uses both, Unreal Engine 3 and Unreal Engine 4. The reason for this is unknown. In addition, the remaster has "Playable_Joker" files, however Joker isn't a playable character in either the remastered or last generations of the game. As of September 2021, attempts to make this file playable have been in vain as the game will crash or glitch when attempting to use a modded PAK file with the files replaced.
