Batman: Arkham Origins director on making players 'more aware' of its gameplay depth

A lot of people still don't really get how FreeFlow works in the Batman: Arkham series. Given its focus on counters, button mashing doesn't get great results. You may be able to get by, but you certainly won't be able to achieve the same combo counts as some of the masters of the game.

"The challenge rooms really taught me a lot," creative director Eric Holmes said. "They teach you more than anything is 'you don't know how to play the game when you're playing the campaign.'"

"You appreciate how deep the mechanics are when you play the challenge rooms," something that he hopes to incorporate more into the campaign of Arkham Origins. "It's something we're trying to do in this game more is to offer more people the chance to get that black belt, to get some of that mastery sense as they're playing through the campaign."

While not clear on how he'd add that depth, he promises that Origins will not add "lots of tutorials" or unnecessary "pop-up messages." The game can't be too challenging, either. "Arkham's a very mainstream game," Holmes told Game Informer. "So we're not suddenly doubling the difficulty level. We're trying to add an awareness to tap into that depth if you want to."