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

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

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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."

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    April 24, 2013 1:15 PM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Batman: Arkham Origins director on making players 'more aware' of its gameplay depth.

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

    • reply
      April 24, 2013 1:38 PM

      I started playing Batman: Arkham Asylum, and within five minutes I found myself saying, "This is the best game I've ever played." I realized only after sinking many, many hours into the beat'em-up challenges that the reason I said that in the first place is the FreeFlow mechanics. Getting a Perfect Knight and Flawless FreeFlow on an extreme challenge leaves you feeling a bit high.

      Then I played Arkham City, and within two minutes I said, "This is the best game I've ever played."

      I'm beyond excited for Arkham Origins and the forward march of these mechanics.

      Now if I could only knock out thugs effectively without being seen.

      • reply
        April 24, 2013 4:10 PM

        I was invited to E3 at 2009. I went to it with zero expectations for Arkham Asylum. The demo at the showroom had the sewer challenge where you beat a bunch of guys in waves. It had another mode demonstrating the stealth aspects and that was amazing as well. Almost instantaneously the game exceeded every expectation I had for it. I came in excited for Bayonetta, Wii motion plus games, Fight Night Round 4, and to a lesser extent BF 1943. I went home saying AA was the game of the show by a large margin.

    • reply
      April 24, 2013 1:43 PM

      That quote is really accurate. I played all or AC and loved it.. then made an effort to 3 star (medal, whatever) the challenge rooms and realised I hadn't even scratched the surface of the combat. During my 2nd play-through I completely dominated everything.

      Not sure how I feel about them changing it but /shrug - I'll give them a chance!

    • reply
      April 24, 2013 1:49 PM

      I felt the same way. I didn't try the challenge rooms until after I beat AA and said "oh wtf I was doing it wrong." Although the campaign rarely put you in similar situations that required you to learn what you were doing due to the volume/variety of enemies in a single place.

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