All Articles: Batman: Arkham Knight

People were reasonably curious after the ESRB awarded an Mature rating to Batman: Arkham Knight last month. With yesterday’s publication of the game’s Rating Summary, now we know why.

Arkham Knight is said to include fight scenes reminiscent of previous Arkham games as well as the colorful characters that are typically found on the streets of Gotham. But the game also includes several scenes of torture and a lot of blood. One section of the game even combines the two as a character is tortured on a bloody operating table. Also, someone says the word “gobsh*te” (please be Batman, please be Batman, please be Batman).

The full Rating Summary from the ESRB can be viewed right here:

This is an action-adventure game in which players primarily assume the role of Batman as he battles several villains spreading chaos across Gotham City. Players traverse a variety of locations around Gotham while battling thugs, examining crime scenes, and occasionally rescuing hostages. Players engage in melee-style combat using punches, kicks, and gadgets (e.g., batarangs, explosives). Enemies cry out in pain when struck, and some takedowns are highlighted by brief slow-motion effects and loud impact sounds.

Some sequences allow players to use tank-like vehicles with machine gun turrets and rockets to shoot enemies; a vehicle’s wheels are also used to torture an enemy in one sequence. Cutscenes depict characters getting shot (on and off camera) while restrained or unarmed.

Large bloodstains/pools of blood appear in crime scenes and in the aftermath of violent acts; one room depicts a person torturing a character on a bloody operating table. During the course of the game, players can shoot unarmed characters and a hostage. Neon signs in a red-light district read “live nude girls” and “XXX.”

The words “b*tch,” “gobsh*te,” and “a*s” appear in the dialogue.

Batman: Arkham Knight will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on June 2.

John Noble has brought eccentricity and menace to his roles as Walter Bishop on Fringe and the Horseman of War on Sleepy Hollow, but only his voice is required to strike fear into the heart of Gotham in the upcoming Batman: Arkham Knight. Noble will play Jonathan Crane (AKA The Scarecrow) in Rocksteady’s trilogy-capping entry of the Arkham series. And like on Fringe and Sleepy Hollow, he has a plan.

In this new trailer, dubbed “Gotham is Mine” by the developers, The Scarecrow reveals how he will bring together Batman’s greatest rogues. Two-Face, The Penguin, The Riddler, Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and the all-new Arkham Knight will join forces to kill the Dark Knight once and for all.

Will they succeed? We’ll all find out together on June 2, when Batman: Arkham Knight launches for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

IGN is reporting that Rocksteady Studios has informed them that Batman: Arkham Knight has received a Mature rating from the ESRB. I wonder if this means he’ll tell someone that he’s “the goddamn Batman.”

Arkham Knight’s Director, Sefton Hill, told IGN that he was surprised by the ESRB’s ruling, especially after a Teen rating was granted to both Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. Hill added that the team never specifically added content to the game in an effort to earn a Mature rating, but that he’s aware of how it may hurt the game at retail:

“I’m not blind to the fact that [the M rating] does mean some fans will miss out… I don’t want to be oblivious to that fact. It would have been wrong to water down the game and deliver a story we didn’t believe in to keep the game ‘mass market’ or enable it for more people. We feel that’s the wrong way to go about it. We said we love the story and we don’t want to jepoardize that.”

As of this writing (10:00 AM Eastern Time), the ESRB has yet to make the Batman: Arkham Knight’s “Rating Summary” available to the public.

Batman has a bad history with Ace Chemicals. It was there that an unnamed criminal known as The Red Hook fell into a vat of chemicals and emerged as The Dark Knight’s nemesis, The Joker. Harvey Dent suffered a similar disfiguring accident in Batman: The Animated Series, permanently damaging his psyche and transforming him into Two-Face.

With such a haunted history, you’d think supervillains would stop attempting to rob and/or take over the plant. But you’d be wrong as Scarecrow and the mysterious Arkham Knight make the factory a target in the latest trailer for Batman: Arkham Knight. The trailer includes a look at the Batmobile in action and new takedown maneuver, the “Fear Takedown.” WB Games also plans to release an extended version of the trailer (three-and-a-half minutes is clearly not enough) on December 1 through the game’s official website.

Batman: Arkham Knight will be released for the PC, PS4, and Xbox One on June 2.