To me, Asylum’s OST is gothic & mysterious; City’s is gothic but more cinematic; Origins’ is cinematic with Christmas elements; Knight’s is straight-up blockbuster. Which one’s the best do y’all think?
It‘s truly fascinating how much thought Rocksteady put into designing the layout of Arkham City Underground. The first time we visit the underground is through the subway station in The Bowery, where we clear Penguin’s thugs to destroy the jammer in the subway terminal.
The second time we visit the underground is through the subway maintenance access in Industrial District. We then make our way back to the subway terminal using the newly acquired line launcher, where we discover a door which leads to the entrance of Wonder City’s collapsed streets but was previously inaccessible because Batman has yet to acquire the line launcher from Robin then. The collapsed streets lead to the Wonder Tower Foundations where we clear Joker’s thugs & make our way into Wonder Avenue, an area filled with environmental storytelling & lore (Ra’s failed utopia due to Lazarus‘s nasty side effects on the citizens of Wonder City, the conspiracy surrounding its mechanical guardians terminating all criminals behind closed doors). This level is capped off with a cinematic Ra’s boss fight.
The third time we visit the underground is through the Arkham City Processing Centre, where we make our way through a different section of Wonder City’s collapsed streets which just so happens to lead us back to the Wonder Tower Foundations. After clearing the TYGER guards, we can finally access the elevator with the newly acquired master decryption key & make our way up Wonder Tower.
The fourth & final time we visit the underground is during the final boss fight against Clayface…because turns out the Lazarus Pit where we previously fought Ra’s is directly underneath the Monarch Theatre. So when Joker blows up the floor of the theatre, Batman & Clayface fall straight into the Lazarus Pit chamber.
Do you now see the Metroidvania design of the Arkham City Underground? The subway can be accessed through two entrances from street level, both of which lead to one of the two Wonder City entrances. Each time we enter the underground through a different path, a newly acquired gadget is required to progress through the level, i.e. gadget-gated progression facilitating meaningful backtracking.
This is one of the reasons why I love Arkham City so much. Despite being considered an open-world game by many, only through multiple play-throughs do I notice just how cleverly designed the small hub world really is, especially with its dense interconnected underground labyrinth.
It seems to me Arkham Mansion & Intensive Treatment are often regarded as the two most memorable dungeons in Arkham Asylum by many (which I also love). But today, I would like to show my appreciation to the Medical Facility & Penitentiary for being the two most haunted & claustrophobic dungeons in the whole series.
Starting with the Medical Facility, it looked exactly like a hospital from a horror game: Killer Croc’s old cell, the gurneys, the toppled wheelchairs, the corpses of medical staff lying on the floor, the blood-stained walls, the tight corridors & low ceilings, the flickering lights - its environments truly reflected the institutional failures of Arkham Asylum as a rehabilitation centre for the mentally ill. Scarecrow’s introduction in the morgue was absolutely top-notch as well. I wish we could backtrack to this dungeon during the main campaign.
The Penitentiary was another dungeon which we got to visit only once in the main campaign, but it was equally haunted & claustrophobic: the tight corridors & low ceilings, the corpses of Arkham guards lying on the floor, the initial reveal of lunatics & their animalistic shrieks in the main cell block, the electric floors, the inhospitable prison cells of Calendar Man & Two-Face. Even though there was no major story beat taking place there, its environments vividly depicted Arkham Asylum as a facility to punish rather than rehabilitate Gotham’s supervillains.
Overall, these two dungeons featured amazing environmental storytelling which massively contributed to the game’s haunted atmosphere we all love.
Without any doubt, Origins delivered one of the most personal Batman stories in the Arkham series, featuring Batman‘s growth and relationships with Alfred, Gordon & the Joker in his early career. At the same time, many people found its open world the weakest in the series due to it being very bland & uninspiring, especially New Gotham & the bridge.
It is my belief that this game suffered from the problem of telling a character-driven story rather than a world-driven one. Joker’s entire agenda (disguised as black mask) was to hire assassins to kill Batman specifically. Because the story revolved almost entirely around Batman’s personal conflict rather than a city-wide crisis, the city merely served as a backdrop for Batman vs Joker & the assassins. In other words, the city wasn’t a character of its own.
The result was an open world which felt empty & lifeless, and made worse by its drab colour palette (everything was grey). Yes, there were Easter eggs littered around Gotham, but only a few of them actually contributed to the main narrative in a meaningful way. Let’s say if the game’s narrative also involved the corruption of Gotham’s elites & the criminal underworld, the city’s environments could have been used for meaningful storytelling, making the city a distinct character of its own.
Contrast this with Arkham City. Its plot was not solely revolved around Batman; rather, it featured a three-way turf war between Penguin, Two-Face & Joker, while Strange & Ra’s were preparing for Protocol 10. These stories were not only told through audio logs, but also through its environments: the decaying architecture, the TYGER posters giving Orwell’s 1984 vibes, the villainous personality of Joker‘s Steel Mill & Two-Face’s courthouse.
Yes, City’s story was less focused as a result because Batman had to encounter multiple villains, each with vastly different agendas. But its hub world felt like a distinct character of its own, rich in environmental storytelling & lore. It had so much personality that I would often revisit it just to glide around & capture some screenshots of its distinct landmarks.
TL;DR: Origins‘ story was centred around Batman so much that it failed to give Gotham any personality of its own, resulting in an open world that felt empty & lifeless.
90% of City’s main story missions & boss fights take place in interior dungeons (Steel Mill, Museum, Wonder City, etc.). Then there’s the exterior overworld where you traverse between dungeons & complete side quests.
Structurally, it’s equivalent to Asylum (hub world with six different dungeons). It’s just that City‘s hub world is larger & has more side quests. In contrast, many of Knight’s main story missions, predator encounters & boss fights take place in the open world itself, which is why I would say Knight is the only true open world game in the Rocksteady trilogy.
This is not a knock on City though - by being a hub world, each district can be designed with much greater detail, giving rise to distinct landmarks & dungeons rich in villainous personality & lore. To me, City achieved the perfect balance between claustrophobic atmosphere & scale.
TL;DR: City is more or less Asylum with a bigger lobby rather than a true open world, which is a good thing because it allows for tighter, more detailed environments.
EDIT: worst interior level
Personally, I value the following aspects in Arkham series’ dungeons:
1 Environmental storytelling with haunted atmosphere and/or rich villain personality
2 Tight predator rooms which make you feel trapped
3 Memorable boss fights
So, my detailed tier list is as follows:
Tier 1
1 Royal Hotel (Origins) - haunted atmosphere rich in Joker’s personality, tight predator rooms, Bane boss fight
2 The Museum (City) - spectacular personality-rich villain lair, gladiator pit combat arena, tight predator room, Grundy boss fight
3 Medical Facility (Asylum) - most haunted atmosphere in the entire series, tight predator rooms, scarecrow encounter, Bane boss fight
4 Final Offer (Origins) - personality-rich villain lair, boiler deck combat arena, tight predator room, Deathstroke boss fight
5 Subway & Wonder City (City) - gothic architecture with environmental storytelling, tight predator rooms, Ra’s boss fight, Metroidvania design
Tier 2
6 Joker’s Steel Mill (City) - personality-rich villain lair, tight predator room, carnival combat arena, Metroidvania design
7 GCPD (Origins) - hostile labyrinth with environmental storytelling, tight predator room
8 Arkham Mansion (Asylum) - gothic architecture with environmental storytelling, tight predator room, scarecrow encounter
9 Intensive Treatment (Asylum) - environmental storytelling, tight predator room, scarecrow encounter, Metroidvania design
10 Blackgate Prison (Origins) - tight predator room, Bane boss fights, but not as interesting as other dungeons in the game
11 Botanical Gardens (Asylum) - tight predator rooms, Ivy boss fight, but not as interesting as other dungeons on Arkham Island & uninspiring Titan thug boss fight
Tier 3
12 Panessa Studios (Knight) - Albert King boss fight, but minimal environmental storytelling (makeshift Batcave) & spacious predator room despite no Batmobile
13 Stagg’s Airships (Knight) - sterile environment & spacious predator rooms despite no Batmobile
14 Penitentiary (Asylum) - haunted atmosphere with environmental storytelling, combat arena, but no predator room nor boss fight
15 Wonder Tower (City) - amazing spectacle, tight predator room, but minimal environmental storytelling
16 Sionis’ Steel Mill (Origins) - tight predator room, Copperhead boss fight, but minimal environmental storytelling
17 Pioneer Bridge (Origins) - tight predator rooms, Firefly boss fight, but uninspiring environment
Tier 4
18 ACE Chemicals (Knight) - Batmobile-centric dungeon with minimal environmental storytelling
19 Old Sewers (Asylum) - Killer Croc mission, but minimal environmental storytelling
20 Arkham Knight HQ (Knight) - Batmobile-centric dungeon with minimal environmental storytelling & uninspiring Arkham Knight boss fights
Is it just me, or were the dungeons in Arkham Knight significantly less memorable than those in Asylum, City & even Origins?
Asylum had Intensive Treatment, Medical Facility & Arkham Mansion, all of which were creepy dungeons filled with environmental storytelling & scarecrow encounters; City had Joker’s Steel Mill, Penguin’s Museum & Wonder City - the steel mill & museum were rich in the villain’s personality (Joker’s carnival decor, Penguin‘s museum collections), while wonder city showcased Ra’s failed utopia buried under Old Gotham; Origins had Penguin‘s Final Offer, GCPD & Royal Hotel. These dungeons were also filled with a good mix of Batman combat, gadget puzzles & tight predator rooms (eg Steel Mill smelting chamber, Museum armoury, Royal Hotel lobby).
Conversely, Arkham Knight had ACE Chemicals, Stagg’s Airships, Panessa Studios & Arkham Knight HQ. Two of them (ACE Chemicals & Arkham Knight HQ) had puzzles revolving around getting the Batmobile inside and then using its cannon or power winch to advance. While Batman combat, gadget puzzles & stealth were still present, because these two dungeons had to accommodate the Batmobile, they had to be designed way more spaciously, significantly diminishing the feeling of being trapped.
Stagg’s Airships & Panessa Studios were better in the sense that they did not have to accommodate the Batmobile, so they had tighter corridors & rooms. The issue with them is that they weren’t as rich in personality as Joker’s Steel Mill & Penguin’s Museum. The environments were rather sterile, which fit the militia aesthetic, but the comic-book gothic vibe found in previous games was largely lost (this also applies to ACE Chemicals & Arkham Knight HQ).
The core gameplay mechanics (combat, stealth, traversal) were indeed at its peak in this game, yet the militia narrative forced the dungeons to look next-gen but sterile, while the Batmobile forced certain dungeons to be designed way more spaciously. Not to mention many predator encounters in the main story were on generic rooftops rather than in designated predator rooms.
TL;DR: Arkham Knight’s dungeons felt less memorable because Batmobile integration forced larger, less oppressive spaces, while the military theme replaced the personality-rich gothic environments of earlier games.