Summary
Nintendo’sBatman: Arkham TrilogySwitch ports are out now and once more fans of the Arkhamverse are invited back to enjoy Rocksteady’s iconic Batman adventures. It’s unfortunate that WB Games Montreal’sOriginswas not included in thisBatman: Arkhamcollection, but it makes sense as a Rocksteady packaging nonetheless. This isn’t the first time that theArkhamgames have been brought to a modern platform thanks to theReturn to Arkhamremasters forAsylumandCity, but this time around it may be difficult to overlook the Switch’s limitations.
The obvious boon of havingArkhamgames on the Switch is its mobile, on-the-go nature, and getting to playAsylum,City, andKnightanywhere on the handheld has its advantages that way. However, the clearest reward for players who decide to purchase theBatman: Arkham Trilogyis its addition ofRobert Pattinson’sThe BatmanBatsuit as a skin inKnight. This suit is currently exclusive to the Switch port, and that’s a brilliant decision to make when there may be more downsides toKnighton Switch otherwise.
The Battinson Suit is Likely Batman: Arkham Trilogy’s Biggest Selling Point
Batman: Arkham Trilogy Performance Has Been a Disappointment
It’s arguable thatAsylumandCityrun fine on the Switch due to how much less graphically intensive they are.Cityis a fair bit bigger thanAsylumand has an open world, butKnightis far larger and is more technically impressive because it is a base-PS4 game.
Even that undersellsKnighta bit since it now looks like it could be a game that came out today, let alone back in 2015. As a result, it was already unlikely that it would look or perform as successfully onSwitch hardware.
The Switch certainly has beautiful exclusives and ports that perform astonishingly, but not many games that launched on another platform originally are expected to look or perform similarly once they have been ported to the Switch, especially if they are as graphically intensive asKnightis.
It’s terrific to haveKnighton the Switch because that widens the game’s audience nearly a decade later, and fans who have not yet had a chance to play it will get the most out of it now as a great franchise bridging point while awaitingKnight’s upcoming sequel,Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. That said, the Battinson skin may help mask the fact that it underperforms from a technical standpoint in the meantime.
Arkham Knight’s Battinson Suit May Be the Sole Reason Players Buy It Now
Knowing thatKnight’s Switch port has issues with textures, lighting, shadows, and other graphical nuances that other platforms can achieve—let alone racing the Batmobile around the city with a decent frame rate—the Battinson skin being a timed-exclusive was likely the best choice that could’ve been made. Rocksteady and Warner Bros. must’ve had their thumb on the pulse of theArkhamcommunity and known thatThe Batman’s unique suitwas one that players wanted to see inKnightmost.
Packaging it with the Switch port exclusively for now with no date revealed for when it may come to other platforms incentivizes fans to purchase the port despite these issues. If for no other reason, there may be many players excited to role-play as Robert Pattinson’s Batman after unofficial mods have already attempted to deliver that experience.
Having the suit leak early, whether that was intentional or not, was also advantageous because it amplified excitement about the suit’s potential before it was ever revealed as a timed-exclusive on Switch. Either way, with only a couple of months until the next chapter of the Arkhamverse arrives, the Battinson suit is fascinating to see inKnight.
Batman: Arkham Knight
WHERE TO PLAY
Batman™: Arkham Knight brings the award-winning Arkham trilogy from Rocksteady Studios to its epic conclusion. Developed exclusively for New-Gen platforms, Batman: Arkham Knight introduces Rocksteady’s uniquely designed version of the Batmobile. The highly anticipated addition of this legendary vehicle, combined with the acclaimed gameplay of the Arkham series, offers gamers the ultimate and complete Batman experience as they tear through the streets and soar across the skyline of the entirety of Gotham City. In this explosive finale, Batman faces the ultimate threat against the city that he is sworn to protect, as Scarecrow returns to unite the super criminals of Gotham and destroy the Batman forever.“Be The Batman” – Live the complete Batman experience as the Dark Knight enters the concluding chapter of Rocksteady’s Arkham trilogy. Players will become The World’s Greatest Detective like never before with the introduction of the Batmobile and enhancements to signature features such as FreeFlow Combat, stealth, forensics and navigation.
