Summary
Often forgotten among its Arkhamverse counterparts,Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgateis the one incontestable black sheep in a series of excellent gems.Batman: Arkham Origins—the main installment toBlackgate’s companion piece—hasn’t always been widely appreciated, either, but with age and retrospection it’s coming around as a hit from WB Games Montreal that firmly belongs in the Arkhamverse. Armature’sBlackgatehas never wielded that same praise and, while a modern remake could work wonders for it as a full-blown 2.5D Metroidvania, the Arkhamverse’s ship has already set sail in a new direction.
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate Has Its Metroidvania Heart in the Right Place
Even though it shares a genre withBatman: Arkham Asylumas a Metroidvania,Blackgatetakes that much farther in an explicit sense because it leans on all the classic gameplay tropes of a side-scroller. The mechanics from theArkhamgames were arguably adapted well toBlackgate’s 2.5D direction, allowing players to grapple, glide, and employ a wide suite of the Dark Knight’s gadgets.
Just likeAsylum,Blackgateoffers gadgets incrementally and players will see points of interaction they can’t access until a gadget is procured later on. However,Blackgateincludes case files and collectibles that are much more suitable for the 2.5D space, such as chests with alternate skins or character upgrades that are hidden and left to players to find in their exploration of the map.
Blackgate’s Story and Gameplay Could Benefit Greatly from a Remake
Then, from a narrative perspective,Blackgateis intriguing as it depicts thefirst time Batman and Catwoman meet in the Arkhamverse. Blackgate is officially overexploited in the Arkhamverse, however, withOriginshaving two Blackgate riots bookending a single game and the prison being overrun once again three months later in the titular companion game. This saliently explains why an insane asylum would’ve opened as an alternative, but repeat villains such as Penguin, Black Mask, and Joker feel appended out of obligation more than anything else inBlackgate.
The game struggles most with its controls and gameplay in general, though, with theArkhamgames’ Freeflow combatnot translating as fluidly or responsively. That’s why a remake ofBlackgatewould be phenomenal at this point; it could learn from the mistakes it made and iterate on all of the fantastic Metroidvanias that have launched since, such as the recentPrince of Persia: The Lost Crown.
The Arkhamverse Has Effectively Moved on from Batman
That said, it’s unlikely there will ever be a remake ofBlackgateor anyArkhamgame for that matter becauseSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguehas illustrated a new direction for the Arkhamverse, and looking back now would be redundant. Unless Warner Bros. was in the market of exploring prequel stories in the Arkhamverse with Batman at the helm again, it seems as if the canon will be trekking forward into its multiversal journey with Task Force X hunting each iteration of Brainiac across dimensions.
It’s impossible thata story as epic as the one inSuicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaguewould revert back to one as intimate as any of theArkhamgames, and the decision to kill Batman makes it fairly clear that there are plans in place to move out of his shadow.
Of course, Rocksteady’s never been able to shed its obligation to feature the Joker, and it’s always possible that Rocksteady might not be able to resist exhuming Batman in the future. As of right now, Batman might be shelved indefinitely in the Arkhamverse and a remake of anythingArkham-related is implausible, let alone a title as maligned and forgettable asBatman: Arkham Origins Blackgate.
