Batman: Arkham Knight, the final game in Rocksteady's Batman game trilogy, has been a long time coming. After multiple delays while the developers fleshed out their unique version of Gotham City, players are eager to dive into Rocksteady's unique Batman universe one last time.
We already know about the game's numerous pre-order bonuses, the game's story and what iconic DC comic characters will be making appearances. But exactly how big is Batman: Arkham Knight, compared to other open world games and the Arkham games that came before? From the game's massive install size to the number of Riddler trophies, we've taken a look at all the ways Batman: Arkham Knight is going to be the biggest Batman game yet.
Map Size
In Batman: Arkham Asylum, players explored Arkham Island in a deadly game of cat and mouse with the Joker. In Batman: Arkham City, the series grew even larger, allowing players to free roam a cut-off portion of Gotham City designed to house its various criminals. Batman: Arkham Knight ups the scale once again, by letting players explore even more of Gotham City, which will be divided into three unique districts.
So precisely how large is this version of Gotham? According to Rocksteady marketing manager Guy Perkins, Arkham Knight's Gotham is roughly 5 times the size of the game world in Arkham City. A large game world with nothing to do, however, wouldn't be much to celebrate — which is why Rocksteady is emphasizing that it's all about bringing detail to the world.
"As we've said before with Arkham City, it's not about the scale as much as the detail," game director Sefton Hill told Game Informer. "We want to make sure the world is rich and full of interesting things to do. We're not trying to create the biggest open-world game ever. We are trying to create a really rich, vibrant, dense open world."
All of that, and with no loading screens.
Riddler Trophies
Those who have played Arkham City will remember the ridiculous number of green Riddler trophy challenges that seemed to completely litter the landscape. Each of these mini-puzzles required players to use Batman's various gadgets in challenging and often surprising ways. Completing all of them was no small feat — in part, because there were 440 of them.
It was a little exhausting, truth be told. Thankfully, Arkham Knight looks to be adopting the "quality over quantity" approach to Riddler's new challenges, some of which will involve the Batmobile. Arkham Knight will include 243 Riddler challenges for players to puzzle over. That's considerably lower than the number of challenges in Arkham City, but game director Sefton Hill said they are Riddler's "most devious and cunning brain teasers yet."
Game Length
We aren't sure how long Arkham Knight may take to complete, and Rocksteady has so far been mum on the length of the average playthrough. We know Arkham Knight will feature various side missions like those seen in Arkham City, as well as the Riddler trophies and the game's more linear story. Judging from previous games in the series, the story could take anywhere from 15 to 25 hours — and completionists who want to get through all of the game's various side challenges will be at it for considerably longer.
After finishing the game, players can then start New Game Plus mode. All of Batman's gadgets, XP and progress on Riddler trophies will carry over from the completed playthrough, allowing players to complete Riddler challenges that may have been too difficult the first time around without the various upgrades.
Install Size
A game as graphically detailed as Batman: Arkham Knight doesn't come without some cost. In this case, that cost is a nearly 50GB install size, or 48.7GB to be exact, on PlayStation 4, with the Xbox One version expected to be comparable. If math isn't your strong suit, that's roughly a tenth of the PS4 and Xbox One's 500GB hard drive. For PC gamers playing on recommended or ultra settings, that install size will be 55GB. Better clear some space.
Batman: Arkham Knight glides onto PS4, Xbox One and PC on June 23.
Related: Batman: Arkham Knight Easter Eggs
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