Batman: Arkham Origins - The Bat's Button-Mashing Days are Over

Arkham Origins wants you to become a free-flow combat black belt.

During a recent Batman: Arkham Origins demo in New York City, I often felt as though I was receiving a pre-fight pep talk rather than a gameplay preview. “It’s not enough to just mash the buttons and counter once in a while…we want you to be doing quick-fire gadgets, dodges, grapples, slams, the works; we want you to be getting 50-60 hit combos.” began Ben Mattes, senior producer of the franchise’s forthcoming prequel chapter.

While the enthusiastic developer made me feel like a pressured prizefighter before a big bout, he was really just trying to prepare me for the title’s fresh take on the series’ satisfying free-flow combat system. As in Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, the brawling mechanics will still yield the same rewarding rhythm fans felt when clearing rooms of foes by carefully balancing attacks, counters, dodges, and cape-stuns. Rocksteady Studios’ dynamic duo pulled off what no previous Bat-games had—they actually made players feel as badass as Batman—and WB Games Montreal isn’t about to mess with that successful formula.
That said, the new studio wishes to evolve the tried-and-true mechanics while also putting its own mark on the series. Mattes and gameplay director Michael McIntyre believe this means not just training players to be good at combat, but making them black belts. “We’ve created specific, memorable challenges that force them to be good at things in order to progress. They really focus on challenging core skills, slowly inching players toward becoming much better at the game.” explained McIntyre.
These so-called challenges conveniently tie into Origins’ prequel tale. As Mattes described, Batman is at his best when the game begins. “It’s year two. He knows how to fight, he’s got the suit, he’s donned the cowl, he goes out at night and he beats up bad guys. But generally speaking, it’s organized crime—pimps, drug dealers, gang members. No one has thrown anything more challenging at him than a shotgun. That’s all going to change the night that our game takes place.”

The impetus of the change Mattes refers to is a 50 million dollar bounty put on the Bat by main antagonist Black Mask. Not only does this hefty reward for the hero’s head attract eight of the DC Universe’s top assassins—including Bane, Firefly, Copperhead, and Deathstroke—it also provides the developers with the narrative opening that allows Origins to, as Mattes put it, ”Train players to be good at being Batman.”
As with previous Arkham entries, Origins will pit Bat fans against tough odds, playing fast and loose with the free-flow combat system until large groups of foes are whittled down to one whimpering bad guy. This time around, however, these multi-thug showdowns will serves as mere warm-ups to mano-a-mano boss battles with assassins that are as well-trained as Batman. Sure, the series has seen its share of epic encounters with the biggest bads from DC’s rogues’ gallery, but previous melees with madmen like Mr. Freeze and the Joker have been more story-pushing, cinematic set pieces than thumb-blistering battles.
Boss fights are common to the franchise, but, as Mattes explained, encounters against single enemies who are as hyper-focused on free-flow combat as Batman are new . Each of these dedicated showdowns will focus on a specific aspect of free-flow fisticuffs, forcing players to master it if they wish to progress.
I got a taste of this tough-love approach during one of the game’s early assassin battles against Deathstroke. With a PS3 controller clutched in my mitts, Mattes peered over my shoulder and returns to rally mode to remind me the one-eyed merc isn’t another “guy with a gun” and that glorified button-mashing won’t cut it. “Deathstroke is an augmented, incredibly capable hand-to-hand melee fighter with access to great weaponry and technology. He’s incredibly vicious, willing to kill, and has all the capabilities of Batman but none of the inhibitions.”
Using a metal staff, smoke bombs, and a grapple gun that occasionally snatches an exploding barrel to collide with Batman’s chest, Deathstroke easily lived up to the reputation Mattes painted for him. It was also clear I was on the receiving end of an ass-whuppin’ designed to teach me how to counter at just the right moment. In fact, countering too often—or too early—actually saw Deathstroke stealing the sort of in-the-zone momentum I’ve grown accustomed to enjoying from behind Batman’s fists.

After two attempts—both of which saw me barely bring Deathsroke’s health bar to the halfway point—Mattes pointed out that I shouldn’t  spam the counter button, nor should I try stunning him with my cape. Unlike the dumb bunnies polluting Gotham’s streets, Deathstroke’s apparently immune to such parlor tricks. With feedback doled out, Mattes took the controller and showed me how it’s done. In defense of my failed attempts to make Deathstroke cry uncle, however, it took Mattes several minutes—including a few close calls—to bring the gun-for-hire down. When he finally did, though, his persistence and skills were rewarded with Deathstroke’s grapple gadget, now rechristened as the Remote Batclaw.
On top of incentivizing these focused fights with cool loot, Origins introduces a new WayneTech upgrade system that provides plenty of tools—like detailed tutorial videos—for those who consistently find themselves slumped on the floor shortly after meeting assassins. While the developers really want players to be judicious in their use of attacking versus countering versus gadget use, they’re not just throwing them into the deep end without a utility belt. On top of WayneTech’s teaching tools, the game’s story-driven pacing promises to progress players in a way that trains them to be a badass without obvious hand-holding or frustrating trial-and-error. It’s a tough balance, but one the developers are confident they’ve nailed.

My biggest takeaway was that these dedicated, combat-focused encounters felt like nothing I’d experienced in previous Arkham games, but more like the sort of multi-tiered boss battles I’d faced in the Metal Gear Solid series. More specifically, I hadn’t felt that focused or committed to a one-on-one battle since taking on Metal Gear Rising’s more punishing creeps.
I walked away from Origins after being defeated by Deathstroke only twice; whether or not I will ultimately experience the same controller-chucking frustration that followed Raiden’s more soul-crushing defeats remains to be seen. My rematch can’t come soon enough.