A Brainwashed and Crazy Batman holding a gun. Scared yet?
You thought that after leaving the Arkham series behind and a prolonged absence, Rocksteady would've eased up when it comes to scares? As if!
Promotional Material
- In stark contrast to an otherwise goofy and fun trailer, Superman mercilessly disintegrating a pilot as he begs for his life. The sight of it is enough to intimidate the Suicide Squad... who then and there have realized that their target is the Man of Steel himself. Good luck, you four. You'll need it.
- Superman might be the least of their worries, as it seems that Metropolis and probably all of Earth is being invaded by Brainiac. If his skullship is already looking more nightmarish than in Injustice 2, imagine what Brainiac himself will look like!
- The Game Awards 2022 trailer reveals that Batman will be one of the antagonists of the game. Keep in mind that this is the Arkham Universe Batman, easily one of the most badass incarnations of the Dark Knight — and since he's under Brainiac's thrall, he's more than likely fighting to kill. It says something that Harley (the one arguably most familiar with Batman) loses her goofy demeanor the minute she sees that Batman is present only in body.
- From what we've seen in gameplay, unlike usually in other DC media, Brainiac doesn't shrink the town just yet... but all Metropolis civilians we've seen are apparently turned into stone. And you can easily destroy them, when roaming around the city...
Gameplay
- Evil Flash ends up killing Lex Luthor by ripping out his heart.
- After defeating Green Lantern King Shark manages to briefly take control of his power ring and destroys Brainiac's ship's shield by creating a huge shark construct, but then he loses control and the construct attacks the Squad leading to them nearly getting eaten before they manage to pry the ring loose at the last second to make the shark disappear. And after that Waller decides to just fire a nuke into the ship taking all of Metropolis with it, the only reason the team survives is because Superman stops the nuke.
- You have to deal with a Brainwashed and Crazy Batman with Guns, of course it is going to be scary.
- The encounter in the Batman/Arkham Asylum museum exhibit. First, he murders civilians hiding in the museum swooping down and doing something to a guy that involves squishy meat noises and him screaming before throwing him off a building and a woman getting a batarang to the neck, then he disables the squad's gadgets and picks them off one by one when they secure the location, saving Harley for last. He nearly shoots Harley in the head, but Flash stops him at the last moment, and even then he fumbles catching the bullet repeatedly as he's struggling with Batman, only managing to make it a non lethal but lethal looking headshot before Batman knocks him out and carries him away. We also get to see Batman's usual stealth takedown tactics from his victim's perspective and it is terrifying.
- While traveling through the game world you can hear Lois Lane interview a resistance leader remotely over the radio only for Batman to strangle the guy live on the air while Lois listens in horror.Batman: I'll see you soon Lois.
- Then comes the actual Boss Fight with the Bat. While the squad are listening to Batman's contingency plans for the league (and finding Robin's bloody mask in the process), Batman floods the batcave with Scarecrow's Fear Toxin. Harley figures out a plan and tells the rest of the team to crank up the fear gas dispensers to maximum, except as you play through Harley's segment, it turns out that Batman is using his voice changer to give the rest of the squad orders and takes out Harley... except not really, because Harley sabotaged the fear toxin tank since she's been fighting Batman long enough to see the trick in advance, forcing him out into the open. And in a Call-Back to the very first game the Squad fights a giant demonic batman with Eye Beams.
- A series of interview tapes explains
why there are two Deadshots in the Arkham series: The Deadshot of this game is the original Deadshot, who retired when his daughter was born. Some time afterward, the Deadshot from City and Origins went active. Wanting to protect his family from retribution, or so he believes, Floyd hunted down and killed the impostor after a tense gunfight and was arrested by Green Lantern. Floyd was sent to Arkham, and summarily disowned by his daughter for his crimes. There he languished, his life destroyed by a man who just appeared one day and, by all means, was his near exact double, an echo of the life he left behind. As if that idea wasn't bad enough, during the game Floyd realized the impostor was the Deadshot of another Earth who had somehow crossed dimensions, and asks Luthor-2 what happened to his world's Deadshot. While Luthor denies involvement, since the other Deadshot crossed dimensions years before Luthor discovered the tech himself, Floyd has his doubts. Even worse, Floyd suggests that there's someone else who could've opened the door... - When the Suicide Squad arrives in Metropolis, Waller tells them that 99% percent of Metropolis civilian population has been wiped out… keep in mind that Metropolis is said to have a population of 11 million and that Brainiac's invasion has only been ongoing for three weeks by the time the story picks up.
