All screens captured by the authorThe more I play of Batman: Arkham Knight, the more I like it. After completing the game's main storyline, I'm now swooping over the moonlit streets of Gotham City, solving the hundreds of riddles and puzzles left everywhere by a very OCD Riddler. I find myself admiring the exquisite care taken in the construction of this city. As developer Rocksteady's Arkham series universe started in media res, with Bruce Wayne already Batman, the city's details are often world-building in nature: supplying backstory and broadening the Arkham universe by commandeering elements from other depictions of Batman. It makes sense because, after all, by the time we reach Arkham Knight, the purportedly final game in Rocksteady's trilogy (as it stands, at least), Batman is supposed to have been assaulting mentally ill people in Gotham for over a decade. (I actually overheard this factoid while listening in on a conversation between two street thugs, before I landed on one and broke both arms of the other.)
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My appreciation for the minutia painstakingly crafted into Arkham Knight has only grown after a Photo Mode was added to the PS4 version through a recent update. I find myself walking around the city, as the Dark Knight and taking pretty photos, including carefully orchestrated selfies, while ignoring the looters trying to break into, say, a pawnshop. Photo Mode allows you to pause the game and move the camera around the frozen figures in the frame, in an effect not unlike those notable sequences in The Matrix. You can also adjust the depth of field and exposure and apply filters a la Instagram—although here the filters bear names such as "Robin," "The Killing Joke," and "Crusader."There are worlds within worlds to discover in the three islands that make up Gotham City. Here is some of what I found.
The Wayne Enterprises Buildings Reveal the Truth
Even more tellingly, at the other big Wayne Enterprises building, Wayne Tower over on Miagani Island, the Wayne Enterprises logo glowing against the sides of the adjacent balconies, actually forms a bat symbol.
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The American Indian Heritage of Miagani Island
The Miagani mythology includes a devil bat called Barbatos, who has evidently been incorporated into Gotham architecture as a gargoyle.
In perhaps a bit of commentary on the part of the game's creators, Bruce Wayne's office, standing dominant over Miagani Island which, again, is named after the fictional native tribe that use to live there, features a prominent painting of what appears to be Columbus landing in the New World. Here Batman wears the "New 52" suit, which up until very recently was the contemporary suit depicted in the comics.
Chinatown and Japanese Batmen
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While we're on Japan, it's worth mentioning that Arkham Knight also includes access to the free "Anime Batman" costume, which is based on one segment of the compilation film Gotham Knight. The film is made up of visuals by a variety of Japanese animators who each put their own spin on the batsuit. The Anime Batman costume includes a neck shield and a slightly different arrangement of the bat ears.
The Anime Batman's cape has a different cut, which can be seen while gliding.
Foreshadow Diner
If you listen in to the conversation held at one of the tables, you'll hear the backstory of Christina Bell, who went insane after a miscarriage and a blood transfusion, and killed a bunch of men in a boardroom with a knife: "The best part of breaking the glass ceiling," Christina Bell is quoted as saying by the woman sitting at the table, "is playing with the shards."The detailing goes down even to the text in the menus, which feature full descriptions of the food on offer.
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Batman's Gotham Bases
Oracle was Batgirl before being paralyzed by the Joker. In Oracle's clock tower HQ, there is a bookcase with a miniature version of the nude batwinged girl from the front of Wayne International Plaza standing on it. If Batman uses the Remote Hacking Device, the bookcase opens up to reveal a secret closet with Batgirl's costume.
Batman also has a base at the abandoned Panessa Studios with a variety of film sets. It looks like the director died making the western because there is a skeleton in the director's chair on top of the fake jail.
Pretty Dolls Parlor
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Flashpoint Batman
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