Batman: Arkham's Character Designs Have Aged Poorly!

The Batman: Arkham games still hold up as some of the best action-adventure games out there, but unlike the gameplay, the character designs in Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City haven't aged well. Rocksteady's Arkham series revolutionized superhero games by pioneering the now widely imitated freeflow combat system, as well as having brilliant stories that boasted the iconic voice talent from Batman: The Animated Series. Each entry is timeless in its own way, but one aspect that doesn't hold up is the series' character designs.

Few franchises have as clear and consistent of an artistic identity as Batman. Gotham City, for example, is instantly recognizable due to its amalgamation of art deco and gothic architecture, with some incarnations like Batman Beyond even incorporating cyberpunk elements. This specific identity has been built up through decades of iteration, being defined most in Tim Burton's take on the caped crusader in Batman (1989) and by the minds behind Batman: The Animated Series. All of these elements are present in Rocksteady's take on Batman in the Arkham series, but when it comes to the characters themselves, things could be better.

Rocksteady nailed the iconic silhouettes of each character in the Batman: Arkham games, but they all bear the industry's hallmarks from the late 2000s. Batman's muscled appearance is reminiscent of the designs seen in the Gears of War series, and the character's bulkier, more armored look seems out of step with more recent designs which have opted to integrate more elements from the classic Batsuits. Women characters in Arkham Asylum and Arkham City feel particularly dated, with their designs being clearly influenced by the male gaze, although Rocksteady did improve in this area with Arkham Knight, and has continued to do so with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.

In each of the Batman: Arkham games the Dark Knight's silhouette is clear and unquestionably Batman, however, his proportions feel off. In both Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, Batman is both overly muscular and slim, which is only exaggerated by his suit which is closer to a second skin than a combat suit. While the thin suit and "underwear" are comic book classics, they feel out of place now as more superhero suits are being designed to look like someone could actually wear it.

The criminally underrated Batman: Arkham Origins fixes this issue and offers what is likely the most plausible suit of them all. The mix of padding, kevlar, and lightweight metal makes the suit feel more tangible, and replacing the underwear with something more akin to a jockstrap helps retain the comic book aesthetic. His proportions are still not quite right, however, but this time it's because the blocky way his muscles are designed makes him look smaller and more compact compared to his Arkham counterparts.

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