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Details Emerge on 'Batman: Arkham Origins'

With Rocksteady Studios not involved, what will it mean for the franchise?

Last July there was talk of another installment in the Batman: Arkham Asylum franchise. What was odd about this is it was said to possibly be a prequel, set in the Silver Age and guest starring the Justice League. It all sounded strange but had hints of being pretty cool at the same time.

Today an update has surfaced and it sounds like things have drastically changed.

Game Informer has the first look on the cover of their latest issue.

No Caption Provided

With 'Origins' in the title, it does still appear it will be a prequel. The biggest change is Rocksteady Studios will not be involved. The game will now be developed by Warner Bros. Games Montreal. The game will feature a younger Batman meeting different supervillains, such as Deathstroke, for the first time. The game is set for release on October 25, 2013 on Wii U, Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and PC.

It's easy to have an immediate reaction of fear with Rocksteady not being involved. Game Informer also featured a video with the game developers and we can hear what they have to say about the franchise.

There's also mention of a handheld game, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate for the 3DS and Playstation Vita arriving the same day as the console version.

Basically it's too early to make a firm judgement. We'll all be watching very carefully as any further developments are released. There is a lot riding on this and it sounds as if they are aware of this. Let's try to keep our fingers crossed until we find out more.

143 Comments

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Ellie_Knightfall

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Deathstroke looks BADASS

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z3ro180

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Loved arkham city would loved a superman game instead but a prequel game with batman is just as awesome

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Zeeguy91

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Edited By Zeeguy91

Deathstroke looks BADASS

I miss his old costume. New one's not too bad, though. I mostly just miss the mask and the fold-over boots.

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ULTRAstarkiller

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Deathstroke's in this game Batmans gonna die.

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Ellie_Knightfall

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@zeeguy91 said:

@ellie_knightfall said:

Deathstroke looks BADASS

I miss his old costume. New one's not too bad, though. I mostly just miss the mask and the fold-over boots.

I f'n hated those lol. Badass tactical juggernaut who consistently takes on an entire team and he looked like a damn pirate, and not one of the sexy ones. One of my biggest costume pet peeves ever.

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jaybefre

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Edited By jaybefre

If they nail it, this could be an absolutely incredible game. Possibly better than the previous Arkham games. Throwing Deathstroke in there too! Please make him playable for a few missions or give him his own challenge maps like with Nightwing this past Arkham game.

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dondave

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Edited By dondave

Having Deathstroke means I'm definitely getting this

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Scarlet_Spider_Forever

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If Rocksteady isnt involved it probably wont be as good. Really hoping for more nightwing this time!

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G_Money_Christmas

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I'm skeptical. If they don't have Rocksteady they should at least try for Bebop. Hopefully they can keep it good, I will be disappointed if it doesn't hold up to the awesomeness of the others

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RedQueen

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Edited By RedQueen

Have to admit I don't like the news that Rocksteady aren't involved. Gah, I hope this game is good. I hope this game is good....

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iaconpoint

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Even without Rocksteady there is still plenty for the new company to build on so it should still be a good game. My concern is how much longer until the "Arkham" story is played out? When will we get a full, open Gotham City? I'm guessing PS4?

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theTimeStreamer

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how about a game about somebody ELSE?!!?!?! too much batman on all fronts. i have forgotten everything about the second lego batman game except how cool it was to play as flash. that was AWESOME!!!

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Grey56

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I'm skeptical. If they don't have Rocksteady they should at least try for Bebop. Hopefully they can keep it good, I will be disappointed if it doesn't hold up to the awesomeness of the others

@redqueen said:

Have to admit I don't like the news that Rocksteady aren't involved. Gah, I hope this game is good. I hope this game is good....

What these fine folks said. This is a wonderful property - I can't imagine WB not knowing what is riding on such an investment. If the new company succeeds - it could lead to subsequent sequels. Should it bomb critically - it would isolate the fan base and translate to lost dollars in the future.

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SandMan_

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Eh....give me a Superman game already....or a Flash game.

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JamDamage

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Edited By JamDamage

looks and sounds promising. Sure Rocksteady did a fantastic job, and only time will tell they really decide to do with the game. I'm happy it's getting made. Do they have a release date on the year at least???? What assasins do we think they are going to use besides Deathstroke. My money is Shiva is one. Could they throw in a Talon???

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leokearon

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8 assassins, Slade is one, I wonder who the other 7 are (i'm betting 1 will be Talia or someone to do with the League of Assasins)

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haydenclaireheroes

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I am getting this!

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BR_Havoc

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What is with DC and forcing Batman and origins done peoples throat? I mean Azrael set the wheels in motion with what he said at the end of the side mission for an epic sequel to Arkham City. I was excited to play that game but to now to have it announced no its an origin with a new team, most of my excitement fades away.

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saoakden

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Looking forward to see what they do with this game. Should be cool.

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kennybaese

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Edited By kennybaese

On the development side, I'm bummed but hopeful. Rocksteady isn't involved, but the project lead is Eric Holmes, a former employee of Epic Games. Plus, they'll have full access to the modified version of Unreal Engine that Asylum and City were built on. Given that Holmes would have gotten some experience with the engine at the company that built it in the first place (Epic), and that it's being built on what came before (which was so so good) I'm confident that this will probably be a well made game.

But, Paul Dini isn't writing it and we haven't heard anything about whether any of the previous voice actors will be back either. The costume also seems to have gotten a bit of a redesign to bring it more in line with The Dark Knight's very functional design. I thought that the previous two games, did a really good job of splitting the difference between the comics, animated series, and both Nolan and Burton design aesthetics. Hopefully they don't lose that.

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Migz13

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No Rocksteady?? Oh crap.. I hope the gameplay and the story is still just as good. I don't want this game to just be a cheap cash grab and fail in comparison to the first two games. I wanna be excited for this game because it's good:)

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OldManDuncan

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I'll give it a shot

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ThreadPool

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Seems promising. WB Montreal handled the WiiU conversion so I'm optimistic.

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shadowknight508

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Edited By shadowknight508

Awesome. Just a little bit worried that without Rocksteady behind the helm, it might not turn out to be the Batman game that we are all expecting after the smashing success of the first two Batman: Arkham games. Fingers crossed that WB Montreal can take a page from Rocksteady's playbook and deliver a truly amazing game.

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jwalser3

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Edited By jwalser3

Deathstroke looks BADASS

Ugh, I hope there is a DLC were you can play as him, like when you could play as the Joker on Ps3.

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JamDamage

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this game is coming out in October!?!?!?!?! Wow that seems fast.

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johnkmccubbin91

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So looking forward to this, although I don't expect it to be better than City, I though City wouldn't be better than Asylum, so I may be once again surprised. I do however hope that the Justice League will be in it as that'd be cool.

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StMichalofWilson

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Batman vs. Deathstroke in an actual video game...once I play this game, I can die a happy man.

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mightypug78

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Edited By mightypug78

ill buy it as long as deathstroke beats batman silly in their first encounter since this is supposedly batman when he is just starting out.

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Pokeysteve

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Edited By Pokeysteve

We've seen how WB handles their own characters. It's extremely possible this will be the worst game in the series =/

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TheCheeseStabber

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Seems a bit rushed and lack of Script writer from Before and Lack of Rocksteady makes me a bit worried

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Lvenger

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Edited By Lvenger

With Rocksteady not involved and an earlier release date than I was expecting, I'm a tad nervous about the quality of this game. Nonetheless, a younger Batman, a Gotham on Christmas Eve and a bunch of assassins trying to kill him does sound interesting. It's too soon to call it with a lack of information about the game.

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kennybaese

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@iaconpoint: I wouldn't be surprised if this game takes some of the open world ideas from Arkham City and expands on them a bit. The lead designer worked on Prototype and Hulk: Ultimate Destruction which were both solid open world action games.

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nickxh

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Edited By nickxh

As Rocksteady is not involved in this game. I'm going to set my exceptions extremely low, even though I am very excited lol.

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LordRequiem

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The second game very very good and an improvement on the first, but at the same time, far too similar with it's level of gadgets and gameplay. Plus, Deathstroke is boring as anything.

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RoTheKid

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Oh man. I have mixed feelings about this! But I will be keeping an eye out!

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Omega-Man

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I have a fear that Arkham Origins won't be as good as the first two Arkham city and Arkham Asylum. Plus I don't understand why Deathstroke is going to be the main villain I mean, the guy isn't insane he doesn't belong in Arkham he's a merc who kills for money

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hazmat103

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excited but weary of the fact that Rocksteady isn't handling it. I'm on the proverbial fence for now.

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classified

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8 assassins... Lady Shiva? Cheshire? Maybe they'll use Deadshot again? Black Spider's a possibility.

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deactivated-5a4e0e8ea3dfb

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I don't mind that Rockstar isn't involved I just don't like prequels to great franchises simply to market the name. I never feel any sense of thrill or anticipation in a prequel because I already know the character is going to be fine........which is why I didn't enjoy Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey as much as I should have (given the great cast and visuals) because there was no doubt Bilbo was going to make it through.

Only time prequels should be made are when they have nothing to do with the characters that started the franchise, such as the great success the Star Wars franchise has had with Knights of the Old Republic and Old Republic because of the huge time gap between that period of history and the movies.

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Robrat93

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Edited By Robrat93

Excited, curious to see who the other assassins will be, definately Deadshot and Shiva.

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PunyParker

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Rocksteady isnt doing this?!.....wooooorieeeed......

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ATB877

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Edited By ATB877

@omega_man_ said:

I have a fear that Arkham Origins won't be as good as the first two Arkham city and Arkham Asylum. Plus I don't understand why Deathstroke is going to be the main villain I mean, the guy isn't insane he doesn't belong in Arkham he's a merc who kills for money

I don't think he is. He is probably the leader of the eight assassins they talked about and sent by some mastermind behind them with reasons unknown to Batman.

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TheMultiverse

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So Rocksteady wanted too much money so they got ousted on their own game?

I'm worried. Please be amazing, but i'm worried, because i'm a gamer that knows all about different studios taking over games, and not quite reaching the heights of the previous games.

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rolldestroyer

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i have very high expectations for this.

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cobra88king8

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So 8 of the deadliest assassin's in the DCU? We've got Lady Shiva, David Cain, Deathstroke, Deadshot, KGBeast, probably Rha's will be included in there somewhere, I can't think of any others. But if we do get Lady Shiva and David Cain . . . . . could we get Cassandra?

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Mezmero

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Suddenly I feel the urge to play No More Heroes. Give Batman a beam saber.

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flazam

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Mmmm could go either way

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Mediumflyer7

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Edited By Mediumflyer7

I don't know enough yet but it could potentially be quite good. Arkham City is my favorite game of all time so they have some big shoes to fill. From what I see, it looks good. The one thing I really want from this is for more interaction with the Bat Family!

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BlueLantern1995

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I don't know enough yet but it could potentially be quite good. Arkham City is my favorite game of all time so they have some big shoes to fill. From what I see, it looks good. The one thing I really want from this is for more interaction with the Bat Family!

This ruffly summarizes my opinion except Arkham City is one of my favorites not the favorite(its around #4 or #5). It looks like it could be better but I doubt it will all I will say is that I think it will be good.