Which of the Batman Arkham series you'd recommend?

Sorry for the poll mess. Ignore the first option.

*how do u edit the original post?

City is the best, but you should also play Asylum. Haven't played Origins, but from what I've heard, it's by far the weakest in the series.

Is there a reason you can only get one? The Arkham series is easily one of the best of last gen; you shouldn't pass up on them.

All of them, honestly.

But if you can only play one, Arkham City.

City is great, Asylum is really good, and Origins is garbage.

Asylum is more focused so id go with that

Unfortunately, the way this new poll system is set up with the site relaunch, there seems to be no way to edit the poll. In fact because topic posts and poll posts are separated as two categories, a poll can't be added to a regular topic after the fact. Oh the humanity.

Anyway, on to this topic, I would say Arkham City is the best of the series. At least until Arkham Knight comes out and we can gauge that more accurately. AC provides a wide freedom of gameplay and where Asylum presented the vast array of Batman's rogues gallery in the form of background reference (mostly in the Riddler's puzzles and challenges), City has so many of them featured in interactive appearances that you'll actually encounter them. And let me tell you the number is astonishing.

But truth be told, you're just doing yourself a disservice not to play them all. So start with Arkham Asylum and progress from there to experience the saga the way it was meant to be in it's glorious entirety :) :)

Start with the first game work your way up, you can weigh in on that Arkham City vs Asylum debate, which is pretty much dominated by City proponents but I'm a Asylum defender. City ads some cool things but overall Asylum is a much more balanced package in my view, better story and pacing and villains get more focus instead of a gloss-over just to say they were in there (like City does). Both are great nonetheless. Then move onto Origins, which I have on my backlog so I can't vouch for it but generally the rule stands, play the first games first and move on so you get a sense of how the series progressed, not just in terms of story, but also in evolution of gameplay and design. Maybe you can get that done before Arkham Knight is released. It's always better to experience things chronologically. Going backwards is, well, regressive.

I enjoyed Asylum the most myself. It was a focused, Metroidvania experience and had the best story of any of them by far. City is great and if you prefer open world games, I'd go with it first. Origins is pretty much the exact same as City, but prettier and with a more focused story.

Play Asylum first, then go to City.

City is the best.

I would say start with Asylum, assuming that you will someday play the other entries. Arkham City improved pretty much everything from Asylum. And personally I find the story in Origins to be my favorite. It was cool seeing how Batman encountered the Joker for the first time in the Arkham universe.

Thank you all for the recommendation and I really enjoyed reading your brief impressions of each one.

It seems the majority is voting for Arkham City.

I actually have all three (two of them GOTY editions) on steam, due to the various sales over the years, but never had the time to try any of them.

Arkham Knight looked so good on E3 demo that made me feel missing out big time on this series. So I thought maybe I could manage to play one of them before Arkham Knight comes out.

City is the best. Asylum is still pretty damn good though and the first of the franchise.

Origins isn't made by Rocksteady, not nearly as good, and has the cringe-worthiest twist ever.

At least read the story of the first one if you don't have time to play it.

Both Asylum and City are worth playing.

One is more Metroidish in structure the other is more what a modern open world game is like. City has the superior mechanics, but Asylum has the tighter pacing, better focus, better atmosphere, and more consistent levels. Just way shittier boss fights. Although Arkham City's fights are mostly mediocre sans Mr Freeze, who I found to be a pretty cool (get it? you get it?) fight.

If you have to play one? City just has more as a game, and that's kind of awesome. But I don't think Asylum should be skipped. It was quite good. Origins is totally passable as a game. It is the Arkham games code, but with none of the nuance and attention to detail that helps those games make the most of their mechanics. Origins by comparison is a lesser game.

asylum

Arkham City without a doubt. But Arkham Origins IS good IF you think about it like an expansion pack or one big DLC to Arkham City. As a sequel or prequel it disappoints because there is nothing new there. I'd get both, but go in with the right expectations about Arkham Origins.

Asylum because City was extremely boring. asylum was decent game atleast

They all Can be Played and fuller experienced seperately, however there is one detail in Arkham City, that serves as the basis for The Joker's entire narrative thats based on the events that took place on Arkham Asylum.

Also many will tell you Arkham Origins is inferior.... It isn't, its just a more of the same. But ultimately its your money so the choice is up to you.

What type of games are you really into and why ? I can a better reccomendation If I know your style.

Play Arkham Aslyum then Arkham City.

Play Asylum then City, and don't even think about getting Origins, save yourself some money.

Dammit you must make the time!!

*hammers fist on table*

Asylum is my favorite

haha.. will hopefuly do :)

To be honest, I like Metroidvania style, which is also what others are saying that Arkham Asylum gameplay somewhat resembles that. However, I'm not seeing how Arkham Asylum resembles such gameplay. I guess I'm gonna play a little from each to see which one grabs my attention the most.

The style of games I like is similar to most people here I guess. Lots of narrative and responsive controls (e.g. Mass Effect, Gears, Splinter Cell, Mirror's Edge, etc..).

I liked Asylum more but AC is also incredible, in any case you can't go wrong with either one (except origins which is mediocre but not terrible) You should play Asylum first and then City for continuity.

City is probably the overall best one. But since the first and second one both are awesome, I'd recommend playing them both. Ignore Origins and wait for Arkham Knight instead.

Play Asylum, the City. Forget about Origins. It's a more tedious, boring City.

Arkham City is far and away the best. It improved the mechanics a ton, it's much more open and an all around more complete package. I don't care what anyone says, it is OBJECTIVELY the better game.

I would agree with this.

City is better, but Asylum is too good to skip. Play Asylum. If you don't like Asylum, you wouldn't have liked City, either.

if u had to play just 1 game then just play city but asylum is great game and i highly recommend u play that first then play city

I can't vote. I own all three, but I have yet to play Origin, which I just got a few days ago. Out of the first two, City is the better game.

exactly this same goes with me

@Mystery_Writer

Well The Arkham's are seemingly Metroid inspired but sadly its not really the same... However they are pretty damn good. The upgrades are mechanical not statistical so you get progression whilst maintining balance.

As of Right now now Arkham Origins is the Larger game and has the most content, its also a Prequel so you won't miss anything playing it.... If you can only pick one, then I reccomend that one..... FYI, don't use the shock gloves, their too powerfull. ;)

Considering it's impossible to go back to Asylum after playing City, I'd say Arkham City by a country mile. It's one of the most improved sequels I've ever played. The riddler collectibles are 10 times more well thought out, the puzzles are much stronger, the overworld is much more interesting to explore, the combat mechanics are far superior, the Stealth is more in depth, there is far more content, much better boss fights and a better plot to go with it all.

I would recomend Arkham City, it's just awesome

I still like Arkham Asylum the best... but City is also awesome. Didn't really like Origins.

The first two are both fantastic, so you really can't go wrong with Asylum or City. I think Asylum being a more focused title might help as an introduction to the series.

I could play through origins just fine but I've never actually finished City. How weird is that.

Asylum is best. The story is so much better than the other two games.

City's story is good, but there is way too much filler crap in the open world. I've still never finished all of the tasks, because I grew bored with them.

Origins is actually a pretty good game. I actually find the open world filler stuff to be more enjoyable than what was in City, City had the better story, but when you were just wondering around the side tasks were more enjoyable in Origins.

Just get all three, you can find all 3 for like $40, and they are some of the best 7th gen games out there.

Buy both of them - Asylum and City. Both are rather cheap regardless of platform, besides they're frequently featured in sales.

As for the games themselves - City was IMO superior in almost every way, but it's not like it means Asylum is unplayable.

However, City featured a lot more gadgetry and thus made you think like a real Batman, plus you could grapple just about everywhere and traverse in the air instead of slow and dumb walking.

Besides, in Asylum RC batarang was completely useless and optional whereas in City this gadget was very meaningful and creative.

City made this Metroidvania structure more compelling.

Boss fights were a lot more varied and featured checkpoints throughout so they weren't frustrating.

In Asylum most of them had simply one pattern, throw a batarang, watch enemy hit the wall, then either hit or mount him. But the surrounding grunts at times made it impossible.

In addition, you couldn't always use counter-attack mid-animation in Asylum whereas in City it was rarely the case when you couldn't counter attacks when you mounted someone on the ground.

batman ac by far for me

IMO Batman AA is the best out of all 3, though I still need to play AO.

Arkham City is by far the best. Hell you can even see that in pricing on Steam. Asylum is 20, Origins is 20, and City is 21!!! lol

I would argue that Asylum has a darker, more detailed and gritty overworld. Yes, Arkham City has more but the city itself is actually quite bland and has a lot of repeated assets, you only see detail within the buildings, and even then you won't get the same amount of personality that went in to Arkham Asylum.

While they are both dark, I think Asylum lives up to it's name, a lot of what you see there is down right insane and really dark, where as City has less of that.

You should start with Arkham Asylum and then play every one. They are awesome games. Even Arkham Orgins was great despite all the game breaking bugs.

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