Batman: Arkham Knight trailer shows familiar faces

If you're thinking about going dark on Batman: Arkham Knight to avoid more character reveals, you might want to skip this particular trailer, which is full of exciting new things.

So, Nightwing, Robin and Catwoman are back, and indulging in a spot of co-operative bone-breaking with Batman. That's interesting because Rocksteady has previously denied that there would be co-op in Arkham Knight. The moves look as though they're integrated into the combat system. It's more likely you fight with AI-controlled allies in certain sections, and these are cool incidental co-op finishers.

Update: Rocksteady tells Eurogamer that the co-op takedowns are showing off a a new "dual play" mode that lets you switch between characters during combat. As this trailer seems to have slipped out ahead of schedule, we'll probably learn more later today when full details are released.

Also spotted: Azrael, lighting fires on rooftops—the vandal! What's his role in all of this? And what is Batman doing with that gun? And why does the Batwing fly down to briefly mate with the Batmobile before flying off again? Maybe it's a romantic subplot.

Of course all this is secondary to the return of Batman's greatest ally throughout the Arkham series: the humble gargoyle. The gargoyle must share the same fate as Bats, hanging around in dark corners, unappreciated and unloved, but playing a huge role in a world where goons never look up.

Arkham Knight looks like it'll be a shinier version of what's gone before, but I am so ready for that. It's out on June 23 and will require a relatively beefy machine to run.

Update 2: Rocksteady has officially set the trailer loose, along with a press release that includes a passage briefly detailing Dual Play:

"For the first time ever, watch Batman: Arkham Knight’s exciting new 'Dual Play' feature in action, which will allow players to seamlessly switch between The Dark Knight and his allies including Robin, Nightwing, and Catwoman in FreeFlow Combat."

Part of the UK team, Tom was with PC Gamer at the very beginning of the website's launch—first as a news writer, and then as online editor until his departure in 2020. His specialties are strategy games, action RPGs, hack ‘n slash games, digital card games… basically anything that he can fit on a hard drive. His final boss form is Deckard Cain.