To this day I think it is fair to say that there has never been a better superhero game than Batman: Arkham Asylum. Rocksteady Studios nailed the brief when creating this superhero action game classic, not only making you feel like The Dark Knight but treating the surrounding Batman world with genuine love and respect. There was so much attention and detail poured into its depiction of Gotham's famous prison and nefarious denizens, that it was a joy to infiltrate and fight in.
View Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition on GoG
And boy is fighting as Batman fun in Arkham Asylum. Thanks to Batman's arsenal of gadgets, mastery of martial arts, and one of the most satisfying countering systems in all of gaming, the Caped Crusader can not only take on hordes of goons at any one time, but prey upon them from the shadows like the superhuman hunter you are supposed to be. Throw in some very memorable boss encounters with supervillains like Scarecrow, Killer Croc and the Joker, and you've got the definitive Batman gaming experience.
This is why when I saw that Batman: Arkham Asylum was going for just a few bucks/pounds in a Halloween sale, I wanted to bring it to wider attention, as I feel it is buckets of gaming fun for very little spend. The full details are below.
When appraising Batman: Arkham Asylum, it's not just my opinion that counts here, but that of over 47,000 other gamers on Steam, who after playing Batman: Arkham Asylum have rated the game as 'Overwhelmingly Positive'. While over on review aggregator site Metacritic, Arkham Asylum has a 'Must Play' accolade, thanks to its score of 92 out of 100 and 'Universal Acclaim' from its reviewers. This is a game that has really hit hard for many in the gaming community, regardless of if they were a huge superhero fan to begin with.
From my point of view, what I liked most about Arkham Asylum is that it is genuinely spooky. The famous madhouse, overrun by all sorts of nasties, is formidable and has an oppressive character, which slowly increases the pressure and tension the further you venture into it. It's a classic pressure cooker structure, but one where you never feel overwhelmed as of all the fearsome entities in it, as Batman you're the most lethal. That said, the bit with Killer Croc scared the pants off me when I first played the game!
As Batman: Arkham Asylum was released all the way back in 2009, the PC specifications for it today are super, duper approachable. With a minimum GPU requirement of an Nvidia 6600, along with 2GB of RAM and dual-core CPU, every PC gamer today is going to be able to run this cracking superhero adventure. The only annoying thing is that Arkham Asylum is not officially Steam Deck compatible.
Other than that, though, this appears to be a great Halloween gaming treat for anyone looking for some quality superhero action, and one that despite me previously playing this game to completion in the past, I am going to grab as the GoG package delivers an offline installer that can't be taken away from me like a license to play the game.
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