Batman: Arkham City sends players soaring into Arkham City – a heavily fortified sprawling district in the heart of Gotham City. Batman Arkham City introduces a brand-new story that draws together an all-star cast of classic characters and murderous villains from the Batman universe, as well as new and enhanced gameplay features.

Let’s take a look at the game and its history before the review

Batman: Return to Arkham City is part of the 2016 remaster compilation. You get this game with Batman: Arkham Asylum. It originally came out for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, but this review was made using my PlayStation 5. Batman: Return to Arkham City was developed by Rocksteady Studios and Virtuos Studios. If you’re looking for Batman: Arkham Origins, it’s not in this collection. The collection includes all of the downloadable content and was originally supposed to be released on July 26, 2016, but ended up being delayed and was released on October 18, 2016. 

This quote from the game’s wiki page tells us more information about what was changed and or improved on for both games. 

• The remasters replaces Unreal Engine 3 with Unreal Engine 4 and feature improved graphics, lighting effects, and more prominent shadows. Arkham City’s framerate is unlocked, allowing it to occasionally rise higher than the original.
• PS4 version no longer allows 2 different control schemes, with B being the default one, similar to Arkham Origins and Arkham Knight.
• The Joker‘s hair is slightly darker, likely to better match his appearance in Arkham Origins and Arkham Knight.
• Many character models (especially alternate skins) have much more detail in them.
• The fibers in Batman’s suit and Catwoman’s suit show more prominently and the clothes that the inmates wear show tears and blood splatters (Arkham Asylum with the Blackgate Prisoners and Arkham City with the Political Prisoners).
• The Bat symbol on the Batsuit shows more prominently and the damage looks realistic.

While this quote tells us what was replaced and or improved on for Arkham City specifically

• Batman’s cape/cowl is now dark grey, instead of dark blue/purple.
• Batman’s cape also shows the fibers in it, not just a smooth black color.
• The Joker’s Titan Disease makes him look more affected by it; this applies to Batman as well.
• Clayface Joker retains the lighter design of the Joker from Arkham Asylum.
• All the DLC costumes are available for use within the main game from the beginning, instead of requiring the game to be beaten or a cheat code to be used.
• The Penguin‘s character model has changed only for the head section, he now has a different head model, giving him a closer facial resemblance to his Arkham Knight appearance, and he now also has striped trousers instead of plain black, though because of the new head model it is possible to see through the bottom of the furred portion of the Penguin’s coat.
• In the church, the Riddler‘s projection screen is now green instead of a light yellow.
• Like Arkham Asylum, there are slight changes in color schemes, such as the Gotham skyline, now blue instead of orange, the Industrial District is the only area to retain this orange hue in the sky.
• The wet grounds of Arkham City now reflect under lights.
• The slight lag in the subtitles when listening to Thomas Elliot‘s voice message has been fixed.
• The leather on Catwoman’s suit is shiny instead of a dull black.
• Talia’s hair is black but her belly button isn’t pierced.
• When Detective Mode is active, the white eyes of the mode will have a slight glowing effect to them.
• Two-Face‘s scarred side is shown having more of the muscle missing, exposing parts of Dent’s skull on his head, cheek and chin along with the bones of his left hand and his elbow.

Return to Arkham City 

Batman: Return to Arkham City picks up after Arkham Asylum. Paul Dini, Paul Crocker, and Sefton Hill have done a fantastic job with the writing of this game, and it is one of my favorite parts about this game in general. The writing for every character and the main plot oozes competence. It sucks you in and it will not let you go until the end of the game. 

Arkham City picks up with Bruce Wayne being incarcerated in Arkham City. If you’re confused, Arkham City is basically a gigantic prison that houses the decaying slums of Gotham City. As the start of the game progresses, it turns out that you’re trying to figure out and stop Hugo Strange. The main plot can be presented in a simple way, but there is a layer of complexity that I just adore. As you travel through Arkham City, you can stumble upon various subplots that I won’t spoil in detail, but the game does reward you with more narrative if you look around. 

A City Brought to Life 

Arkham City is fully explorable from the moment the game starts. Ride the rooftops or brave the streets and explore to your heart’s content. I love how traversal feels in these games, so I tend to stay on the rooftops as much as possible. With that said, there is still plenty to see on the streets, so don’t avoid them completely. 

Arkham City is one of my favorite open-world games to explore because you can feel the crime seeping into the foundation of the city. The whole area oozes with lore and charm, something that Arkham Knight would later continue. The whole Arkham-Verse feels like it was made one building at a time from the ground up to provide you with this experience. 

Gliding around Arkham City is also a treat; unlike the Asylum, Arkham City has more ways for you to pull off cool dives and stunts. I also like how heavy and light Batman feels when he is gliding. There is a sense of weight to the traversal that can’t be ignored. The cape also allows you to dive attack enemies and perform takedowns while you’re traversing the city. The animations for all of the traversal methods are top-notch, especially when it’s raining in the game. 

Combat and Gadgets 

Batman: Return to Arkham City uses an improved version of the “Freeflow” combat system that you first get to experience in Arkham Asylum. It allows you to counter multiple blows at the same time, catch hurled projectiles, attack in the air, and more. Combat feels so fluid in this game; it felt fluid in Arkham Asylum as well, but this is a whole different ball game.

Catching objects and tossing them back at the goons who are attacking you is extremely satisfying and can create interesting combat situations. When a fire extinguisher is tossed, for example, it will create a smoke cloud that you can briefly use for cover. While disarming enemies feels fantastic, what pushes the combat over the top for me is the use of gadgets while you’re fighting. I found myself using the explosive gel a lot more than I had to, just because I like the physics of enemies exploding. Speaking of physics, the fighting and movement during combat feel much tighter, but still retain the freeflow feeling of the combat. You can feel Batman’s weight behind his attacks, and I adore it. 

Some gadgets got new capabilities or were outright improved. The Cryptographic Sequencer is the easiest to point out because it can now monitor shortwave radio channels. The Line Launcher became one of my favorite gadgets in this game because you can use it as a tightrope, which comes in handy during the Mr. Freeze boss fights: One of the best boss fights in the game. There are new gadgets too, the one I found myself using the most was the Freeze Grenade because it can be used during combat. Gadget implementations and improvements were clearly thought out with a lot of time and care, and I appreciate that because the gadgets really do make you feel like Batman. 

Final Thoughts 

Batman: Return to Arkham City is a true triumph for the superhero genre. In 2025, it is still one of the best superhero games on the market. It perfectly captures Batman, Catwoman, and the plethora of other characters that make an appearance, and the spins on each character to make them fit into the Arkham-verse are beautifully done. 

New Game Plus is present here, and you can unlock it by first beating the game on normal or hard mode. New Game Plus is so much fun and is surprisingly well balanced. It allows you to keep your gadgets and upgrades, but the enemies are tougher, and there is no more on-screen warning about incoming attacks. New Game Plus is my preferred way to experience this game because of the challenge. You can also change Batman’s suit before you start the game, though I find myself always using the one that’s set as default. The various suit textures look fantastic! 

If you’re still itching for more content after the story mode, there is a series of challenge maps that are extremely fun to go through. You can also play as Catwoman and replay her chapters, something that was once DLC but can now be played as part of the complete package. Catwoman is extremely fun to play as; she feels fantastic, and she has her own set of moves and gadgets to use. Back in the day, I was seriously impressed with her, and that hasn’t changed. You can also feel the difference in weight between her and Batman. Other playable characters include Tim Drake (Robin) and Dick Grayson (Nightwing) you can use both of these characters in the challenge maps but Robin also got his own main story narrative and DLC that I will not be covering in this review. 

To call Batman: Return to Arkham City timeless is not an understatement. Even against recent superhero games such as Spider-Man, Guardians of the Galaxy, Midnight Suns, and a few others, this game stands above the rest. The storytelling, atmospheric details, art style, and plethora of content to complete after the game make Batman: Return to Arkham a must-play. 

Batman: Return to Arkham City is getting a Ruby Token.

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