It's been four long years since Batman Arkham Knight released, and it's looking very likely we'll be seeing the new Batman game announced soon - possibly with the title Batman Arkham Legacy - if the rumours are to be believed.
We've gathered up all the rumours, facts, and possibilities about the next Batman Arkham game - including the best estimates at the Batman Arkham Legacy release date, announcement, enemies, storyline, characters, and gameplay. Let's have a look.
Capture the Knight / Cape sur la nuit pic.twitter.com/yMFXMd4djU
— WB Games Montréal (@WBGamesMTL) September 23, 2019
Batman Arkham Legacy Announcement Date
The reveal of the next Batman Arkham game was teased on Batman Day in September, and the tweet above made the tease official on September 23. Everyone assumed this double-tease would mean the official announcement would come soon - but it hasn't happened yet. The most likely reveal date is the Video Game Awards on December 13 - which previously played host to the announcements of both Batman Arkham City and Origins, so just over a month away.
Batman Arkham Legacy Release Date
If the announcement date for Batman Arkham Legacy isn't known, then it's even less likely we would know about the release date right now. However, we can make an educated guess. The next generation of consoles are due out Holiday 2020, and many of the biggest games of 2020 were announced a long time ago - it seems exceptionally unlikely that the new Batman Arkham game will launch before the PS5 or Xbox Scarlett, but may be cross-generational.
It also should be noted that Marvel's Avengers will launch in May, so it's also doubtful Warner Bros would want to compete directly with that - and definitely not in the Summer, because few major games release then really. So we're left with before May (if so, why hasn't it been announced yet?) or in the August/September/October time, in which case they might as well wait to the next-gen launches. So, a while...
Batman Arkham Legacy Gameplay - playable Bat-family, open-world
Obviously we haven't seen the game yet so we can't make any guarantees as to the gameplay, but there are various pieces we can guess at. For starters, it will probably play a lot like previous Batman Arkham games - WB Montreal isn't going to change such a successful formula, although hopefully it'll push it a bit. It'll certainly be open-world, as this job posting on WB Montreal's website shows, just like Arkham Knight.
The big difference is that it seems the Bat-family of crimefighters will be taking more of a role. While Batman will almost certainly be the main character, other characters such as Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing etc will all be playable too. While these are just rumours, they are the strongest ones out there.
Batman Arkham Legacy Story - Court of Owls and Ra's Al Ghul
We know basically nothing about the story of the new Batman game - and a lot of it depends on whether it's set before Batman Arkham Asylum (like Origins) or after Arkham Knight. Regardless, the strongest rumour for the longest time is that the Court of Owls - the sinister organization made up of the most influential people in Gotham - would be the antagonists, with the Court's creator Scott Snyder seemingly backing that up.
We can get some information from the four symbols in the game's tease. One appears to show an Owl's head on the side, backing up the previous rumour - but the clearest symbol shows a Demon's Head, the symbol of Ra's Al Ghul and the League of Assassins. It's entirely possible the four symbols relate to factions trying to carve up Gotham City - and take out the Batman, if the "Capture the Knight" tagline has any meaning.
We'll hopefully know more at the Video Game Awards next month! Stay tuned, same bat-time, same bat-website.
