Batman: Return to Arkham Reviews
Batman: Return to Arkham isn't the greatest ever remaster, but the price offers excellent value and the gameplay of both Asylum and City still hold up. Couple two of the greatest superhero games of all time with their DLC, and you get a lot of bang for your buck here.
Two of the finest games of the past decade don't quite get the treatment they deserve in Return to Arkham, with Arkham Asylum in particular, suffering more than benefitting from the visual overhaul. The game’s are still magnificent love letters to Gotham’s protector though, even if these remasters don’t give the same level of respect to the pointy-eared one.
Batman: Return to Arkham is a package of two stellar games and impossible not to recommend to anyone who hasn’t played them yet.
It is, at least, refreshing to say that Batman: Return to Arkham happens to be one of the better collections out there, even if it is missing the criminally underrated Arkham Origins.
There’s only so much that the excellent Arkham Asylum and Arkham City can do for this remaster collection, however. It should have been an easy slam dunk: port the game over to the Unreal Engine 4, apply some polish, maybe through in some behind-the-scenes features, and profit! Instead, what we end up with is a poorly-optimized port which sees even the older Arkham Asylum stuttering from the game’s first moments, and some odd lighting that cuts into the otherwise excellent ambiance of both games. Then there’s the glaring omission of Batman: Arkham Origins. It all adds up to feeling like an unfinished product. If you already have both Asylum and City on their original platforms, you can safely skip this re-release.
Two classic games made to look notably worse than they did over five years ago, which is one villainous masterplan even Batman can’t foil.
Two great games from the last generation, very improved in graphics but sadly still with the same frame rate.
Review in Italian | Read full review
While the underlying games hold up as well as they ever did, Batman: Return to Arkham as a remasterwas very disappointing — especially compared to others that masterfully retouch games like Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection or Halo: The Master Chief Collection. Of the two, only Arkham Ayslum’s remaster is worth playing through; with no additional content beyond both games’ previous DLC, I would only recommend Return to Arkham to either die-hard Batman fans or those who don’t have access to an Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.
Batman: Return to Arkham is a good game but and awful remaster. It should have improved the frame rate, visuals and gameplay, but does none of that leaving the game almost as it was.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Arkham Asylum and Arkham City are two superb action games that are essential for Batman fans. The ports in Return to Arkham have good intentions but fall short of the greatness required.
It’s been great revisiting two wonderful games, but the framerate drops and lighting changes take away much of the charm of playing them.