Tue, Feb 01, 2011 | 15:21 GMT

Arkham City “five times bigger than Arkham Island”

Rocksteady boss Sefton Hill has said that the locale footprint of Arkham City in Batman: Akrham City is “five times bigger” than Arkham Asylum’s Arkham Island.

Batman: Arkham City

Arkham City will be published by Warner. Arkham Asylum was published by the now Square Enix-owned Eidos in 2009.

AC’s story revolves around Two-Face trying to kill Catwoman to gain a reputation in the criminal underworld.

Other AC villains include Hugo Strange, Harley Quinn and the Joker.

But in an interview with GameSpot, Hill said that the developer wasn’t going large just for fun.

“The footprint of Arkham City is about five times bigger than Arkham Island, but our primary intention was never to create a bigger gameworld just for the sake of it,” he said.

“In Batman: Arkham Asylum, we really focused our effort on creating an intense, pressure-cooker atmosphere by locking Batman in the madhouse and allowing The Joker to turn up the heat.

“In Arkham City, we want to take that attitude to the next level, so we created an experience in which gamers will have a huge amount of navigational freedom, but they will also feel the extreme pressure of the challenges that they face.

“Players will be able to go anywhere at any time, but will always have a clear idea of where they are needed most”

“Players will be able to go anywhere at any time, but we have made sure that players will always have a very clear idea of where they are needed most if they want to just stick to the core narrative path of the game. Explore the streets of Arkham City, and you will find many side missions, secrets, and street brawls, so players won’t find it difficult to get into some trouble if that’s what they are looking for.”

GS also has a couple of new screens of the game as well as a promo poster of Two-Face. CVG has its own promo poster of other villain Hugo Strange and another new screen.

Batman: Arkham City releases this fall for PS3, 360 and PC.

This article elsewhere

Batman: Arkham City "five times bigger", many things to discover - Strategy Informer

Batman Arkham City is five times bigger - Eurogamer

Batatat: Arkham City 5x Bigger Than Asylum - Rock, Paper, Shotgun

Rocksteady: Arkham City world is five times bigger than Asylum - PSU

25 comment-trail-alt Posted in: Action, PC, PS3, Warner Bros., Xbox 360
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25 comments

#1

Hunam
01/02/11, 12:08 pm

I just hope the stunning level of detail in Arkham Asylum is still kept whilst being 5 times larger this outing. I love all the little details that held clues for the riddler challenges but if the city is going to look less unique then I’d rather have a smaller area. It was the little details that made that game great.

#2

Joe Anderson
01/02/11, 12:10 pm

Really looking forward to this game. :)

#3

SpaceGoat
01/02/11, 12:20 pm

Agree with #1, was the little things that kept me playing instead of just ploughing through the [linear] storyline.

#4

Patrick Garratt
01/02/11, 12:20 pm

Check Johnny’s boxout. I think he just had a little wee.

#5

Blerk
01/02/11, 12:21 pm

@1, quite. If you think about it, the original was actually quite modest in size, but it never felt like it when you were actually playing. It was almost Metroid-like in the way it encouraged you to backtrack to pick missed stuff using new skills, too – I loved that. A bigger city is all well and good providing it doesn’t compromise that. Willing to give these guys the benefit of the doubt for now, though – I loved the first one to bits.

#6

Callum
01/02/11, 12:25 pm

@5 indeed, I think they deserve a bit of trust due to how well they did the last game. Pretty much that same team of people isn’t it?

#7

mojo
01/02/11, 12:27 pm

just playing island atm.
looking forward to city.

“to backtrack to pick missed stuff using new skills, too – I loved that”
i generaly dont understand the fuzz about backtracking and whats so wrong about it.
I dont see whats wrong with it if its done properly and not solely for money saving reasons.

#8

Hunam
01/02/11, 12:29 pm

Woah, those two boxouts really cut that text in half :S

#9

Patrick Garratt
01/02/11, 12:32 pm

I’ve fiddled with it.

#10

Blerk
01/02/11, 12:36 pm

And the boxouts? :-D

#11

KAP
01/02/11, 12:37 pm

Good news. @1 agree.

#12

Patrick Garratt
01/02/11, 12:40 pm

badum :)

#13

Redh3lix
01/02/11, 1:02 pm

Ohh nice, looking forward to this game!

#14

Moonwalker1982
01/02/11, 1:35 pm

First time logging into VG247 today, and wow guys, great new site. I had copy and pasted the password and it worked without any problems, finally. Kudos!!!!

#15

Detale
01/02/11, 1:42 pm

I’m quite looking forward to stalking the rooftops of the city punching unsuspecting thugs in the face, but I’m hoping they don’t sacrifice the brilliant story focused gameplay of the original. I really enjoyed inFamous and felt that it balanced the story & side missions very well, hopefully this will manage it in a similar manner.

#16

back_up
01/02/11, 1:43 pm

new design is better just through PC gamers out of here
so that they can cry
crying is in blood of pc gamrs :lol:

#17

Rain
01/02/11, 2:06 pm

I am looking forward to this.I just hope that they bring a great story.

#18

joshua nash
01/02/11, 2:48 pm

all that exploration, all those places to hide and watch as i scare the batcrap out all those thugs whilst i mentally fuck with them by stealthly taking them out one by one for the shadows, looks like in going to be laughing like the joker when this game comes out

#19

blackdreamhunk
01/02/11, 3:35 pm

do you get to drive the batmobile? also can pc gamers get mod support?

#20

Detale
01/02/11, 3:36 pm

I think they’ve already said there won’t be any vehicles in the game. It’s listed under the useful ‘Related Posts’ link below the article.

#21

Blerk
01/02/11, 3:37 pm

They did indeed confirm that. Much to my relief.

#22

Xenoliath
01/02/11, 3:42 pm

I was quite happy with the size of Arkham Island. Whilst a much bigger space is better to add in more exploration, I hope that there will be plenty of side quests and excuses to visit these areas, rather than just deliberately making it better to make an “improvement” over the original.

#23

SuperCrazyLeprechaun
01/02/11, 5:14 pm

I hope when the game is finished the place isnt empty like the last game because there is nothing to break up the exploring parts then.

#24

Heinekeno
01/02/11, 9:30 pm

“gamers will have a huge amount of navigational freedom”
GTA Batman?! Ok i want to hijack other transport than just Batmobile.

#25

Isaaclarke37
02/02/11, 4:18 pm

First i need gameplay
Second i need a release date.

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