Gotham Knights Deluxe Edition + Batman: Arkham Origins Bundle

I'll be straight with you: buying this bundle means accepting two very different experiences under one receipt, and they pull in opposite directions hard enough to give you whiplash. Gotham Knights and Batman: Arkham Origins share a developer in WB Games Montreal, but that is essentially where the similarities end. Understanding what you are actually getting from each title is the only honest way to review this pairing. Gotham Knights launched in October 2022 with a promising hook: Batman is dead, and it falls to Batgirl, Nightwing, Red Hood, and Robin to hold Gotham together. Playing as any of the four Bat-family members in an open-world action RPG sounds compelling on paper, and in brief windows it genuinely is. Each character handles differently, with distinct traversal tools and skill trees that reward sticking with your chosen hero. Two-player co-op adds some life to the patrol loop. The problem is that the game wraps all of this around a games-as-a-service skeleton that wears thin fast. Combat has been widely criticised for feeling sluggish and poorly chained compared to the Arkham titles it so clearly wants to follow, and Gotham itself feels more like a backdrop than a living city. The Court of Owls storyline had real potential as a villain premise, but the narrative loses focus before it can pay off. On PC specifically, controller configuration caused early headaches at launch, though settings workarounds exist. At 67% positive across over 25,000 Steam reviews, the community verdict lands firmly in "your mileage will vary" territory: fans of the Bat-family characters and co-op brawlers tend to find enough to enjoy; anyone coming in expecting Arkham-level polish will not. Arkham Origins is the stronger package and, ironically, the older one. Released in 2013, it puts you in the boots of a younger, angrier Batman on Christmas Eve as Black Mask puts a bounty on his head and eight assassins, including Bane, Deathstroke, Deadshot, and Firefly, come calling. The freeflow combat system that made Arkham Asylum and Arkham City classics is intact here, and the story, particularly how it handles Bane and frames Batman's first meeting with the Joker, is genuinely well-written. New gadgets like the remote claw add puzzle variety, and a fast-travel system via Batwing unlocks after clearing radio towers around the city. It is not a big leap forward from Arkham City, and it launched with an infamous bug list on PC, but the core of what makes these Batman games satisfying remains solid. The multiplayer component has been offline since 2016, so do not factor that in. What you get is a tight, story-driven single-player campaign that holds up as a worthwhile chapter in the Arkham saga. As a bundle, the value calculation depends on which game you are actually here for. If Arkham Origins is the draw and Gotham Knights is a bonus you will sample and set aside, this is a reasonable pickup. If you are expecting Gotham Knights to scratch the same itch as the Arkham trilogy, adjust expectations significantly before committing. It has a core audience, and that audience tends to be Bat-family fans and co-op players who go in without the comparison baggage. Everyone else should know what they are buying.

Alex · Scout Team

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