Fans of the Batman: Arkham video game series have given the franchise new life by praising its latest entry - which doesn't actually exist.Aug. 2022 has seen the r/BatmanArkham subReddit inundated with posts covering the newest game in the series, Batman: Arkham World. As highlighted by Twitter user @GreatCheshire, fans have produced a myriad of artwork related to the community imagined AAA game. These include box art, title screens, an entire "gameplay" trailer featuring Alfred Pennyworth in action, and no shortage of memes.
The massive in-joke is an homage to the beloved video game series which began with 2009's Batman: Arkham Asylum. Written by franchise all-star Paul Dini and produced by Rocksteady, the first entry into the franchise was lauded for its frenetic and fluid combat system, tightly woven story, and pitch perfect ambience. The game was also praised for having Batman: The Animated Series veterans Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill reprise their respective roles of Batman and the Joker.
Arkham Asylum was quickly followed up by 2011's Arkham City, which expanded the first game's setting, something which became an ongoing trend throughout the main series. Apart from various mobile games and spinoffs, the Batman: Arkham series continued on in 2013's Arkham Origins and 2015's Arkham Knight, which was intended to be the final chapter in the saga. While the overall Batman video game franchise is getting something of a reboot in the form of the upcoming Gotham Knights, the Batman: Arkham universe is slated to return with 2023's Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League.
Despite Kill the Justice League being Rocksteady's return to the world of Batman: Arkham, fans of the original series won't be able to look forward to going back to Arkham anytime soon. Regarding speculation that Rocksteady had another Batman project in the works, Conroy himself stated, "I wish there was [another game], I really do," but said it wasn't the case.
"The upfront costs are huge," he continued, "Which is the only reason I think they haven’t done another one." Conroy described the incredible scale of the Batman Arkham games, revealing that the last game in the series, Arkham Knight, took over two years of development, contained a total of 37,000 voiced lines and cost "a fortune."
Source: Twitter