Batman Arkham Asylum is the Best in the Series For Me

To my mind, few questions cause quite as much division as which Arkham game is the best. All three games have their strengths and weaknesses, and all are fantastic in their own right. Today is the 15th anniversary of Batman: Arkham Asylum, I want to explain why it is the greatest Batman game ever made. 

So first things first, I obviously have to explain Batman: Arkham Asylum’s flaws before going into the best parts about it. The first thing to note is that the boss fights are terrible, there’s no real getting past that. If the Arkham games did anything right it was slowly improving the boss battles. I will also note that there is really no side content, the main plot is the plot and that is it. 

However, let's move on to the reasons why this is the best game. I suppose the best place to start is the story. I won’t go into full details about every plot point, because I assume everyone has played Batman: Arkham Asylum. TLDR: Joker takes over the asylum and traps Batman there, forcing him to fight through several members of his rogue’s gallery before fighting the clown prince of crime. 

Now, this plot stands apart from the other games because there is no prelude to it (at least at release, but then Batman: Arkham Origins came out). For the most part, Batman: Arkham Asylum stands as its own self-contained adventure. The plot moves at the perfect pace, with villains introduced and beaten, with each offering something different. Bane is a more physical confrontation, while the Scarecrow is more mental. While the boss fights might not have been as well-designed, they were more varied narratively. 

The lack of side missions also means you never really feel like you are missing anything, you will see nearly everything as you play through the campaign. The only truly optional bit is the Riddler trophies, although, at this point, they were considerably more manageable than they would later become. Also, because the Joker is the endpoint, he isn’t pushed out in the same way he is in Batman: Arkham City. You get to experience enough of him to know he’s there in Batman: Arkham Asylum and make the inevitable confrontation enjoyable.

Now, I will say that the lack of combat options when playing through the campaign is pretty noticeable. In Batman: Arkham City, and especially Batman: Arkham Knight, you get so many different attacks and gadget combos that you are spoiled for choice. In Batman: Arkham Asylum you get hitting, the cape, and Batarangs, that’s it. However, lacking all the options really helps to make the combat stand out and add a new challenge to big fights. The same is true of the stealth options. You don’t get all the gadgets, you have to make do with what you have to win. 

This sense of not having all the gadgets, and the frankly fantastic atmosphere of Arkham really help to sell the sense of threat. Batman is not at his best here, he doesn’t have a plane or shark repellent, and he is at his weakest. If Die Hard existed in DC this would be it, but Hans Gruber would be more Joker-ish… which honestly I would watch.

Now that I’ve mentioned the asylum itself, I just want to gush about it for a bit. See, the issue with the subsequent games is that they’re too big, they lack that sense of personality. However, Arkham’s Asylum is a location full of stories, some of which are written on the walls. Each room is perfectly crafted, it really feels like a place that you just would not want to be in. I didn’t even hate having to backtrack to find the secrets, especially with how empty everything feels because you’ve locked everyone up.

Is Batman: Arkham Asylum the best game ever made? Probably not. I also want to specify that I love all the Arkham games, even Origins. However, there is no doubt that Batman: Arkham Asylum is the best of the series, if only for pure nostalgia alone, but let me know what you think. Which is your favourite game in the series and why?