After three games, Batman Arkham Knight will finally let players actually drive the Batmobile around Gotham City. That, in and of itself, is a pretty big addition to the series, but Rocksteady isn’t content to just let players drive one of the most recognizable vehicles in pop culture. Instead, they’re building an entirely new experience around the vehicle to help you feel like you really are Batman.
In a new post on the PlayStation Blog, Rocksteady says they built the Batmobile with three core design tenets in mind. The first is that the Batmobile would be unstoppable. In other words, you’ll be able to smash through pillars, stalls and other obstacles while in the Batmobile. The second is what Rocksteady calls “Instant eject into glide.” As the name implies, Batman will be able to eject himself from the Batmobile at any time and seamlessly go into a glide. The third is “Instant access” – with a press of the L1 button, the Batmobile will come around the corner ready for Batman to jump in.
As for the design itself, the team admits that the Batmobile design in Arkham Asylum wouldn’t work that well in a city environment. Instead, they went back to the drawing board and redesigned the Batmobile from scratch to look realistic while maintaining its intimidating persona. Here’s the philosophy that went behind the design:
So with [the Arkham Asylum] design rejected, we actually started with ideas that were driven by a purely pragmatic approach. After a number of iterations, we felt that this never captured the spirit of Batman. While he is not someone who ever shows off for the sake of it, it is very important that you know when Batman is around. He doesn’t build a distinctive vehicle just because he likes to drive a flash car. He drives a unique vehicle for the same reason he wears his cape and cowl – it’s part of his persona of intimidation.
Batman Arkham Knight will be out later this year on PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Image via PlayStation Blog