Batman - Arkham Asylum - Game of the Year Edition (USA)
PlayStation 3
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Reviewed in 2010
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✪ Reviewed on April 8, 2024
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Batman Arkham Asylum GOTY with all DLC, the most complete version of a masterpiece. Includes extra challenge maps and alternative costumes. The best way to (re)discover Arkham Asylum.
Your verdict
Category
Action Adventure1 player16+
Description
Game of the Year edition of Arkham Asylum bundling the base game with all downloadable Challenge maps. Published by Eidos and Warner Bros, released in 2010 in Europe and North America. Full Batman adventure in the Joker-overrun Arkham Asylum, Freeflow combat system, tactical stealth with gadgets, Riddler challenges, Challenge mode expanded with eight extra maps for timed combat and traversal.
Batman - Arkham Asylum - Game of the Year Edition review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
MAX
Story
★★★★★
"Masterful"
A nocturnal, gothic, rainy Gotham bathed in shadow and neon: the city becomes a character in its own right. The polished design of the enemies and the dark-comic atmosphere compose a striking visual identity. This art direction, dense and stylish, gave the superhero game its credentials.
Dark and cinematic, the music wraps the Dark Knight in a gothic orchestra with eerie accents. Each confrontation and each prowl through the shadows pulses with a menacing tension, worthy of a great film. This sonic breadth, faithful to Batman's universe, elevates the game's oppressive atmosphere.
Trapped in an asylum the Joker has seized control of, the Dark Knight faces his entire rogues' gallery in a single night. The tale distils a remarkable psychological tension, down to nightmarish plunges into the hero's own mind. This mature writing, faithful to the myth, at last gave the vigilante a great game worthy of him.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Faithfully reprising the asylum's freeflow combat and stealth sections, this edition piles on extra challenges and maps. The same precise countering and the same thrill of being a silent predator are all still here. More complete than ever, it remains the best way into an adventure whose gameplay has held up admirably.
Fun
"From the very first seconds"
Playing the Dark Knight in a nightmarish asylum, alternating fluid combat, predatory stealth and puzzles, means slipping into the vigilante's skin like never before. The melee system, of fearsome elegance, delivers instant satisfaction with every chain. Dark, gripping and masterfully designed, a peak of the superhero game that redefined everything.
Addictiveness
"Obsessive"
Chaining strikes in a fluid ballet of counters, then slipping into predator mode to pick off guards one by one from the gargoyles delivers a heady sense of mastery that calls for the next encounter. Riddler puzzles and gadgets to unlock keep the exploration alive. A little backtracking drags, but the flawless embodiment of the caped crusader grips you from start to finish.
The Game of the Year reissue of Arkham Asylum, enriched with extra challenge maps for the founder of the Batman series. Printed widely as the reference version, it stays accessible and lightly priced. Its small plus over the standard edition is this complete content, making it preferable for the player without turning it into a rare or coveted piece.
Is Batman - Arkham Asylum - Game of the Year Edition still worth playing in 2026?
This Game of the Year edition delivers the founding masterpiece of the Arkham series with its extra challenge maps and bonuses, making it the version to favour. The game has barely aged at heart, carried by fluid combat, a suffocating gothic asylum and an unforgettable Joker. The added content pleasantly extends the experience for anyone wanting to polish their combo mastery. Discovering or revisiting this descent into Gotham's madness today remains a genuine pleasure, and this release offers it in its most complete form.
