Batman Arkham Game is Reportedly Focused on Solo Story Mode

The Batman Arkham reboot is said to be a massive single-player game, and the latest reports point to a project that puts solo play first. Other elements are expected to be part of it, but at its core you're looking at a single-player game built to recapture the magic that made the Arkham series so loved.

You already know a brand new Arkham game is in development, but what it actually is remains a bit fuzzy. So far, everything comes from reports and rumors, and nothing concrete has been confirmed beyond the fact that it's a new Arkham title. It could simply be a ground-up restart, which would make sense.

Arkham Knight left Batman's story hard to continue, so a fresh continuity makes sense.

By the end of Arkham Knight, Batman has done a lot, so continuing from that point could be problematic. Wiping the slate clean and giving you a whole new continuity would get around that, and it's why the Batman Arkham reboot idea keeps coming up.

Reportedly, the team is focused on two main aspects of the solo side. First, it has to be a massive single-player game. Second, it has to be story-driven. That makes sense when you look at the last two big adult Batman games.

Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League turned out to be mid, and Gotham Knights is better than most people give it credit for, though it's still not great. Both are single-player games on paper, but each has strong multiplayer elements.

Then there's Lego Batman, which was a great game. A lot of players treated it as a welcome back to Arkham Knight and called it close enough, because it felt like an Arkham game. So it's not a shock to hear the focus is on solo play, or at least that it's the big priority. It's what the Batman Arkham reboot needs to be, especially after Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League leaned so heavily on other players.

When you think of these games, you think of a single-player experience and an open world.

If the Batman Arkham reboot turns out to be a straight remake of Arkham Asylum, with you locked inside the asylum, then the scope and scale have to grow a little. Arkham Asylum is linear. Outside of the hub, the inside is mostly a simple run from A to B.

That isn't a dealbreaker, though, because that's how most open-world games work today. You get an open world, but the missions themselves become a little more linear. That structure would suit the Batman Arkham reboot just fine. A bigger version of Arkham Asylum, or one that also covers a good chunk of Gotham, would be a cool step up.

The one thing worth watching is how the scope and scale hold up. If the Batman Arkham reboot is going for a bigger Arkham, the world has to work for what the developers are building. A big map that turns out empty has no point, and that's the last thing you want from a new Arkham game after this long.

For now, treat all of this as reported information, not confirmed fact. What you can take from it is a clear direction: a massive, story-driven game that returns to what made the series work, in a world open enough to explore. After Arkham Knight closed out Batman's run, and with Gotham Knights and Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League both leaning on multiplayer, a fresh continuity built around solo play is a reasonable move.

Until anything official arrives, the Batman Arkham reboot stays in rumor territory, but the focus on story and scale is encouraging. If the Batman Arkham reboot pulls off both, it has a real shot at feeling like Arkham again. More details on the Batman Arkham reboot should surface as development continues.