In Defense of Batman Arkham Origins 

It's sad that WB won't rerelease Arkham Origins in the collections they did. Even tho it's not made by Rocksteady, it's still canon and it has a very great story.

Kevin Conroy will always be irreplaceable, but can we at least agree that Roger Craig Smith still did a good job as Batman, I think he’s pretty underrated in the role

Arkham Origins is to me the Batman game with the best narrative. This portrayal of a younger, less competent and more angry Bruce who hasn't learned to keep his emotions in check is the most compelling version of Batman in the Arkham series. His dynamic with Alfred is the most memorable parts of the game and it was nice to be able to explore the batcave in person. I also wanna give a compliment to this version of Bane, which is one of the few portrayals of the character that doesn't depict him as a mindless brute, and really gets what makes him a threatning villian.

This was my first Arkham game, and I loved it. It's a shame that so many people see this as the black sheep of the series and that it wil probably never get a re-release. Slash Damage and Iron Galaxy did a pretty good job in the place of Rocksteady, I think. The underused villains were all fun to see, especially Copperhead and Firefly, the Christmas setting was a great contrast to the grittyness and violence on screen, and I loved the Joker origin parts of the story and the look at Bruce and Alfred's family relationship we got.

Not only do I think that Origins has the best plot of the series, it also has the best boss fight. The Deathstroke fight is amazing and the fact his fight in Knight is just a Cloudburst rematch is just kind of insulting

Its still a pretty fun game. The boss fights are the best in the series. So cinematic, hard hitting, and well choreographed.

Fun fact. In the german dub of origins both Joker and Batman retain their voice actors so I for a really long time didn't know that they were changed for this game. It was hilarious to find that out on a recent re play on ps5 (my system language is english so it was an automatic change for me) I just went "Wait. This sounds....Different"

I actually love the map in this game, especially the parts from Arkham City that were reverse-engineered to look like they did in the past, and the bridge is a nice touch since there actually is a bridge visible there in Arkham City if you fly high enough to see it over the wall. One of the main reasons I've put off playing Arkham Knight is that the map feels too massive, barely even recognizable as the same place from Arkham City. I'll always prefer the Yakuza approach of having a smaller map that changes slightly with each installment.

When I got around to playing the Arkham series, I decided to play them in chronological order. Thus Origins was the first one I played. For that reason, I was able to judge it purely on its own merits and wasn't judging it against the rest of the series. And I can honestly say that I loved it.

2:59: Stupid fact: Apprently Warner Bros were so pissed at Kevin Conroy for unknowingly revealing Arkham Knight that they nearly stopped him from attending conventions for good.

Batman Arkham Origins is the first video game i’ve ever played, growing older and now being almost 17 i realize that this game may have not been the best arkham game but it delivered on many points especially without two key voice actors, call it nostalgia but i absolutely adore this game

I was one of those people singing Origins’ praises at its release, so I am glad to see it finally receive the love it deserves years later. This is better than Asylum and on par with City for me.

I would add something, that makes Arkham Origins better for me in some ways comparing to other Arkham games. Firstly, new detective mode. Of coursem core mechanic is the same as in City or Asylum. But it has new feature - rewind the crime scene. It makes this mechanic much more satisfying than before. It was even repeated in Arkham Knight, because that was a good add in AO. Moreover, Batman in this game feels like a detective much more, than before. In Asylum that mode was only the option for you to follow a trails in case to find new location and new objectives. In City it became more interesting, but it has lack on elaboration. Now Batman can investigate something, but it is really short and present only in few areas of the game. In Arkham Origins everytime Batman investigates something, you feel like a detective. Because now you finally can investigate crime scenes, and not just in some Deadshot quest like before, but all the time. This mechanic became of the most important. The story includes dozens of such episodes and new quests when you must find street killers are very cool because of investigation process. It was done great. Secondly, Arkham Origins has the best story in the series and the best script, immo. I personally think Arkham Asylum story was too simple in many ways and didn't have much to give, but with the gameplay it feels organic. Arkham City story was much better, but still has some flaws, where something doesn't work as it should, but still, it has great moments and ending was superior. Arkham Knight had many highlights, but with Arkham Knight devs could do better, and in some other ways too, like with Barbara. But still, it was good. In Arkham Origins story is great from start to finish. Batman-Joker relationships are one of the best that i've ever seen. I don't know a story, where Joker at the beginning feels nothing about Batman, but then after some time he falls in love with him, after Batman saved him. Usually Joker feels about Batman by default, because they're different. And AO has very interesting approach to characters, because Batman's moral code, basically, created their relationships. That is the reason why Joker feels connection to Batman. Bane is the best version of a character in the media, i would say. Not to mention, that Bane before AO wasn't a great character in my opinion. Bosses in AO, in my opinion, are the best of the series as a whole. City has good bosses, Mr Freeze is the best in the series, but i still prefer AO in boss battles.

such an underrated game and truly deserves a remaster.

I feel like this story may have been the most cinematic of the 4. Sure, the fact that Joker is back kinda underwhelms previous Arkham fans, but when you look past that, it becomes powerful. I would argue that this is the best writing we get for both Joker and Bane. Joker is just a criminal just causing chaos and chasing money until he becomes obsessed with Batman. He finds a purpose which was previously absent. Bane also has a wit and cunning previously absent from both Asylum and City. The final boss fight even seems to be the most in line with Joker from the comics and movies as his whole point is to get Batman to break his code.

I find it funny that Sonic CD had a hidden image that was basically a Batman reference, and then 20 years later, Batman ended up being voiced by the current Sonic voice, and then the two of them would cross over in LEGO Dimensions afterwards.

One thing I notice, that you didn’t bring up was the how they did the counter system. In the first two games, there was a flow to it. But in this one, you can literally counter so fast that you can get a combo off of it.

Origins will always be one of my fav games. The story is super undderated. Roger Craig Smith and troy baker killed it as Batman and joker plus this still holds up as some of the best bosses in the series.

Did this game need to exist? No . But I’m glad it does!

I always loved Origins. I remember watching the cgi trailers and being so hyped for it to release that I preordered it. Unfortunately it only came with a poster that I never hung up and is now probably torn to shreds somewhere. Roger Craig Smith and Troy Baker are easily my second favorite Batman and Joker behind Kevin and Mark. I did manage to play a little bit of the online mode and it's really cool to play a thug being stalked by Batman, something I hope they make into a full game down the road. This was also the only Arkham game I played blind as I didn't have City yet and Asylum's atmosphere was too much for me as a kid.

The 5 year thing sounds like a studio mandate or something. Reminds me how in New 52 DC said that all of Batman's stories happened in 10 years, and the first 5 years he was just an urban legend.

When i first played Arkham origins, I loved it as it was a great Batman game and I never understood why people didn't like it or why it never got remastered like Rocksteadys Batman games

I've always maintained that Origins was the best written of the bunch. (Leaving weird timeline things aside) Biggest issue I had with it was the bugs back when it launched. I went into the night club for a mission and just fell through the world. Game would actually load the save under the map, so it soft locked the game for me.

the hotel sequence leading into the Bane fight (with what is in my opinion the best depiction of Bane ever, in any medium) followed by the spectacular Joker/ Harley origin sequence is one of the highlights of the whole Arkham series, it's stunning. I love this game.

I wasn't even interested in the batman Arkham series but with these videos it got me interested and I found batman Arkham origins in my PS3 collection so gonna play them

Origins was always my second favorite Arkham game behind City. The boss fights were especially incredible. My favorite was always Deathstroke.

the voice actors of origins were spot on, so the nit picking of not having Conroy and Hamil in origins is not a big deal as it was a prequel and fans have been asking for another game with Roger Craig Smith and Troy Baker as batman and joker as they nailed their roles in Origins .

Late to this so I know my input won't matter but I also really loved the artistic style of this compared to Asylum and City. This lighting being solid high highlights really actually put more focus on the darks in scenes and I especially loved when they really leaned into the comic like appearance like when it show's Batman in front of the moon he's all shaded and his eyes glow white, awesome stuff.

Does anyone else really like Origins' soundtrack? Everyone always talks about how great the story and boss fights are, which they are, but I hardly hear anyone talk about the music. Just like the rest of the game I find it to be greatly underappreciated with a ton of great tracks to listen to.

What’s interesting is that out of all the versions of the game at launch, I heard that the Wii U version is surprisingly the better one. Despite that the multiplayer is missing in that version, I do remember that it’s $10 cheaper and it not as glitchy as the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions (I remember in Somecallmejohnny’s review that he mentioned about the game freezing sometimes and has to get a huge update). Though I do give props to the PS3 version to actually have the Adam West Batman outfit. XD

This game was great. The depiction of bane and death stroke were especially incredible!

I really miss the Arkham Origins multi-player I used to play it all the time, because I love shooters and I love Arkham, usually when you combine two great things it makes one big pile doo doo but not with this, there is just something about it thats makes it worth more to me than any other shooter, it was just such a blast to play and I really wish WB Games Montréal consider giving Arkham Origins a PROPER remaster alongside with City and Asylum and if they do they better bring back multi-player, I know it didn't do so well but that doesn't mean that it was hated, that just means that a lot of people didn't give it a chance and they really should've, truly one of the best online games ever, especially considering that it probably wasn't even a focus of the production to the main game

I was there for the multiplayer when the game released. Man, it was rough. The gameplay was actually pretty fun, but good luck getting a game together even on its launch weekend. There was barely anyone online and the matchmaking was astonishingly terrible. Each match took around an hour to even get into and, if a single person ragequit, everything fell apart. Given that most people wanted to play as Batman or Robin instead of the crooks, ragequits were shift and frequent. It had potential, but it was just dead on arrival.

As a big Batman guy i will say that this game is the only Arkham story that feels like a classic Batman story like Hush or Long Halloween (in my opinion)

This game doesnt need a defense. Its a fantastic game. Yes there are glitches but I personally feel it has the best of the Arkham Stories and having it on Christmas Eve was a cool touch

Second best game in the series. Innovated the Arkham formula more than people want to admit

No mention of the expanded detective mode? That was the thing that AO improved massively.

Besides the bugs and fps drops (especially on console). This game was mad underrated. My second favorite game in the Arkham series

We can all agree that the Deathstroke battle in this game was wayyyyy better than Arkham Knight!!

I only grew up with the Rocksteady trilogy, and loved the hell out of them. When I got my Steam Deck about a year ago, I was finally able to play Origins, and I did just that. It was... fine. It had the fantastic Arkham gameplay, but there were a lot of things I didn't care for, not including the countless amount of times it crashed. Enemies seemed a bit spongier, Riddler was its most tedious, despite having less collectibles than City, the world design was much less coherent, and the experience system seemed overcomplicated. The new enemies were damn fun to fight, the remote claw was just awesome, and the bosses were the best so far, but that didn't stop Origins from being the worst of these games for me.

Origins has issues: the bait and switch with the main villain is annoying, the shock gloves and remote claw are overpowered (the latter would’ve worked better in knight where there is a higher enemy count in predator sections), the concussion detonator is a complete nothing burger of an item, and it was riddled with bugs at launch (though this is more than likely the fault of the publisher rather than WB Montreal), But I still love the game

This game needs to be in collections.

This is the first video of yours that I've watched, and I thought you layed out the facts and analysis very well. Fun story time: I was living in Montreal when Arkham Origins was being developed, and during the pre-release videos I noticed some of the graffiti in the game was taken from around the city. Once the game was released I did a bunch of "detective work" to hunt down all of the graffiti pieces and find their original sources. I think I managed to track down all of them except one. Some were just a few blocks from my home, some were already in my photo collection from prior years, and at least one was in Ubisoft Territory. Anyway, I enjoyed the game just fine, and this connection to where I lived made it a little more special to me.

I have always enjoyed playing Arkham Origins more than either City or Knight. I mean that says all it needs to about the series as a whole. For me it's about the experience, when I play through the series which game makes me feel Batman and the world around him the most and honestly Asylum does the most, then Origins.

The *”That is Fear”* speech goes so hard. RGS kills it as Bats. It’s also a completely understandable way of thinking from Alfred and Bruce as you feel that this is the end of a boiling point between them over the last 2 years. After the events of tonight, you feel them become more emotional about the crusade of Batman. Also I have a good deal of jokers lines memorised as they’re so freaking good, Troy Baker is delightful as the chaotic madman.

This is the only Arkham game I never played, but I really wanted it when it first came out. Although, the online mode looked cool af, the combat looked like Arkham City's but improved, I liked Batman's voice, and the story was interesting. It convinced me that this might actually be the best Arkham game back then, but I did like City's story more.

You gotta admit that Death-stroke Boss Fight was epic

The weirdest thing playing through these games again just recently is that the timing in combat is a bit off compared to the others. The free flow mode doesn't feel as smooth.

12:46 I just want to point out that it seems to be 8 years before Asylum now. In Arkham Knight, in Joker's only audio log, Batman states that Asylum took place 2 years ago. In Arkham City, an Arkham Story (can't remember which) states that Asylum was some months ago (can't remember how many, or if it's specified). In Arkham Knight, it is stated that Firefly and Death Stroke have not hit Gothom in 10 years, with the descriptions of their last encounters matching the events of Origins. Additionally, Nora Fries is stated to have been frozen for one decade, which lines up with Cold, Cold Heart (1 week after Origins). In Arkham Origins, it is repeatedly stated that Bruce Wayne has been Batman for 2 years, making Origins Year 2 of his career, Asylum and City year 10, and Knight year 12.

for me these game are fun and ground breaking mechanically but the stories are the best part and when I'm playing them I find myself trying to slow down so I'm not just blowing through the story and everytime I start a new game save as soon as I'm done with the first gameplay I imediatly start new game plus and play straight through from start to finish!

Best written of any of the Arkham games, and it’s not even close. It’s simply a shame that the game is a technical mess, and while borrowing a lot of the mechanics from the Rocksteady titles, it doesn’t attempt to innovate whatsoever. The area it does contribute to, the multiplayer; an asymmetric hunter/predator game mode was awesome, and its servers going offline was a sad day. The game is the most deserving of a remake.

I felt that Arkham city’s map being back was really cool! I liked that we got to see what old Gotham looked like before it became Arkham City. I don’t understand why that was so hated on in this case

I remember a lot of hype for this game leading up to release. A few websites posted bad reviews the day before launch and suddenly the game was terrible. I have only encountered one major glitch: the floor didn't render and i fell thru. This happened only once. For most part, game was solid and I was playing after midnight launch day one

Cant wait for more content from this channel!

The multiplayer was the most fun I have ever had playing online, it was crafted so well I really wish it was remastered

Lesson in game design. If you’re copying something that’s great (and you’re willing to actually put effort) then you’re bound to have something at the very least decent.

This game is totally fine and is one of the shining examples of, in my opinion, gamers not having a clue what they actually like. When I played this game, it was after asylum, city, and knight. Its not that different, and the jokers introduction is memorable.

This is my favorite Arkham game out of the 4. I love all 4 so dearly. There is no “bad” game. They’re all good & this one takes my top spot. I’m sick of people saying “Arkham trilogy”, it’s “quadrilogy”, give the game its respect. Definitely needs a remaster.

It's prequels like Arkham Origins that make me still in awe at how good Red Dead Redemption 2 was as a prequal to RDR1

Here's the thing about Origins. I didn't hate it like everyone else did. But I also had a hard time getting sucked into it. Not because it was basically a City clone, but because of the stupid game breaking bugs at the time. I remember getting this on PS3 at launch. I had just gotten to the first battle with Deathstroke and the game straight up froze on me. I couldn't do anything. After that I just put it down and decided to play other things. Since then I tried to play it on PC and it's better, but I still just can't devote a ton of time to it and put it down again. I have to force myself to finish it some day

I have always praised the boss battles in this game. That's the feature that stuck with me the most and made me enjoy it so much.

According to Arkham Knight, Origins takes place 10 years before Knight, And Asylum was 2 years before Knight, so it was 8 years before Asylum. Should have been closer to 20 years imo

When it first came out Arkham Origins was definitely underrated and does so many things very well and in many cases better than Arkham Knight. The game has a great story and fantastic characterization, with Batman, Alfred, Joker, Gordon and Bane being the standouts, the boss fights are all memorable and the best without a doubt in the Arkham series (although overall the Mr. Freeze fight from Arkham City is the best) and it's certainly better than any boss fight in Arkham Knight or even Arkham Asylum. It's also the only game where you can go to the Batcave. Not to mention that it also has the best DLC out of all the Arkham games with Cold Cold Heart. I also adore the music and soundrack composed for the game by Christopher Drake. In last few years people have gone back to the game and have praised it a lot more for its story, characterization and nuances in its story. I would also say that it's the only game in the series where Batman's character arc feels prevalent and integral to the story.

18:50 has to be one of my favourite conversations in the whole Arkham series just shows the rage and vengeance early Batman uses to fuel his crusade

Great review 👍

It's my favorite of the series. Incredible game.

I’d argue that this game has the best story out of all the games.

Love your content

I got this game at launch, on PC, I was kinda sad to find out that Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill weren't reprising their roles, but upon playing through the game, I wasn't bothered at all. The game definitely felt like a mechanically better Arhkam City, and while I felt it, I couldn't be mad, as it still made it a good game overall. A little bloated in terms of story, but good. In the early days, the game was also pretty glitchy. I had many instances of just getting stuck in rooms, or ventilation shafts, but nothing to hurt the overall experience. They were funnier than anything else. I actually did put a good lot of hours into the multiplayer. Even though I don't play those games for it, it was surprisingly fun. Not the best, but a nice little asymmetrical multiplayer experience, being able to play as the Jokers, the Banes, or Batman and Robin. It was nice for killing time, and hearing your respective gang leaders cheer you on for doing well, or berate you for losing, was fun, especially when you got to PLAY as Joker/Bane for a bit, with their different playstyles.

My favorite Christmas game of all time

My favorite part about Origins was the dlc that let you go through the league of shadows training as Bruce. It was a good mix of combat and predator maps.

Normally I'd lambast the "who cares as long as the acting is good" mentality, but with legacy characters like most superheroes who have dozens of different continuities I think it's fine to have inconsistent voice casting.

A great video to come out when the Arkham games are on a sale on steam for a great price.

Yes! I can't wait for your video on Blackgate. I know it's not the best game ever but I played it for hours on my 3DS.

Arkham Origins was my first T rated and Arkham game ever. I remember trying to beat slade for WEEKS I would delete and restart from scratch to keep playing and it was something special when I finally beat him with 1 hp. It holds a special place in my heart! I still play this game every time I plug in my ps3 I really need to go back and 100% my save file(s) Edit: and I could actually see when it was snowing ARKHAM KNIGHT 👉🏽

Been replaying the entire series on Steam Deck. I loved Origins back then and I still play it on Xbox Series X but I'm still super hyped to replay this one. And maybe I'll finally get all of the Riddler trophies in Arkham Knight...

I remember hearing something along the lines of, all of Batman's history in comics was condensed into a 7 year timespan after a crisis event, so the game saying that Asylum happened 5 years after origins (7 years total since Bruce became Batman) might have been keeping in line with that continuity change. If I misheard can someone please correct me?

Origins had the best boss fights and a great representation of how a young inexperienced Batman should be but from my gameplay the controls are weird in stealth, you’d try to enter a grate but instead you’d snap to cover, you’d try to grapple but end end up grabbing a random ledge in your path.

I still have it on ps3 and played it during last Chrismas - New Year holidays.

It’s wild how Arkham Knight took such a step backward with boss fights after Origins….Origins collectively had the best boss fights. I mean, it didn’t have that epic Mr Freeze fight, but the rest of them were great, especially Deathstroke and the different Bane fights. I personally liked the Shiva fight too

I've had a lot of fun playing Origins on release, but in the end, the game being "same as City, but more" burned me out hard, and I to this day haven't played Knight. Perhaps, the inevitable review of Knight will push me into finally trying it for myself.

Keep it up on your work and this video and channel I love this video and channel Thanks you for your video and channel I ❤️ Batman Arkham All franchise

The cut scenes are awesome, start the game and walk in the city or on the rooftops or wherever you like.. there is so much details, arkham origins is hands down the best arkham game there is.

Origins and Knight I definitely appreciate more now, both had some technical problems that also hurt them because Asylum and City were 2 of best running games at the time. Everything is mostly fix now on PC and better with some mods . I play all of them every couple years.

Keen to see your take on BlackGate, I just started playing it myself.

11:15 Kinda like an 'n' haha, good video

My man here Dunking on concussion detonator, let me show you how its used brah, you see two groups of goons that are not too far apart, you throw the detonator on a guy with a gun, and that will give you some time to throw a smoke on the other group before being spotted, now both the smoke and the detonator will go off at the same time and you can make your mayhem, either that or you throw it at some goon in predator encounters to bait everyone while you takedown another goon that is far away. the delay is pretty good to set up another gadget at the same time the detonation goes off.

I'm a massive Arkham fan, and the worst part of Origins (for me) was how Janky the game was. Framerates drop like crazy, alot of clipping, sound effects and ques sometimes don't match what's on screen. It's an Arkham game that doesn't feel as polished as it's brothers. But at the same time, Origins had an awesome story and some of the best boss fights in the entire series. The introduction of Bane and Joker gave me Goosebumps.

You know what the Arkham Origins map reminds me of? It reminds me of one of those Bethesda game mods that adds new content, but of questionable quality, in the out-of-bounds parts of the map. Like, being able to see the Imperial City from the top of the Throat of the World in Skyrim, but now having a mod that lets you walk *to* it. But when you *get* there, it feels like a low-res ghost town. Arkham Origins is like that, but for Arkham City.

i first played it just after christmasd of 2022 and it was then my favourite arkham game

Great Christmas season game to play!

I love this game and it’s a shame there’s no re release on new gen console 😢

Did anyone have trouble unlocking certain achievements for Batman Arkham Origins on PC? Like the Deathstroke achievement? Lady Shiva achievement? Or the Worst Nightmare Rank achievement? Can it be completed if I set the difficult setting to easy?

when i marathoned all the arkhham games last summer i felt i really like orgins as a whole. it has the best boss fights in the series.

20:20 honestly because I grew up on Batman The Brave and the Bold, Diedrich Bader is my default Batman voice

Honestly, I never minded the casting choices for this Batman game. Then again, my childhood Batman show wasn't TAS, it was the one simply called "The Batman", which ran from 2004 to 2008. They had some of the most insane character designs and casting I've ever seen. They had Clancy Brown as Mr Freeze, Ron Perlman as Killer Croc, Robert Englund as Riddler, Adam West as the Mayor, and Dan Castellaneta as Scarface. Those are some wild choices that really worked IMO.

Played the multi-player on the 360...ALOT and let me tell you it was magnificent

The battle with DeathStroke was epic

because of i am the knight mode its by far the most ive replayed a game lol so i know the story inside and out, i could probably speedrun it at this point

Honestly, Kevin Conroy was the GOAT for Batman. The only other voices I really associate the character with are either Adam West's, Christian Bale's, and Diedrich Bader in Brave and the Bold (Hoss Delgado in Billy and Mandy btw) and the last one would definitely be my choice to take up the mantle because of that association.