It wouldn’t be anArkhamgame without Batman donning a previously unseen Batsuit andBatman: Arkham Shadowdoesn’t disappoint with Batsuit V3.72. Funny enough, that’s only one ‘suit’ Bruce Wayne wears inBatman: Arkham Shadowas he also disguises himself as Irving “Matches” Malone in order to have himself incarcerated at Blackgate so he can attempt to locate the Rat King. It makes perfect sense whyBatman: Arkham Shadowdoesn’t have bonus Batsuit skins for various reasons, and yet it seems inevitable that a future Arkhamverse game—flatscreen or otherwise—will.
Batman: Arkham Shadowrecently launched its Game of the Year update (v1.4) with a Batsuit, seemingly inspired byBatman: Arkham Knight’s Batsuit V8.05, that has a gold bat symbol/batarangs/accents.
Batman: Arkham CityandBatman: Arkham Knight’s individual Batman Beyond skins demonstrate Rocksteady’s admiration for the titular animated series, while both games, as well asBatman: Arkham OriginsandBatman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, have provided a diverse catalog of miscellaneous skins ranging fromBlackest Night and Red Son to Flashpoint and Zur-En-Arrh. That said, if a wider array of Batsuits is deemed necessary in aShadowsequel, let alone any newArkhamgame, it’d be a tall order worth trying to accomplish to feature a Batsuit as iconic and rare as Batman’s Extreme Environment (XE) suit fromBatman: Arkham Origins’ Cold, Cold Heart DLC.
Batman: Arkham Origins’ XE Suit is One of the Most Iconic Arkhamverse Batsuits
As far as new story-related skins go, onlyBatman: Arkham Origins’ Cold, Cold Heart DLCandBatman: Arkham Knightfeature a debut Batsuit necessary to the narrative. InBatman: Arkham Knight, Batman requires Batsuit V8.03 as an upgrade that’ll enable him to incapacitate groups of enemies (multi-enemy takedowns that amplify stealth and are fueled by ‘fear’), eject from the Batmobile, and grapnel-boost at ridiculous speeds. However, inBatman: Arkham Origins’ Cold, Cold Heart, Batman needs the XE suit so he can safely free victims encased in ice and withstand severe temperatures inside GothCorp.
Bruce Wayne and Alfred Pennyworth had conveniently designed and built the XE suit prior to knowing about Victor Fries or his cryoweapons and it becomes available around halfway through the two-hour-long DLC.
The XE suit is bulky without any of the encumbrance associated with its weight. An insulated armor akin to that ofThe Dark Knight Returns, the XE suit is complete with piercing white lenses and a face mask shield that mufflesRoger Craig Smith’s voice. Plus, between the suit’s thick plating and padding is wiring that glows orange and radiates with thermal energy. Therefore, seeing Batman go toe-to-toe with Mr. Freeze in Cold, Cold Heart is phenomenal as both characters have mechanized suits of armor fit for inclemency.
If a New Batman Game Can’t Beat the XE Suit, It Should Reprise It
It’s a terrible shame that the XE suit didn’t become a skin players could swap to inBatman: Arkham Originsas, despite it increasing the character model’s size, its gameplay was nearly identical with orange Thermal Gloves effects substitutingblue Shock Glove effects. The only unique distinction is that the XE suit comes equipped with thermal-charged Batarangs that break ice formations, resulting in an added layer of strategy in predator encounters where Batman is able to cut stalactites down and knock out enemies underneath them.
Alas, this, too, would have made for excellent challenge maps. Either way,a sequel toBatman: Arkham Shadowcould reasonably feature Mr. Freeze as it’s presumed he and Batman have at least one more tussle before meeting again inBatman: Arkham Cityand donning the XE suit again could be great under such circumstances. Otherwise, the onus is on any newArkhamgame to try to conceive a Batsuit that rivals or outdoes the XE suit in terms of how epic its aesthetic and functions are.
