My Arkham Origins Wishlist

  Arkham Origins is nearly upon us and there still are a lot of details being left out. Which is great, I really do enjoy surprises. I do have a lot of hopes for this upcoming title however, and a lot of these hopes go beyond a wish-list of villains (even if that is part of it.) There are a lot of rumours from a lot of sites discussing the possible villains. I'm going to try and avoid speaking specifically about that. Or at least try to avoid talking about who I think the other assassin's will be. Any villains here would be more of a side-mission/cameo style desire. Regardless my wishlist for Arkham Orgins begins with;

1. The Riddler - More Riddles, Less Platforming.

  Now to be fair. I instantly mentioned a villain, yet this one is less about the villain and more about the set up. The Riddler gameplay is probably my favourite in both Arkham Asylum and Arkham City. Yet I must admit that replaying Arkham City there was one thing that did bother me (just a little) and that was how many of the Riddler trophies were actually physical puzzles. Now I know you could argue that we as the player were only using our minds, but in the context of the story it feels a little strange that so many of the Riddler Trophies became skill based. That's why I would like it if the majority of the Riddler gameplay in Arkham Origins were actually the riddles. Solving those and tracking down the right answer was a lot of fun. I'm not suggesting we scrap the skillful gliding puzzles completely. I would just like more riddles comparatively. Of course The Riddler hasn't even been announced for Origins yet. There is the possibility that we won't see him at all. I will be a little sad if we don't but I'm sure there will be a something to keep us occupied none the less.

2. Arkham Asylum and Blackgate.

  This one might seem a little confusing at first. I would love. Absolutely love. Being able to go to Arkham Asylum or Blackgate at any point during the game. Then as and when you defeat the villains, they fill up the cells in the appropriate facility. Giving us the opportunity to still see the villains after they have been defeated in the same way we still get to see Bane, Freeze, Penguin and Riddler in Arkham City.

  Of course this could be a tricky one as in Origins it's been revealed that Batman is not a friend to the GCPD yet. So if this were to be implemented, perhaps it would be a stealth section? A difficult one to set up for sure, but something I think would be appreciated. 

3. Foreshadowing.

  I feel like this one is already a near-certainty. I mean having seen the designs on Joker and Penguin, I personally can see them growing older into the versions from Asylum/City. 

  I don't think we need to necessarily have all the villains or characters that have been in the Arkham games already. Not in actual roles anyway. Perhaps we can have some pre-origin villains. Jervis Tetch before his trip into Wonderland, or Dr. Thomas Elliot before he goes all Wayne. This foreshadowing doesn't just have to be cameo roles of course. It could be anything. Perhaps name dropping Quincy Sharp before Arkham Asylum. This could tie into the Riddler point, but essentially there is a lot of room here to set things up and reference the other games, even if chronologically they haven't happened yet. In Arkham City, the thugs regularly refer to the areas past. Why not make use of that?

4. Randomly Generated Crime.

  I think I may of heard Eric Holmes (@ericholmeslive on Twitter) reference this in the E3 Gameplay Footage. I still want to expand on my own thoughts for this though. In Arkham City, the "random" Political Prisoners being attacked, were really just another side mission. Which was still fun. The thing is once you complete everything there, there isn't much more to do in the City. Just beating on thugs really doesn't mean much after a while.

  I think that Origins, especially with it's large Gotham map, could seriously benefit from having some randomly generated crime. Have lot's of different options like car chases, robberies, muggings, etc. Lot's of things going on and that means even when the main story line is over and all the side missions are done. Players will still feel like they are doing something rather than just beating on people pointlessly.

5. Intimidation.

  In the previous titles, there was an intimidation bonus after you completed a room. To this day I'm not entirely sure how it was measured, but it definitely makes sense. One of Batman's greatest tools is how scary he is. Yet a big part of that is going to be that the criminal community know him, he has a reputation. A reputation that he would not have yet completely earned in Origins yet.

  So let him earn it in this game. There as nothing quite as satisfying as completing a room without being spotted and then interrogating one of Riddler's undercover guys. So why not tie something similar into Batman's overall intimidation levels. Why not make that part of his levelling, or perhaps a completely separate progression? You could be a level 20 Batman who runs around in broad day light and not all too scary, or you could play for keeps and level that intimidation well. 

  The main reason I think this could be fun though, is giving us the option to randomly interrogate anyone can lead to two things. The first being just having fun with random thugs, holding them upside down over the edge of buildings after silently taking down their gang. The second being that we can have some easter egg dialog recorded that theres a chance we'll get to hear when we interrogate them randomly. Either way I feel like it could be one of the most fun things.

6. Costumes and Characters.

  One of my favourite part of superhero games in general are the various costumes. The Arkham games are no different, and the variety given to us in City was awesome. Eric Holmes has already mentioned two (although one was a PS3 exclusive, let's hope he means a timed one) Azrael Batman and 1960s Batman. I would like to see even more. Granted I would also like to see the Arkham City costumes be ported over, but new ones would be even better. Let us see the New 52 suit, let's see the Thermal Suit from the City of Owls. There are several variants we could use just from the Return of Bruce Wayne alone!

  Another factor I would like to see though is, if characters are released as DLC (like Robin and Nightwing) I would like to see us be allowed to use them in the main game as well. They don't need their own story lines and missions. Although some minor side missions would be appreciated, running around as Robin, Nightwing or another character for a bit in Gotham would just increase the games longevity in the end.

  So that's my short wishlist for Arkham Origins, which I am pretty sure will be a great game. Essentially I just want it bigger than the previous titles as it's going to be very hard to make them any better! What do you guys thinks? Is there anything glaringly obvious you think should be in the game that I have missed? Feel free to comment here or sent me a message on Twitter @david_haddon!