I agree that a clear focus, rather than a smothering in details, is best at making a game shine. I appreciate what they’ve accomplished with this game and even some complaints I did not express here – chiefly, the depiction of the serial killer Zsasz and the perhaps adequate-but-not-quite-vibrant encounters with Killer Croc – are easy to put aside when most of it is a clear triumph.

When I hit the “publish” button I had a feeling I was forgetting something about Carpenter’s movie but went on for days unable to remember what. Your comment made me realize what it was – that precise scene of suspicion and desperation during the blood tests!

I’d have to say the best answer is perhaps the second one – a chain of events that illustrate certain aspects of the character rather than one central event that escalates into a powerful moment of revelation. Admittedly, I have a tendency to overthink and overanalyze certain situations, but what I found best in the narrative were the subtle touches that lead into possible readings. The Arkham chronicles, for instance, are generally a series of descriptions that on their own would (and often do) fall flat but it’s the moment you collect the final one that reveals their true meaning. Unlike the graphic novel of yesteryear it’s more muted and not as explicit, but its discovery holds about the same power – linking Batman to the growth of the Asylum as an entity, as something that Batman has been feeding over the years (a “job” that the narrator of those chronicles believes the Dark Knight should carry on doing).

I found the Scarecrow encounters also pushed toward this, in the sense that they indirectly reveal Batman’s psyche through architecture and character design. The crumbling platform levels suggested a sense of Batman’s struggle, the chaotic landscape a direct representation of his mind and the more steady platforms the path he carved for himself (an anchor of sanity, if you will) during the nightmares. The last encounter in particular would probably benefit from not segueing into yet another pseudo 2D challenge as its first moments show those “would be” Batmans – handled in a different manner they could be much more revealing.

(A couple of these show Batman suddenly turning into Scarecrow and back, possibly suggesting not only Crane’s constant mental attack but also the possibility that Batman sees in Crane a different kind of reflection – after all, both cause fear on their enemies on not-so-different levels. This, coupled with the sequence where Batman trades places with the Joker, often suggest each major foe has *something* in them that can be constructed as a twisted version of Batman).

There are also times when you can revisit a certain area and find the Joker behind a reinforced glass room, and he’ll go on about certain aspects of Batman’s character and past. It’s a one-way channel into the man behind the cowl, though, as it is not a cutscene. Batman remains under our control but silent, only hearing what Joker has to say.

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts once you play through the game, though

If anything, I noticed that the failures in this game only accentuate its good parts. I’ve often found that a flawed diamond is far more interesting, and beautiful, than a perfect one. And this sounds exactly like the kind of game that I can spend a lot of time with and get to know its unique charm. Ironically, your review does a far better job of convincing me that I need to buy and spend time with this game, than the all-glowing and overtly hyperbolic reviews that focus only upon its positive aspects. I can appreciate a game that focuses upon its subject rather than trying to encapsulate all of it.

One things remains uncertain though, and it’s partly owing to your comparison with Carpenter’s “The Thing” (one of my favourite films). There is a scene in that movie, that I think owes its entire possibility to the space that the science station, the ice, and the characters, set up together. It is the scene when they decide to “test” one another for the alien. While it happens half-way through the movie temporally, the entire narrative focuses upon that moment. It is when the characters finally reveal how horrific the situation is, how they suspect one another, and how inhuman they have become in their desperation. The ice surrounding them that encloses and chokes them into this situation, is not the subject matter of the movie, but the supporting background.

So the uncertain aspect of it – does Arkham Asylum have this kind of focal moment in which the horror/desperation/pain/tension/background of Batman is subtly revealed? Do I learn something about his (in)humanity as the narrative comes together to make one scene possible, or is it more of a chain of events that give me a flavour for his life?

I guess I’ll have to play to find out.