![]() ![]() This late in the unicorn era, hundreds of companies around the world have reached a valuation of $1 billion, making the achievement somewhat pedestrian. Our goal is to understand which startup companies are actually exceptional. Today we’re taking stock of a cohort of special companies: still-private startups that have reached $100 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR). With the unfortunate delay of Return to Arkham, the PS4/Xbox One remaster of Rocksteady’s first two Batman games, I decided it was time to forego the waiting and simply replay them on Xbox 360, having picked up each game for a pittance a while back in an Xbox Live sale.Hello and welcome back to our regular morning look at private companies, public markets and the grey space in between. Arkham Asylum would be the natural starting point.įirst released back in August 2009, Batman: Arkham Asylum was incredibly well received by both critics and gamers alike, securing the top spot in sales charts as well as numerous awards, including many Game of the Year awards. This, for me at least, added to the already enormous appeal of a new, original Batman title, despite the trepidation thanks to a number of terrible games featuring the Dark Knight during the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube era.Ĭonsidering it was released in the same year as the mighty Uncharted 2, this makes it all the more impressive.īilled as an action-adventure, Arkham Asylum was actually closer in style to a Metroidvania with new gadgets unlocking access to previously inaccessible areas, as well as the general backtracking throughout the game. ![]() There was just something about the design of Rocksteady’s game that, even in trailers, promised something special.Īnd you know what? It’s still damn special. To this day, it remains my favourite of the entire series. ![]() I enjoyed Arkham City and Arkham Knight immensely, with the latter even securing top spot in my own Game of the Year list last year, but the sheer openness of them both felt too overwhelming next to the tightly designed and superbly paced Arkham Asylum. It even looks great too, thanks to the power and versatility of the third Unreal Engine, and the amazing designers and artists at Rocksteady. Batman looks at once heroic and menacing, his frame bulky and his animations fluid The Joker, in one of his best incarnations to date, is brought to life in stunningly psychotic detail with exquisite animation Bane and Killer Croc are glorious in their oversized forms and Harley Quinn’s star turn is masterful, rocketing her to newfound fame outside of the Animated Series and comics. Yes, I am a Harley Quinn nerd, deal with it. The cast, made up of original voice actors from the acclaimed Batman: The Animated Series, most notably Kevin Conroy as Batman, Mark Hamill as The Joker and Arleen Sorkin as Harley Quinn (though she would be replaced by Tara Strong in later games), turned their respective characters into videogame icons. The entire Arkham trilogy is known for its quality voice acting, and frankly it all stems from that first game. Upon returning to Arkham Asylum, it’s great to see how well it all holds up now. Games have broken new ground in all aspects of gameplay, sound and visuals since 2009, especially with the release of the PS4 and Xbox One, yet here is a seven year old game that can still show how revolutionary it was without the need for rose-tinted glasses. Why was it revolutionary, you ask? Well, aside from its direction and design, its gameplay brought together stealth, action and detective skills in a way that no other game series had done before. Each stealth encounter was a puzzle of sorts as you grapple onto gargoyles that conveniently adorn the high walls of the gothic Arkham architecture, working out when and where to strike the armed goons patrolling the halls. ![]()
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