Lately, there has been speculation online that the staff for Batman: Arkham Origins is gearing up to work on another, currently unannounced, triple A title. Dual Shockers reports that several Warner Bros. Games Montreal developers, and Arkham origins Lead Game Designer Pierre-Luc Foisy, have profile mentions on Linkedin mentioning a new AAA game title that is being developed for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
In the past, there have been rumors and other hints on social media of a possible Deathstroke or Suicide Squad game in the works, based on the ending for Batman: Arkham Origins and the events of Batman: Arkham Origins Black gate. Now, if the developers want to go in the direction of Batman Beyond, that would be another great idea for a direction of the franchise.
While Batman Beyond originated as an animated series created by Paul Dini and Bruce Timm, the show and premise clearly resonated with fans. Later, DC Entertainment revived the world and characters with the Batman Beyond and Batman Beyond Unlimited comic series. The premise sets a much older Bruce Wayne as a mentor for a new young, teenaged Batman named Terry McGinnis in a futuristic, more high-tech Gotham City. The show featured mostly new rogues for Batman to battle.
In Batman: Arkham City, one of the best alternate costume skins for Batman to wear was the Batman Beyond costume. The costume even featured the detachable arm wings used throughout the animated series. That possibly further fueled the desires for fans to see a new game set in the Batman Beyond universe. Among the New 52 books, Batman Beyond Unlimited is definitely among my favorites.
What I like about Batman Beyond is that even though Gotham City has changed and classic characters have aged and become much older, the city still needs a Batman. In the story, it felt like Bruce Wayne was finally passing the torch. I did not care for the later revelations of McGinnis being Wayne’s genetic son in Justice League Unlimited. However, it did provide some profound drama, as well a conclusion to the Batman Beyond story.
A new Batman Beyond game would be a great chance to have an open world Gotham City of the future to explore. It would be an interesting way to look at the type of affect Batman had on Gotham City after the events of Arkham Knight. The open world of Gotham City in Arkham Knight depicts a Gotham City in recovery, after the events of Arkham City. It appears as if Bruce Wayne is executing many new construction projects to rebuild and modernize Gotham from the ground up.
Of course, if WB Games Montreal had another crack at the Batman franchise, the developer would need to step up its game. The game would need to run a lot more smoothly than Batman: Arkham Origins. Overall, I thought the story for Origins was rock solid; and it did feature a lot of new ideas that were a good progression for the franchise. I would love to see a new Batman Beyond game done in the style of the Arkham franchise for the new-gen consoles.