Batman: Return to Arkham

 PlayStation 4
User Score
8.6

Generally favorable reviews- based on 488 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 405 out of 488
  2. Mixed: 56 out of 488
  3. Negative: 27 out of 488
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  1. nerrstyBthirsty
    Oct 28, 2016
    4
    Marred with too many technical issues to be considered a finished product, Return to Arkham left a bad taste in my mouth. While the uncapped and inconsistent frame rates of these titles is certainly a problem, that's not even the worst of it. Arkham City crashes occasionally, has bugs that weren't present in the original release, and even shipped with an untextured character model. OneMarred with too many technical issues to be considered a finished product, Return to Arkham left a bad taste in my mouth. While the uncapped and inconsistent frame rates of these titles is certainly a problem, that's not even the worst of it. Arkham City crashes occasionally, has bugs that weren't present in the original release, and even shipped with an untextured character model. One that you encounter during the Identity Thief side quest. Yes, we've officially entered Silent Hill HD Collection levels of laziness with this port.

    Arkham Asylum fares a bit better. While it runs at a lower frame rate than Arkham City does, and while both titles suffer from frame pacing and stuttering issues, Arkham Asylum at least doesn't crash. And though its frame rate is uncapped, it manages to be more consistent at reaching a somewhat stable 30fps. It's not perfect, but the version of Asylum in this release is definitely worth playing.

    The new visuals being a major plus point to Asylum. While you can argue that the game has lost some of its atmosphere in the process of changing these visuals, there's no denying that the game looks pretty darn good. The new rain effects are fantastic,and the lighting is a lot better than I was led to believe it would be from the trailers.

    Arkham City also features enhanced visuals, but I don't believe they're as prominent as what we see with Asylum. It's certainly a cleaner looking game than its original release, with its improved resolution, and the new effects added like stronger lighting and ambient occlusion don't go unnoticed. For all intents and purposes, it's a fine looking game. Which only makes the issues that are present that much more frustrating.

    I love the Arkham games. I consider Asylum and City as two of the greatest video games ever made, period. But Return to Arkham doesn't exactly do them justice. As said, I appreciate the new visuals, and at their core, the games are as great as they've always been, from a design standpoint. But when crashing, inconsistent frame rates, and bugs start to rear their ugly heads (again, especially in Arkham City), you have to question whether the trade-off for the improved visuals is worth it or not.

    I would love nothing more than to say Return to Arkham is a fantastic remaster of two of the greatest games ever made, but in its current state, it's kind of an unfinished mess. If a patch were to come along and alleviate the issues I mentioned, expect my score of this game to go up to a 9, easily.    … Expand
  2. ILikePumpkins
    Jun 22, 2019
    1
    I have to say this is one of the worst if not the worst game I have ever played, I constantly run into glitches and poor game development and its just overall a horrible game that ruins the name of Batman. I highly reccomend anyone interested in getting this game try it beforehand because in my opinion it is a huge waste of money.
  3. Julian081403
    Jul 1, 2020
    0
    These are the worst game i've ever played now the bar is low considering I use reviews to judge most of my purchases but these games are BEYOND overhyped. I purchased this game after I was done finishing the excellent Spider-Man PS4 and desperately chasing anything similar and in my research I have found that it runs in comparisons the most with this game, WHICH IS AN INSULT. ArkhamsThese are the worst game i've ever played now the bar is low considering I use reviews to judge most of my purchases but these games are BEYOND overhyped. I purchased this game after I was done finishing the excellent Spider-Man PS4 and desperately chasing anything similar and in my research I have found that it runs in comparisons the most with this game, WHICH IS AN INSULT. Arkhams combat is boring as long as you mash triangle you can beat this game no problem. This game should be called Batman Triangle there are no punishments for mashing triangle. You will never miss your counters and it will always do damage. Now what is the story in all of these games. Put simply lazy, Batman only seems to not even acknowledge in all of these games what is happening around him with zero emotion. I was desperatly waiting to play as ANY OTHER CHARACTER cause then I would actually have the slightest amount of emotion. If there is any good thing about these games it is the art stlye but thats it. I fell asleep 4 times while attempting to play arkham asylum and i really bullied myself to finish it after spending $30 dollars on a collection that I tried to lie to playstation too to get some kind of money back. I feel like I should have been paid to finish any of these. This game really makes you feel like an idiot for paying money for this game… Expand
  4. B-Bog
    Apr 19, 2023
    4
    F**k me if these games don't have one of the worst and most frustrating combat systems I've ever had the misfortune of encountering in a video game. You constantly get swarmed by an ABSURD number of enemies, giving you no chance at all do do anything other than mashing triangle in order to counter, let alone maybe getting to do something cool with the myriad of gadgets you have. And notF**k me if these games don't have one of the worst and most frustrating combat systems I've ever had the misfortune of encountering in a video game. You constantly get swarmed by an ABSURD number of enemies, giving you no chance at all do do anything other than mashing triangle in order to counter, let alone maybe getting to do something cool with the myriad of gadgets you have. And not only do the enemies always outnumber you 5, 10, even 20 to one, but they each also take a laughable amount of hits to knock out. You could, in theory, do a ground takedown once you've knocked them down, but in practice, you will NEVER have a chance to do that in open combat because you will always get interrupted and take a hit, so it's not even worth attempting.

    And honestly, the stealth encounters with a room full of armed guards might not be as infuriating as the fist-fights, but they are giant pace killers and not really fun, either, to the point where I found myself audibly groaning whenever I stumbled into one of these. The mechanics are just way too restrictive to make stealth feel rewarding in this game, like it does in e.g. Metal Gear Solid.    … Expand
  5. pooya_oa
    Mar 17, 2023
    1
    Sometimes you hate a game and sometimes the game is even too poor to be hated.
    Very bad remaster. The graphics are outdated and dull with a low frame rate. The voice-acting and voice-over videos were amateur. The game mechanics are boring (spoil Circle and Triangle).
    The game gave me no feeling. I was so bored I could not play any more than an hour.

Awards & Rankings

57
#57 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2016
69
#69 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2016

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 17 out of 28
  2. Mixed: 11 out of 28
  3. Negative: 0 out of 28
  1. Hobby Consolas
    Dec 6, 2016
    80
    Batman is back on its two first iterations from Rocksteady. Both game keeps being awesome in its mechanics and storytelling, but Virtuos has added new colors that made the games less darker. The games shows new textures and lighting, but its frame rate is less stable than on the original games. Anyway, worth playing if you haven't already.
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  2. Worth Playing
    Nov 9, 2016
    75
    Batman: Return to Arkham is a good, but not great, package. The games have both aged very well and are still plenty of fun to play, and the remaster allows newcomers to experience them. However, the inconsistent remastering job means that it's tough to be overly impressed. Return to Arkham is effectively a mediocre port of two excellent games. If you've never experience the Arkham games before, then this is a good starting point, but returning fans may be more disappointed than excited by some of the changes. There's still a lot to like in the collection, and the nagging flaws aren't enough to distract from the excellent games.
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  3. XGN
    Nov 1, 2016
    80
    Return to Arkham contains two fantastic games, with a visual upgrade. Both games are still fantastic, but Asylum has lost some of it's charm. Also both games suffer from occasional framedrops, but nothing drastic. So this is definitely worth your money!
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