Batcave Challenge Map
I understand that Rocksteady has put a lot time and effort into trying to make the best Arkham experience. However, the full Batman experience just isn't complete without a Batcave or Wayne Manor. Even though we have the clock tower and Panessa Studios, I cannot find the game complete until the iconic Wayne Manor and Batcave have been introduced into a playable environment.
A DLC could even be made into it. Red Hood breaks into the Batcave to steal some Wayne technology for his Arkham Knight armor. After the story of the DLC plays out, players could explore the Batcave and all of it's little Easter Eggs (which this game surprisingly lacks). Players could change their skin and batmobile and speed out into Gotham City like we saw in the cinematic trailer. Perhaps we could even access it from secret passages from the interior of Wayne Manor. It could take place before the Knightfall Portocol was activated, so everything is still in tact.
I could easily see myself spending my money on something like this. What are your ideas for possible stories regarding the Batcave and Wayne Manor that you think would be interesting? But seriously, the answer is: a new kind of challenge map. Now this isn't like your typical challenge map. It's more like a large challenge campaign without modifiers/Arkham Episode.
There was a statue construct of Batman in the hallway to the right of the T-Rex in the Batcave Challenge Map. There was a reference to Jason Todd.
Basically, it's has the 'running the gauntlet' element of the challenge campaigns, with the small narrative aspect of the Arkham Episodes. This challenge map takes place in the Wayne estate, meaning Wayne manor (outside and inside) and the Batcave, during the day, and the player has to go into several rooms inside the manor and complete a series of challenge rooms. The player starts outside of the manor and has to run up to the front door and open it. At the entrance, there's a table with a key.
The key will have a name of a room on it, and it will be randomized each time you play. The player then has to go to that room and complete the challenge there. After the challenge is completed, the player will have access to a new key and so they have to go to the next room.
Example: first key says, 'Wayne manor dinning room'. The player goes to the locked door of the dinning room.
It will tell the player what kind of challenge awaits and what the requirement is. In this case, it's free-flow combat and the player cannot get hit. The player opens the door and a bunch of thugs have trashed the dinning room! Free-flow combat ensues. The player completes it without getting it. They get a new key and head to the next room in the manor, 'Wayne manor east hall 2nd floor'.
Challenge: predator - complete the three objectives without being seen, etc. The player keeps completing rooms until all have been cleared, and there are MANY. Once that happens, they have to go the famous grandfather clock in the main study and set the time to 10:47. The grandfather clock will move and reveal the Bat-poles! The player slides down and reaches the Batcave. The final set of challenge rooms are located here, in the various areas of the Batcave.
The score for this challenge map is generated like this: there are three stars like usual. The scores are regular numbers, as opposed to time. However, time plays an important part. At the end of the challenge, the time the player has taken to beat the challenge map will be turned into a score. Generally, the faster the time, the bigger the score. Although, this is just one part of the overall score. Another factor is how well you did in the combat and predator sections.
Batcave Break In
Like in the main campaign, you will get graded at the end of each combat and predator scenario. The total of all the combat and predator sections will be added to the overall score at the end of the challenge. The last part of the overall score is how many retries the players used.
There's a total of 3 retries, like in the challenge campaigns in previous games. A retry is used whenever the player fails an objective. Example: one combat room's challenge is do not drop your combo, like Combo Master. Dropping the combo results in a loss and the player can either use a retry to continue and try again or start the challenge map from the beginning.
This challenge map would be much better than Wayne Manor and the Batcave in free-roam/challenge maps brought from AC to AK as it would give Rocksteady a chance to create a full-fledged Wayne Manor and Batcave that has actual meaningful use, while still being free-roamable and littered with easter eggs. There can be several secret passage ways that the player can use to get from one room to another quickly in order to get a better time. Characters that don't know about those secret passage ways won't have access to them of course, like Catwoman in AC. There can even be several entrances to the Batcave, so if the player is closer to one entrance than another, they can use the one that's closer to get to the Batcave quicker, while doubling as way to easter egg the various Batcave entrances that have appeared in Batman media throughout the years. These extra entrances, along with the secrets passages are well hidden though, and the player has find them themselves (it won't show up in detective mode).
Rocksteady can also take it a step further and make The Riddler the main schemer in this challenge map. It will provide a great story reason as to why Batman has to get these keys to enter the rooms in his own home. And why the secret passages don't show up in detective mode (Riddler has messed with them in order to stop Batman from 'cheating', but they still work, unknowingly to Riddler).
Of course, the other playable characters can play in this map, but Batman is the 'main character' for the map. Making Riddler the main schemer would also be a great opportunity to include some puzzles in this challenge map. They can be either gadget puzzles (perhaps Riddler puzzles taken from the main game or the entire series), or Batman trivia, like 'In what year was Batman created?' , 'Who played Batman in the 1989 movie?' Maybe even both. And the puzzles/questions can also be randomized every time the map is played to keep them fresh. Or instead, for puzzles, Riddler has taken hostages and has placed them in death trap rooms, like in AC.
So from time to time, the player will get a key to a death trap room where they have to save the hostage. Rocksteady can incorporate trophy puzzles from the entire series in the death trap rooms and randomize them each time the map is played to keep it fresh. A tank battle challenge room would be cool too, but can't happen in the manor for obvious reasons. A Wayne Manor Courtyard 'room' would be nice to have as it doubles as an area for a tank battle and just another cool free-roamable area, with a chance to find some easter eggs (like the well Bruce fell in as a kid) and to look at daytime Gotham a bit more. Of course, the other characters can't drive the Batmobile, so this challenge room is exclusive to Batman. Also, Riddler themed tanks (just green spray paint over the militia's tanks) would look really cool.
And if Rocksteady wants to go the extra mile, they can use this challenge map as an opportunity to include a boss rush mode: after clearing a certain number of rooms, the player will be given a key to a boss room, where they fight a boss from the series. Example: clearing 4 rooms gives the player the key to 'Wayne Manor Cellar', where they fight Solomon Grundy, his fight being the same from AC. Clearing 2 more rooms gives the player the key to 'Wayne Manor boiler room', where they fight Arkham Asylum's Bane. In the Batcave, one room can be against Ra's, etc. Certain characters can even have bosses exclusive to them. Like Two-face for Catwoman, Harley Quinn for Robin, Black Mask for Red Hood, etc. Boss appearances can also be randomized each time this map is played so not every single boss has to be included at once, and so multiple bosses can use the same room.
Like Clayface can appear in the boiler room instead of Bane. Of course, this boss rush mode might be a little too much to do, so just the regular challenge rooms is fine. Also, a day/night cycle could be awesome.
After spending a long time in the challenge map, it'll become night and some easter eggs can only be found then. A day/night cycle isn't necessary though and could be left out. This 'Siege on Wayne Manor and the Batcave' gauntlet challenge map would be A LOT more work than just bringing the AC Wayne manor and Batcave maps to AK, but it would also be much better, more worth it, and would give locations from the actual main campaigns of the previous games a better chance to appear in the community challenge pack, with maybe even one from Arkham Origins, preferably Blackgate Prison's predator room, as Blackgate is the only major location Rocksteady hasn't done. Seeing their version of it would be very cool. Of course, a Blackgate gauntlet challenge map with the challenge rooms being the various areas of Blackgate would be cool as well. But that's going overboard.
Actually, an Arkham Asylum gauntlet challenge map sounds amazing as well. And of course, I don't expect Rocksteady to implement my idea just because I want them to. I'm not gonna throw a fit if CODA or the rest of the team at Rocksteady overlook this. I just had an idea and felt like sharing it. And if Rocksteady wants to do something big with Wayne Manor and the Batcave, well then, this idea is out there for them to use.
And I'll gladly pay $15 for it. WB GAMES LOGO, WB SHIELD, and all related characters and elements are trademarks of and © Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (s14) BATMAN: ARKHAM KNIGHT software © 2014 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.
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