Batman can freely move around the open world of Gotham City, interacting with characters and undertaking missions, and unlocking new areas by progressing through the main story or obtaining new equipment.

Combat focuses on chaining attacks together against numerous foes while avoiding damage, while stealth allows Batman to conceal himself around an area, using gadgets and the environment to silently eliminate enemies.

A variety of post-release content was released for the game, including story-based missions, challenge maps, and skins for Batman and his allies, different historical Batmobile designs, and racetracks.

[2] Many of the gadgets and the gameplay elements from the previous Arkham games return, including the grapnel gun, line launcher, batarangs, the countering system, Detective Vision, and the Remote Hacking Device.

[22] The completion of some tasks is reflected in the Gotham City Police Department, with thugs and supervillains becoming incarcerated, and criminal memorabilia from missions and previous games being collected in the evidence room.

[22] The Batmobile can also be controlled remotely, driven within indoor locations, and used in solving the game's puzzles, such as lowering an inaccessible elevator with its attached winch or obtaining a Riddler trophy.

[49] Arkham Knight also features appearances and voice cameos by various characters drawn from the history of Batman comics and the previous Arkham games, including pharmaceutical businessman Simon Stagg (Philip Proctor),[50] reporters Vicki Vale (also voiced by DeLisle) and Jack Ryder (James Horan),[50][51] police officer Aaron Cash (Duane Shepard),[52] corporate businessman Lex Luthor (Keith Silverstein),[53] crimefighter Kate Kane,[35] serial killer Calendar Man,[54] and mutated gangster Killer Croc (Steve Blum),[55] while the game's downloadable content features appearances by Mad Hatter (Peter MacNicol),[56][57] Black Mask (Brian Bloom), Mr.

Freeze (Maurice LaMarche), Ra's al Ghul (Dee Bradley Baker), Nyssa Raatko (Jennifer Hale), and Nora Fries (Cissy Jones).

[50][62][63] Nine months after the death of the Joker during the events of Arkham City,[64][4] Batman is struggling to cope with the absence of his archenemy and the uncomfortable feeling that the pair shared a bond deeper than either could admit.

[75] Rocksteady opted to use its own team of writers, headed by game director Sefton Hill and designer Ian Ball, with script elements by Martin Lancaster; Geoff Johns served as a consultant on the plot.

"[84] The world's challenges were set out on the vertical and horizontal plane of the map to discourage players from using only one form of movement, with the Batmobile providing a faster method for moving large distances over gliding.

[27] Buildings hit by the vehicle suffer cosmetic damage without slowing the car, as it was considered that being impeded by a collision while turning a corner would diminish the fantasy of driving the Batmobile.

Alongside minor elements like neon lights, billboard advertising, and American-style cars, the team developed ideas for shops that could be found in the city, while retaining a grimy, dystopian theme.

Similarly, they wanted to retain the typical Riddler characterizations like green shirts emblazoned with question marks, but instead had the character design evolve throughout the game, modifying his own costume in response to the events of the plot.

His angular chest plate acts as a means of deflecting the batclaw; his utility belt, in contrast to Batman's, is low-slung; and his gauntlets, boots and armor are influenced by the lightweight design of a fighter aircraft: "highly resistant, unreflective and totally intimidating".

[93] The Arkham Knight's holographic helmet conceals his identity with a robotic voice synthesizer, giving the impression of a ghostly figure, and his visor provides him with a heads-up display to monitor his militia forces.

[94] His suit has a distinct camouflage pattern of "dark greys interspersed with dashes of red [that] enable him to remain concealed between the gloomy shadows and garish neons of Gotham's alleyways and rooftops".

[101][102] The game was originally scheduled to be released during Batman's 75th Anniversary celebration in 2014, and as a result, DC presented the "Cape/Cowl/Create" art exhibit in London in June 2014, and at San Diego Comic-Con in July 2014.

[60] December 2015 saw the release of four "Season of Infamy" missions, which see the Mad Hatter playing sinister mind-games with Batman, with members of the GCPD caught in the middle; Killer Croc escaping from his maximum security cell and wreaking havoc on a crashed airship; the League of Assassins returning to Gotham City in order to restore Ra's al Ghul's health; and Mister Freeze returning to Gotham City, where the Arkham Knight's militia kidnaps Freeze's wife Nora in exchange for his help capturing Batman.

[165][166][167] Dan Stapleton of IGN rated the game a score of 9.2 out of 10, praising the graphics, gameplay variety, detail of the open world, the voice acting performances (particularly of Kevin Conroy as Batman, John Noble as Scarecrow, and Mark Hamill as Joker) and the overall improvement in the combat and predator systems.

[171] Chris Carter of Destructoid, conversely was heavily critical of the Riddler challenges and their requirement for the game's full ending, finding many to be "tedious" while others lacked any resemblance of actual riddles, such as the breakable objects.

However, Roberts did reserve some criticisms, calling some of the Batmobile's additions a "misfire" and deemed it a "mixed affair"; the campaign was described as full of "generally wonky storytelling, sometimes hammy dialogue and unconvincing duo of primary villains."

[179] Other outlets, including Andrew Reiner Game Informer and Sam Miller from Videogamer.com, found the mystery surrounding the character and the eventual revelation of his identity as Todd to be satisfactory.

"[182] Aoife Wilson of Eurogamer was critical of Batgirl's characterization, calling it a "bland, no-frills reading of the character, to be frank, which focuses on her familial connections rather than her youthful exuberance."

[190] Even high-end graphics cards at the time such as Nvidia's GeForce GTX 970 were unable to handle the game well, with users reporting frequent frame rate dips and stutters.

[187][193] On June 24, 2015, Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment announced that it would suspend sales of the Windows version of Arkham Knight to work on addressing the performance issues to satisfy the company's quality standards.

[194] In early July 2015, Kotaku reported that Warner Bros. were aware of the issues on the Windows version, with their sources stating they chose to ship the game as it was, "not to maniacally screw over customers—but because they believed it was good enough.

[212] In December 2014, the UK publication MCV reported that Arkham Knight was the most anticipated title for the region's retailers, ahead of Halo 5: Guardians, Evolve, The Order: 1886, and Uncharted 4: A Thief's End.

[315] Games-Related) In August 2020, Rocksteady Studios announced they were developing Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, which was published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S in 2024.

[336] The co-head of DC Studios, James Gunn, responded to a fan saying Kill the Justice League was not planned to be the last entry in the series strongly implicating more, or at least another game, in the works.