Batman: Arkham Asylum director Q&A - PAGE 1

At this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego, amidst sweaty cosplayers and comic fans hunting for swag, we found momentary refuge in Warner Bros. booth.  Here, we got a unique opportunity to speak with Batman: Arkham Asylum game director Sefton Hill, currently working at Rocksteady Studios in London. 

With clamor of countless fans chattering excitedly in the background, we conducted a little interview session right on the show floor, delving into the motivation behind Arkham Asylum, and some major twists fans won't want to miss.

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Lydia Sung (Neo):  Obviously journalists keep updated on the game and all these trailers are coming out talking about the combat and what not.  Why don't we start off with what you'd like to say to those who might not know as much about Arkham Asylum and are approaching it for the first time?

Sefton Hill:  Well I think the main thing for us was creating a Batman game, rather than any particular genre of game, so not focus just on the fighting or just on the stealth or predator.  We really wanted to encompass all the different elements of Batman so when you play the game, you get to really feel what it's like to be Batman. 

That was kind of the key thing for us, so I really hope that when people really get to play it, you know, that's the main thing they come away with, to get that kind of experience with what it's like to be Batman, to be this ultimate superhero.

Neo:  Can you detail a few ways the game stays true to the whole Batman experience?  Fans are really into that.

SH:  Yeah, I mean one of the great things were the license that we have.  It's the comic book license, so it's 70 years of Batman history to draw on.  So you know we have all the great characters in there; Joker is obviously the main antagonist in the game.  We also have Harley Quinn in the game, for the first time, with her relationship with the Joker. 

And I think one of the big things for the game that fans are really gonna enjoy is -- for us -- the main important thing is Batman's relationship with these villains you know.  I think what defines Batman, and what makes him really interesting is he has this great array of supervillains.  And that's so different to a lot other comic characters where the hero is so good, but they don't have this great array of villains who could all have their own games. 

And it's that relationship which drives all of them, so the game essentially is about Batman's relationship with Joker, Batman's relationship with Harley, Harley's relationship with Joker -- how he treats her, mistreats her, abuses her, you know.  I think what fans are really gonna enjoy is that it's not dumbed down.  It's about what you like when you read the comics, what I like when I read the comics.  It's about the characters; it's not just flat out buildings just for the sake of it!  It's about these characters and how they interact.  And I think that's what fans are going to enjoy most.

Neo:  Speaking of the villains, I know you guys also had the announcements where you detailed some of the Arkham villains, and we also had the villains trailer.  Are there any villains that we haven't seen yet, that you guys are keeping under wraps?

SH:  So the big villain that was announced yesterday, I think, was Scarecrow, and that's the next big one that's come out.  Scarecrow is an awesome villain, and it's a great opportunity -- great design for Scarecrow as well.  So as with Harley Quinn, we've kind of maybe moved a little bit, cut a real original kind of design work with WildStorm -- you know Jim Lee's WildStorm.  It's come out with a really original feel for Scarecrow. 

He was the last of the main characters.  Now we got Scarecrow, Harley Quinn, Ivy, Bane, Joker, uhm, Killer Croc, so a great cast of characters.  The important thing is that all those character play a really significant role in the story.  They're not just throw-away characters.  Every time you meet these characters, they change the story in there.  There's twists and turns, and again that's really true to the comic book roots, you know.  Characters aren't just thrown in for the sake of it.  You know these characters play an important role and their objectives -- sometimes their objectives are even fighting with each other.  I think that makes them much more interesting and three dimensional, than the kind of normal standard antagonist in the game.

Neo:  Aside from the villains and Batman, are other good guys gonna play a major role?  I know Oracle's in it, and I saw Gordon in the beginning, right?

SH:  Yeah, so Oracle and Gordon are both in the game, and I mean essentially the core concept behind the game is that Joker has trapped you in the Asylum on your own.  But obviously Batman will use Oracle for information.  No one really tells Batman what to do, but he will use her as a source of information for things that are sort of happening outside of his sphere of influence.  And Gordon is on the island as well, and Batman will work with Gordon a bit obviously.  You may have seen in some of the trailers that Gordon gets taken hostage quite early on in the game, but you know mainly it's focused on Batman versus the villains. 

And also the Asylum itself was a big character for us because it's such a great location.  It's been affected so much by the history of all these characters that have passed through it.  And we really wanted to take the opportunity to create an environment that was a character in and of itself as well, and the environment goes on a journey as well over the course of the game.

Neo:  I know you say that the game is gonna stick really close to the whole essence of what it's like to be Batman, and a lot of the videos we've scene, they do show off his gadgets, combat style, since he has no super powers.  So what's the greatest challenge in that -- creating a true to the Batman experience?

SH:  The greatest challenge?  I mean, I guess the greatest challenge for Batman is that he's always such a multi-faceted character, and encompassing all those facets in one game, you know, with the combat, we really wanted at kind of unique combat system, with the predator aspect.  We didn't want just another stealth character.  We wanted a unique take on creating this fear in villains, so I think it's more the kind of scope of stuff you need to do to really, really realize who Batman is.  You know, with anything -- the great thing about that is it gives us challenges as designers so it makes us think of new and interesting ways to do things. 

So for example, obviously Batman can't kill, so we need to figure out, you know, like how do we manage that?  But that makes it really interesting 'cause it means as a player you need to think about how to take people down without killing.  It gives a sort of new dimension to the game.

So I wouldn't feel it was restriction as much as an opportunity, and we always saw it as an opportunity to make something that was much more true to who Batman was rather than just a generic shooter.  We would just have a reskin of Batman, it could just be any other game.  We wanted this game to be a Batman genre, so you couldn't take Batman out and put any other character in it.  It just wouldn't make sense, you know.  It's only Batman; that's the only character who would fit in this game, and that was so important for us.

Neo:  That's why he's everyone's favorite hero, right?  The world's greatest detective.

SH:  (laughing) Absolutely, yeah. 

Neo:  I noticed that the game's demo, you can choose to take them down directly -- the villlains -- or use stealth, where you jump on the gargoyles.  Throughout parts of the game, are you going to have that choice of how you want to perform the takedown.  Will it affect the progression of the game or it tell you how to do this, or if you have to hide or whatever?

SH:  Yeah, I mean most of the game is about you making the decision on how you want to do your approach and sometimes, you know, we watch a lot of people play the game.  Some people are much more aggressive and will jump in, fists flying, you know, dodging bullets, jumping over people, trying to get the best time, doing it as quickly as possible.  And that's a very dangerous tactic, I mean that isn't strictly speaking how Batman would do it.