Rocksteady Games’ Batman: Arkham Knight is looking to be the final chapter in the Arkham series that began with Arkham Asylum and recently traveled in prequel territory with WB Games Montreal’s Arkham Origins. Arkham Knight will see the return of classic villains like Two Face, Riddler, Penguin, Harley Quinn, Scarecrow and a new baddie whom the game happens to be named after.
Of course, you’ve seen a lot of these villains before. How will they be made unique for Arkham Knight? Speaking to Game Informer, art director David Hego talks about how the team “tried to add something to the characters, so you’re still excited about them even after meeting them for the third time. How can we make these guys exciting, even after seeing them again? Every time, we make them look better and better and better, but at the same time, how can we improve the story behind them?”
Lead character artist Albert Feliu also broke down each individual villain’s look, starting with Penguin. “In Arkham City, he’s a collector. He works out of a museum and he looks like he’s in the mafia. This time, we went for autumnal mafia. We took the coat off, and the concept of Penguin was more of a dirty dude. Obviously his shirt is rolled up and sweaty, and he has food stains on it. But still, he’s really powerful. He’s got a golden chain, as well. We had to be a bit crazy with this character, and working with his design. And we shaved his head. He’s proper filthy, you know. It makes you want to punch him even more.
“With Two Face, we thought he was a really strong character already. Half of former prosecutor Harvey Dent was burned by acid, and his clothing has been modified to reflect his scarred exterior and interior.
“OK, that was Arkham City; what can we do to make him look different, right? We just rolled up his sleeves and made him look really next-gen. We took some references of really filthy, burnt flesh – which is what we do most of the time, which is quite cool – and tried to make him look as badass as we could.”
As for The Riddler, there’s a reason he looks so disheveled and we’ll be seeing more of him in Arkham Knight. His overall look remains fairly typical though. “It’s something we try to put in the characters. If you had to work overtime, for example, you would start the night with your jumper on and everything, and as the time went by you’d probably take your jumper off, open your shirt, take your tie off, have a coffee. The Riddler is a character who has a cool framework, and we didn’t want to change it too much – we like his shirts with question marks and silly glasses and greasy hair.”
Batman: Arkham Knight is scheduled to release on October 14th for Xbox One, PC and PS4.