List of all Batman gaming series in chronological order of release date

There are many games available that may create debates about Batman Game chronology like Batman Begins, Arkham, Vengeance, Batman Dark Tomorrow, etc.

What is the Best Batman Game to Play?

Batman is one of the most celebrated superhero characters, and there is no wonder in that. Also, many of the fans love the Batman comics, stories, and animated series due to the most awesome antagonist character among all the comics, the infamous “Joker”. Though in the era of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), Iron Man, Captain America, and Spider-man became favorites superheroes for many superhero fans worldwide. But, no other superhero comics can match the level of the Batman storyline, not in the comic universe nor in the cinematic universe.

Also as a superhero character, Batman is an evergreen one, as at one hand he is not celebrated as a superhero in his own universe but identified as more of a vigilante, also on other hand Batman is a tech guru, so with the advancement of real-life technology Batman comics can easily adapt them.

Unlike any other superhero, Batman does not possess any superhuman ability or senses, so the story and the fighting sequences become more real life-like, which makes it more convincing. Also, the personality fusion of an Assassin, detective, tech-genius, and Knight, makes him a unique kind of person, even in the presence of other superheroes in the same scene.

When it comes to gaming media, they’re creating a game with any superhero character is possible, but in most cases, the superhero games end up being boring and kiddish. But, in the case of Batman, it becomes just the opposite, as he has no powers and the fighting are a more strategic approach instead of a brute force attack. You can also see kind of same approaching style and fighting style with Spider-man games. That is why among all other superhero games, Batman and Spider-man games are the most popular.

Why Batman Games are So popular?

Batman’s persona is unique and most convincing among all the superhero characters including DC and Marvel.

• As Batman has no superhero powers, that is why he has to rely on tech and strategy, which makes it a more real life-like scenario.
• The story plot point, twists are some of the reasons why Batman stories are always entertaining and never a boring one.
• Batman is a resourceful guy, and if get to plan a fight, not even Superman nor even Darkside can defeat him, and most people love this personality aspect about Batman. If you can recall the scene of Batman vs Superman – Dawn of Justice, where Batman fought with Superman and almost killed him, you can relate to my words. There are many other scenes in Justice League Comics where Batman had fought against Superman, Wonder Woman, Darkside, and many other superior characters and handled them with strategic techniques.
• As Batman has no powers, that is why do make the Batman stories intense the creators had to create and feature some of the best villain characters against Batman, which gives the scriptwriters chance to create a more intense and dark story.
• Batman stories are more of a psychological thriller rather than a save the world kind of story. That is why Batman stories are darker in concept, more satire in presentation, which makes it a more mature type of content.
• Apart from Batman’s charisma, the most infamous antagonist characters like Joker, Penguin, Ra’s al Ghul, Riddler, Ben, Deadshot, Deathstroke, etc. makes Batman stories a mine of golden contents.
• Batman Games are like playing a third-person action game, with a heavily trained and equipped soldier but not a superhero. Batman games posses even more chances to put more plot points and contain even more twists than the comics or movies. Also, each Batman game features multiple villains in a single game, which makes it even more fun to play.
• They are not like locate, destroy and save the world type, it is more of going through a novel itself, so Batman is the most fun and most interactive superhero game ever, without any competition, even Marvel fans would admit this truth.
• Above all, in real life the story type which can be narrated in a movie or TV show or Comics is not actually good for being narrated through a game, games are usually longer, more comprehensive, and a lot more interactive. But Batman stories are actually very resourceful from the gaming story point of view.

What are the Most Popular Batman Games?

The most popular and must play Batman games are the Batman Arkham Series and the Batman Lego Series. As many players can think that the Batman Lego series is made for the kids, then he/she is wrong, as where there is Batman a mature storyline is guaranteed. Apart from the Batman Lego and Arkham series, you guys can play the Batman Telltale Series and Batman: Enemy Within series, both of these contain 5 episodes each.

There are also many other games available which may create debates about Batman Game chronology like, Batman Begins, Batman Vengeance, Batman Dark Tomorrow, etc. So, in this article, we are going to discuss the Batman Games’ Chronology, as per which you should play the Batman games if you have not played any of them till now. If you are a teenager and anew gamers, you may think, that the Batman games are old, and do not need to be played. But let me tell you if gaming is your passion and you want to be a serious gamer, then you must play complete legendary games like Witcher Series, Batman Arkham Series, Crysis Series, Assassin’s Creed Series, Far Cry Series, etc.

 

How to play Batman Games Chronological order?

Batman Lego Series release date wise

Batman Lego series is actually very famous for its unique style of gameplay and graphics. But, believe me, the Batman Lego series contains a wonderful storyline within the game. If you are a Batman fan then batman Lego series is something which you should not miss. To play the Batman Lego series chronologically, just go play according to the order of release, i.e.

1. Lego Batman: The Videogame
2. Lego Batman: DC Super Heroes
3. Lego Batman: Beyond Gotham 

Lego Batman: The Videogame

It was developed by Traveller’s Tales and was released on MS Windows, PS2, PS3, Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, Nintendo DS, PSP, and OSX Mac. This game featured Batman and Robin fighting crime and criminals in Gotham City. Batman’s most dangerous enemies have all escaped from the infamous Arkham Asylum and divided themselves into three groups of five. The groups are is led by Riddler, Penguin, and Joker with plans to achieve a personal goal. Unlike the other Batman creations from the Traveller’s Tales prior to Lego Batman, this game was not based on a movie story, which makes this game unique. This game also featured Multiplayer gameplay with co-op modes.

Lego Batman: DC Super Heroes

DC Super Heros Batman was developed by the same devs and was released back in 2012 globally on MS Windows, Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, OS X Mac, Wii, Wii U, Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS. Later the game was launched for Android and iOS as well. In this game, the story started at an award show at Gotham City, where Lex Luthor led an attack with the help of Joker, Harley Quinn, Riddler, Two-Face, and Penguin. Batman and robin defeat them and imprisoned them into Arkham Asylum.

Then Superman arrives in the scene to congratulate Batman on the victory. Later Lex Luthor breaks the Arkham prison along with Joker and other thugs to take revenge on Batman and Gotham City. Luthor also gets his hands on a Kryptonite based weapon called “Deconstructor”. Luthor also targets Metropolis for his mob attacks, so that batman become unable to fight on two ends, and to answer this emergency the overall Justice get assembled including Wonder Woman, Flash, Cyborg, Green Lantern, Martian Manhunter, and fought alongside Batman in the final battle where Luthor tried to destroy the Wayne Tower.

Lego Batman: Beyond Gotham

Again developed by Traveller’s Tales and was published by Warner Brothers in 2014. Beyond Gotham was launched on all the available console at the time of launch i.e. Android, iOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS, OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. Along with Single-player modes, Co-Op multiplayer mode was also included in this game.

This story features a really very unique story that has not been covered by any other movies or games, where six members of the seven “Emotional Spectrum” Lantern Corps are all summoned by a mysterious force, revealed to be none other than the Brainiac. Brainiac defeats all the six members and brainwashed them to serve him, then he traveled towards the Earth to gain control over the seventh Lantern corps member “Hal Jordon”.

Batman accompanied by Robin started with pursuing Killer Croc, who at the end hand over a map to his accomplices including Joker, Cheetah, Firefly & Solomon Grundy. Afterward, through various events, the overall Justice League faced the mighty foe, Brainiac, at the same time when Joker and his accomplices are planning for taking over Gotham City. The Justice League members including Super, Flash, Wonder Woman, Martian, and Cyborg, fought through the situation under the leadership of Batman. At the same time, Lex Luthor also joins Joker and his plans and he captured Hawkman. This game also features many cities and many extraterrestrial locations throughout the game. Such a comprehensive and big story that has never been covered in any other media apart from Comics books.

Chronological Order of the Batman Arkham Series

This is the biggest franchise and mainstream series of Batman games. The Arkham Series games not only features the best graphics in all the Batman series but also offers the most interactive and fun gameplay among all the Batman Games. If you do not want to play Lego Batman games, and just want to explore the most famous Batman Video game franchises then the Arkham series is your bet. While playing Batman Arkham games you would never feel like that you are playing a superhero game based on some comic, but you would feel like you are playing an action-adventure role-playing game. Remember Batman Arkham Series is featured in a different universe than the Lego Batman series and the storyline is also not featured as per the release order.

Here is the correct Chronological order for playing the Batman Arkham games according to the storyline:

1. Batman: Arkham Origins
2. Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate
3. Batman Arkham Asylum
4. Batman Arkham City
5. Batman Arkham Knight

While the actual release order was like;

1. Batman Arkham Asylum
2. Batman Arkham City
3. Batman: Arkham Origins
4. Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate
5. Batman Arkham Knight

Batman Arkham Origins

Arkham Origins was released back in 2013 and was developed by WB Games Montreal, also it was published by WB Brother int. The game was developed on Unreal Engine 3 and was launched on MS Windows, PS3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii U platforms. Batman Arkham Asylum featured single player and Multiplayer co-op gameplay campaign modes. Also, this was the only Arkham game that featured Multiplayer mode.

The story starts with Batman intervening in a jailbreak at Blackgate Penitentiary led by Black Mask. Where Batman fought against the hired assassin Killer Croc, and after defeating him Batman comes to know that Eight of the world’s deadliest assassins are trying to kill Batman in order to claim $50 Million bounties on Batman’s head. Now in this timeline, the Joker is still not introduced, and people still do not know about him much. Batman goes to a murder crime scene where he hounds some clues against a potential murderer named Joker. Later James Gordon and Barbara Gordon got involved with the storyline.

Throughout the story, Batman made allies with James Gordon and the GCPD Officers. At the end of the story at the Prison Chapel, Joker tries to goad Batman into killing him but subdued him instead. In the end, Gordon realized that Batman is a valuable ally to maintain the order in Gotham City, hence decides not to chase Batman anymore, believing he can help the city in this darkness.

This creates a very good start to the Batman Arkham era, where the other installments of the series follow the consequences of this story. The graphics were very good, and the gameplay was really a classy one. It is one of the best action-adventure, 3^rd person role-playing game I have ever played.

Batman Arkham Origins Blackgate

It is more like a side story of Batman Arkham Origins itself. But while it is about Batman even the smallest stories can be one of the finest ones. But Arkham Origins Blackgate was not a conventional game like the other Arkham installments. This game was developed by Armature Studio and was launched by Warner Brothers Int. Arkham Origins Blackgate was a kind of a side-scrolling 2.5D game, quite like the Assassin’s Creed Chronicles. The game was initially released in Oct 2013 on the PS3, PSP Vita, Nintendo Wii U, MS Windows, and Xbox 360 platforms.

According to the story, at one night Batman apprehends Catwoman for stealing Government Documents and hand her over to the Blackgate Penitentiary. Two weeks later with the help of Amanda Waller, Catwoman got released and she was instructed to help Ben to flee, later which turn to be a massacre at the Blackgate Penitentiary. The overall chaos was led by the Joker, Penguin, and Black Mask, who also took lots of hostages for leverage. Now Batman enters the scene and started to rescue the hostages one after another. Eventually, the story ends up with the Arkham Origins story itself.

A very good game to play if you like side-scrolling game. The gameplay was quite unique for me and the story was intriguing. But players who only love playing First person or third person perspective games, I do not like this one.

Batman Arkham Asylum

The first game of this series launched back in 2009, and was developed by Rocksteady Studios, but was published by Warner Brother Int. This one was one of the best games from 2009, according to all the aspects, including graphics, gameplay, storyline, everything. People have never played a superhero game like this before, which makes millions of gamers becoming a fan of Arkham Asylum and the game was a huge success.

The story was featured after the events of Arkham Origins, where Joker has already been apprehended and for maximum security, he was transferred to Arkham Asylum from Blackgate Prison. Then Joker launches his master plan to take over the Arkham Asylum along with all the dangerous criminals who are the prisoners in there. Now Batman had to contain the situation and apprehend Joker and all other criminals so that none of them can flee the Arkham Asylum.

The overall game is designed within the Arkham Asylum itself, so the map is quite small. Also, this game did not feature a free-roaming system throughout the map. You can go through the stories only that is how you can go through various potions of the active map. But the game was the first of its kind. The gameplay and the graphics were mind-boggling as per the time of release, so this game is a big thumbs up from me. Do not miss this game, if you are a Batman fan or just want to play a very good game for fun.

Batman Arkham City

Developed by Rocksteady Studios and was launched by Warner Brother Int. in 2011. This game received the Game of the Year award, so keep your expectoration high from this game. The game was launched on PS3, Xbox 360, MS Windows, Nintendo Wii U, OS X, and Xbox One (later).

A big map throughout the city was provided this time, with the fun of free-roaming throughout the map. The story starts with a press conference held by Bruce Wayne where the TYGER mercenaries arrest and imprison him led by Hugo Strange. Also, he disclosed the fact of Wayne’s dual identity as Batman before released him into the prison’s criminal populace. But Bruce managed to save himself and Catwoman along with him. Huge started to commence his big evil plan called “Protocol 10”.

Now Batman and Catwoman start working together to uncover the truth of Protocol 10 and to stop it from commencing. Batman also discovers about the unstable “Titan” formula, which has been mutating with Joker’s blood. Joker was dying due to the formula and needed a blood transfusion, where Batman gave his blood and end up being infected with the same disease. This disease slowly started to turn Batman into Joker’s persona very slowly, in order to make Batman a cold-blooded killer.

This game was so good and so intense that I can assure you, that you would play this twice at least. Also, Arkham City lay down the perfect path for the sequel Arkham Knight.

Batman Arkham Knight

Arkham Knight game was the last loose end of the Arkham storyline to date. The game was developed by Rocksteady Studios and launched by Warner Bros. Back in 2015. The graphics were immense and the gameplay was the best you would see in the Arkham series. Yes, I say again that the Arkham Knight gameplay was the best Arkham series gameplay without any doubt.

This game also featured a huge map and free-roaming features. Also in this one, you would be able to play as Robin and Nightwing at some of the stages. The story is mainly about Batman Fighting against a new Mercenary leader known as Arkham Knight, who is heavily armed even more than an Army, and who took over the Gotham City. On the other hand, Batman is fighting against the Titan formula which is in his blood, and the original Joker is dead already, but there are others who have been infected by his blood. Also, there are several more side missions and crime scenes that Batman needs to solve. Batman also needs to rescue the firefighters and police officers from the Arkham Knights’ thugs. The story also involves Harley Quinn at a later stage.

The story features a huge vibe of psychological thriller and many flashbacks from the past. Also, it clarifies what happened to the last Robin “Jason Todd” and how Arkham Knight was origin-ed. The game was a pure class. Also, the side missions are very intriguing, including the cases from the Red-Hood. If you want to play one Batman game without caring about the story, then this is a game. Even gamers who do not like playing Batman/superhero games can play this game, and they would end up loving this game for sure.

Other Batman Games

In the other Batman games, Batman: Return to Arkham is not a separate game, but it was a remastered version of the Arkham Asylum and Arkham City developed in Unreal Engine 4, and it was launched back at 2016. So, if you are interested in playing the Batman Arkham series, I would recommend you to go for the Batman Return to Arkham instead of the original releases of Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, so that you can experience better graphics and visuals.

On the other hand, you can also play the Batman: Telltale Series launched in 2016 and the Batman: Enemy Within launched in 2017 series; both of these were developed and published by Telltale Games. Both the series contains 5 episodes each, just play the episodes accordingly. To maintain chronology play the Batman Enemy Within after you finished the Batman Telltale Series. The gameplay is an unorthodox, storytelling type gameplay, with lesser interaction and more story. But the stories were up to the mark, that is why both these series were successful. But, I would suggest that see some gameplay videos on YouTube first about thees Telltale series as many players may not like the gameplay at all, like me. So for them, I would recommend sticking with the Arkham Series only.

To know about this topic in-depth see Wikipedia. 

Wrapping Up

There is another upcoming Batman game that is being speculated to be released sometime in 2021. According to speculation and various sources from Reddit, this upcoming Batman game would be featured within the Batman Arkham universes and timeline, but the storyline would feature a prequel timeline of the Arkham Origins, so there is a big chance of seeing the Joker in full action again. So stay tuned for any new updates about that unnamed Batman Game, and keep enjoying the Batman Arkham Series. Bye for now folks.