Every Halloween I return to theArkham games.
Batman is made for Halloween, for shadows and hauntings and pumpkin faces leering from misted windows.
His enemies dress up.
He’s a total treat.
There is a reason for this.
Over the last few weeks, Arkham challenge rooms have been blowing up on Tiktok.
I can’t scroll for more than five videos without seeing one.
You’re up on a gargoyle, monitoring the patrols of oblivious baddies far below you.
You spot one moving close.
Then the button prompt!
But I’ve started to wonder: maybe this move has been holding me back.
Three gels go off.
A final swoop and thump and it’s done.
It turns out I can’t play like that.
These are great maps, tricksy, intricate and deeply evocative, hallowed ground for any real Batfan.
Is that a moving bookcase?
Is that the Batmobile parked on its own plinth?
The pre-Arkham Knight Batmobile?
And then, distracted, the plan falls apart around me.
At least it falls apart with a bit of flair, though.
I’ll glide, but then press the wrong button and fall to the ground in front of everybody.
Challenge rooms are fun if you just breeze in, picking people off as chance allows.
You run away, but not for long.
You’re a cameo in these goons' lives before you take them down for good.
And it reminds me of something.
But actually, it was a stellar move, a show of real confidence.
These challenge rooms are Arkham’s Batman captured in a single moment.
They display everything that’s ingenious and potent and frightening about him.
I remember we played all afternoon that day and had to be turfed out of the venue.
And over a decade later, every Halloween, I’m still back at it again.
