Six Batman Games Are Free on Epic Games Store

I *bleep*ing called it! I knew they would screw me again this week when our resident Batman lover, David confirmed that; Yes, part of the 80th-anniversary image was indeed part Arkham and LEGO Batman. I am Nostradamus hear me moan about having six free games to play because the Epic Games store is just giving them away.

I’ll not faff about for long today, usually with only two games to semi-review each week, I have enough time to sit and ingest them. This week, with six games, lengthy download times; and a propensity to be human and eat, I have not played them all for several hours. Thus I can’t give a detailed analysis of every beat in the plots of each game, though I can state unequivocally what the first hour or so is like for a couple of them.

Let’s begin with 2009’s Arkham Asylum (Game of the Year Edition), or shall we say, the combat that launched a thousand and one titles. “Arkham combat,” named after its inventor, a Mr. Bob of Arkham, who thought of the combat when he was shaving with a razor. He stole it from A man named William. Then again Ockham City would be very different; you’d go about telling everyone about your religion, it’d be like living in Ireland. Joking aside, it is what everyone would want from the gritty late 2000s Batman franchise.

This was the first “proper” big-budget Batman game for the modern gamer. Of course, there were instances of Gotham City Racer and Batman Begins (his own movie tie-in), but nothing that stood out (across multiple platforms) as the Arkham series has. With Batman’s complementary cast of villains and side characters all making an appearance; Arkham‘s star is played by everyone’s favorite and least edgy Joker in Mark Hamill. I’ve heard that guy will make it big one day.

As I’ve already said, these are the games that renamed “God of War combat” to “Arkham combat,” so I shouldn’t have to tell you this is a game about Batman punching people. For that is all Batman is; there are some mechanics to solving where someone has gone, though it is fairly rudimentary. The true focus is on what Batman is known for and is good at, punching people.

This is followed by Arkham City (also the Game of the Year edition), with the sequel taking the confined story of Asylum and blowing it all up. There’s a whole district of Gotham (also called “Old Gotham“) to explore, fight crime, and find challenges throughout. This is the one I had played beforehand, and if I remember correctly, it is kind of good. It takes from what came before and explores some new avenues while still holding true to the Arkham combat it had set as the staple.

Then there is an Arkham game I didn’t have time for before the deadline this week, the last in the Arkham collection is Arkham Knight. Yes, that Arkham game that had major trouble running for those on some of the most powerful PCs at the time. I can’t tell if this issue has indeed been fixed for the Epic release or not, though I hope it has as I do plan on playing all three at some point.

With all three of those games featuring some sort of swearing, or heavier themes than Adam West’s Batman (though less racism), those three are for adults. As usual with any of the games on the free weekly Epic Games store giveaway thing: there’s also a family-friendly option. This time it comes in the form of the three Lego Batman games. Once again I have to say my time was restricted with these games, so much so that I only got around to a short snippet of one.

LEGO Batman: The Videogame is what you’d expect from a late PlayStation 2 LEGO game, a silent cast of characters doing basic visual gags and collecting studs. Oh yeah, I’m a master stud collector; though that’s enough about my time on Grindr. The LEGO games are always great for a bit of drop-in co-op fun when you have friends round or if you have a child. You might want to eject all of those humans out of the atmosphere when they die several times over, but that’s fine.

Both the LEGO Batman and Arkham collections are currently free until the 26th of September; when we return to a nice calm double-bill. On the 26th you’ll be able to pick up Everything; no, not the entire storefront, there is a game called Everything. This is accompanied by Metro: 2033 Redux, a remastering of the first game in the Metro series.