You can suit up in an alternate batsuit from the start of Batman: Arkham Knight

Pre-order bonuses: Can’t live with them, can’t get a decent launch-day discount without them that usually dangles some sort of carrot on a stick in front of you and hoo boy this analogy has run away from me. The Batman Arkham games have always had one bit of cosmetic DLC that fans have always been eager for: Extra batsuits. Arkham City had plenty of them, Arkham Origins had even more and you can bet your WayneTech Research and Development branch that Arkham Knight will have plenty more. But at least this time, you’ll have access to them immediately.

And that’s because usually, players had to slog through an entire Arkham game before they could restart with a custom skin of their choice. That won’t be the case in Arkham Knight, as lead designer Ian Ball confirmed that alternate batsuits would be available from the start, in the Arkham Insider video:

Other cool stuff revealed: The new Dual-Play mechanic. According to Rocksteady, this feature allows for combos between Batman, Catwoman, Robin and Nightwing as players can freely switch between the two in combat. The caveat here of course, being that this will only be available during certain fights in the game. Although I’d bet easy money that Arkham Knight will expand on this feature, in the usual array of Challenge maps.

“It’s fantastic, because we’re able to build these relationships not just in the cinematic sequences, but right through the gameplay, through every aspect of the game,” said lead scriptwriter Martin Lancaster.

According to senior animator Adam Vincent, Dual-Play will allow one player to start a beatdown that can then be finished by another character that you switch to, while an in-game AI takes over to prioritise a new threat. Ball also described the new moveset in place for bat-gadgets, which involves peppering a battlefield with freeze grenades, batarangs and explosive gel as you glide down towards enemies. As for that other mysterious character in the game, Azrael, players  will need to see if the new vigilante goals line up with their own,as Lancaster explained:

He sees himself as Gotham’s new protector. It’s really up to Batman, over the course of the story, to figure out whether this guy’s friend or foe, whether [Azrael’s] motives align with his own.

Which hopefully does not involve the character going balls-crazy and attempting to murder Batman, like he almost did in the comics. The 1990s! Fun times kids! Batman: Arkham Knight is out June 23 on PlayStation 4, PC and Xbox One, along with a ludicrously expensive season pass that’s offering six months worth of potential delights if you can’t wait a year for the 2016 complete edition.

Last Updated: May 11, 2015