That’s Jim Gordon’s daughter up there. Man, let’s hope this means you’ll eventually be able to play as Batgirl. The folks making Batman: Arkham Origins have already said that Batgirl won’t be a playable character in the upcoming prequel’s multiplayer.
Batgirl won’t be playable, nor did I see any female characters for the thugs. When I asked Cornish about that, he said, “I know guys on the team are very keen to have female representation in games generally, and that goes for me as well, but I think this is about what resonates most with fans. You work out what resonates best.” PR then weighed in to say that they also just wanted to put Batman and Robin together. “Batman and Robin are the classic duo, and also Robin, I guess, more readily comes to mind when you think of Arkham. So that’s really the reason why,” Cornish said. “They are the dynamic duo, they hunt together. If you were to ask a typical fan on the street, not necessarily ‘who would you rather play as’ but ‘what do you think of when you think of Batman?’ Robin would generally come mind sooner than Batgirl.”
But this screen makes me hope that she might be eventually show up in an add-on pack or story expansion. At this point, the character’s incredibly conspicuous in her absence. Throughout the Batman Arkham games, there’ve been all manner of Bat-family members and alternate characters that have shown up for in-game use. Players have even gotten to control villains like the Joker and Deathstroke. If past games are any indication, there’s going to be a long rollout of purchasable additions coming for this game. Batgirl should really be part of it.
Update: The official Instagram account for the Batman Arkham games just updated its stream with the same picture above and the following description:
In Batman: Arkham Origins, players are introduced to a teenage girl by the name of Barbara — someone who fans will later come to know as Oracle. As the daughter of police captain James Gordon, Barb meets Gotham’s mysterious masked vigilante for the first time.
No mention of her time as Batgirl. Weird.
[via NeoGAF]
Comments
17 responses to “In Batman: Arkham Origins, Barbara Gordon Isn’t Batgirl… Yet”
Well I guess her time as Batgirl was kinda after Origins, but before AA/AC. Perhaps leaving some content to fill the gap eh?
Look forward the prequel/sequel, Batman: Arkham in the Middle
XD
Though it may be dlc that is a single 5 min mission that costs about 20% of the full game.
I’d be happy for them to introduce Batgirl and/or Batwoman as long as she isn’t a reskin of one of the other characters- like playing as Robin in the Arkham City DLC, make them mechanically a little different, and give us a new way to approach the challenge maps.
I would play that
A batgirl game would be cool too
Uh… Barbara Gordon was in Arkham Asylum and City… and it was impossible for her Batgirl to be. I don’t know how that makes her conspicuously absent.
Is anyone really going to hold it against a developer, or publisher, if they just came out and said…
Y’know what?
We don’t want our game associated with youtube videos of kids just machinegunning, or beating up, female characters. We don’t want a Fox News story, running footage of our game, talking about how the new murder simulator lets you kill women… and maybe even shoot up their corpse. We don’t want the 3 players who will use a female model, to have a terrible multiplayer experience because they’re hunted across every game by some twelve year old who keeps shouting about rape and repeatedly teabags her corpse.
I would, to the extent that it’s a cop out like saying that homosexual couples shouldn’t be allowed to adopt because their children will get teased/bullied for it when they grow up.
But in my analogy, it’s more like the couple themselves saying they don’t want to get married… to use your metaphor.
To add to that metaphor (and to hopefully further illustrate my view of why I think it’s a weak excuse at best), it’s like an interracial couple deciding not to get married because of the hardship they’d have to endure because of racist biggots.
Sure… but it’s still their choice to make, and I’d prefer them to be honest about their reasons.
I’m actually honestly wondering where they will take the Arkham games now. I didn’t see a prequel coming, but where to from here? Maybe another prequel with Batgirl before…well, you know what happens.
I honestly don’t know what they would do after Arkham City. Arkham…country? Arkham World?
Personally, I hope Rocksteady are working on either a Green Arrow game… or a decent Superman one.
I would play the shit out of a Green Arrow game.
Superman 64 actually scarred me. I literally bought that game. Never again, Superman.
There was a section in Arkham City where some goons ask basically the same question. Actually, it might have been the same question with more profanity if I recall correctly.
I don’t know about a title, but there was too much foreshadowing in Arkham City to not do a sequel to it.
Perhaps a slight name shift? Arkham Asylum -> Arkham City -> Gotham City?
Remember the VGA win where Joker ‘teased’ Arkham World?
Perhaps they could do an Aquaman game.