In Defense of the Hardest Batman Arkhamverse Combat…

In general, Batman: Arkham Knight’s Arkham Episode DLCs are a bit lackluster. “GCPD Lockdown,” “A Flip of a Coin,” and Red Hood’s Story Pack star Dick Grayson’s Nightwing, Tim Drake’s Robin, and Jason Todd’s Red Hood, respectively, but these Episodes are disappointingly fleeting and hardly memorable, even if they do have fun moments, such as a Long Halloween Holiday killer Easter egg.

That said, “A Matter of Family” is the most substantial of the Episodes with Batgirl finally becoming playable in a pre-Arkham Asylum chapter, while Harley Quinn’s Story Pack allows her to become playable for the first (but not last) time in the franchise with a fascinating Psychosis Mode UI and inventive gadgets.

The oddest of these Episodes, however, is Batman: Arkham Knight’s “Catwoman’s Revenge,” wherein Catwoman infiltrates Riddler’s Riddlerbot factory—an illuminating glimpse of just how Edward Nigma was able to manufacture a seemingly endless horde of automatons. In a franchise that debatably reaches its zenith mechanically, Catwoman’s DLC Episode features a notorious encounter that is gimmicky and peels back the layers of freeflow combat to have players rely on basics, evasion, and a liberal pinch of RNG.

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By Jared Stewart

Catwoman’s Riddler Factory Combat Challenge is a Test of Patience and RNG

The encounter in question regards a lift platform with floor panels that become increasingly electrified as Catwoman defends herself against a finite mob of Riddlerbots. On one hand, this challenge can be ridiculously aggravating for a number of reasons:

Catwoman’s agility naturally flings her around enemies in most animations and can inadvertently land players on an electrified floor panel with each counter or finisher.
Two red, vertical lasers move slowly between floor panels and, with bad luck, players’ attacks or movements may hit them and reset players’ combo meters.
Floor panels around the perimeter reliably become electrified, but other panels besides the four in the center may gain a charge randomly with any robot touching them gaining a charge, too.
Riddlerbots maintain an electric charge momentarily after leaving an electrified floor panel, meaning players must be careful who and when they choose to strike, parry, or evade.

This culminates in a challenge that isn’t fully dependent on RNG but can feel like it due to a lack of control over Catwoman’s animations and having to time movements in accordance with the environmental hazards that corral them awkwardly into the middle of the stage. Of course, contact with an electrified panel or an electrified Riddlerbot doesn’t result in an instant failure and only accumulates damage over time. Thus, any damage players can spare at the beginning of the encounter is a boon since it’ll give Catwoman a longer leash and an excusable margin for error.

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On the other hand, completing this encounter and learning its gimmick is arguably one of the more rewarding combat challenges because of its novelty. It’s neat to finally be tasked with a combat challenge where the player’s vast moveset is stifled, especially in a game as advanced and fluid as Knight, which doesn’t possess any truly grueling or difficult combat challenges itself aside from the Iceberg Lounge’s egregious “Requiem for a Killer” trophy. Likewise, Batman: Arkham City’s “Joker’s Carnival” combat challenge is unique with players cashing in combo meter scores for more time on the clock, and yet players are not inhibited by a treacherous arena that is far worse to contend with than its enemies.

Dual Play is one of Batman: Arkham Knight’s most terrific features but, beyond the rarity of character swapping, it’s merely an extension of regular freeflow mechanics with two distinct movesets.

Rather, no combat encounter in the entire series is like the one in Riddler’s Riddlerbot factory—for better or for worse, depending on who’s asked—and that goes a long way in making Catwoman’s DLC extraordinary. Players certainly can use all of Catwoman’s gadgets in the last stretch of her Arkham Episode DLC, but having to restrain oneself and deny what they’d normally or instinctively resort to in combat makes this perilous encounter a rarity that is cherishable and gratifying once mastered.

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