Batman: Arkham Origins debuted two new gadgets to the Arkhamverse: the Remote Claw, which is primarily wielded in predator encounters, and Shock Gloves, which are wielded in combat encounters. Shock Gloves are incredibly unique as they are gauntlet apparati that become passively integrated into freeflow combat rather than being a tool Batman retrieves from his utility belt. Players then only need to activate them once their charge meter has filled via strikes landed and their subsequent attacks will be electrified, rapidly increasing combo counters and incapacitating enemies regardless of whether they’re padded with armor or carrying a stun baton.
The Remote Claw obviously doesn’t stick around in Batman’s arsenal in Rocksteady’s trilogy some years later, let alone Origins’ immediate sequels, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate and Batman: Arkham Shadow. However, Batman: Arkham Shadow does reprise Shock Gloves. Even if Shadow is the last time players ever see them, Shock Gloves were great to have back as connective tissue tethering Shadow to Origins and go a long way in making the former’s freeflow combat terrific. If Shock Gloves could be reprised, then hope persists that the Remote Claw can, too, and that could be a huge boon seeing as it was also extraordinarily influential in Origins.
The Remote Claw was presumably disassembled with its components incorporated into what would then be a full-fledged Line Launcher in Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate, but that severely undercuts the offensive applications the Remote Claw had. Still, because Blackgate follows Origins almost immediately, the Remote Claw may never be reprised if it truly was replaced and made redundant.
Batman: Arkham Shadow’s Adaptation of Arkhamverse Gadgets is Astonishing
Until the recently reported news of a possible Batman game from Rocksteady being in the works is met with a proper announcement or reveal, Batman: Arkham Shadow shines a Bat-Signal as an excellent framework for future Arkhamverse games to consider. This is ironic as Batman: Arkham Shadow is a faithful interpretation of Rocksteady and WB Games Montreal’s formulas, but Camouflaj’s prequel entry takes many bold and extraordinary strides with authenticity.
Shadow surely had a tough enough challenge adapting the Arkhamverse’s core gadgets—Explosive Gel, a Decoder (Shadow’s take on the Cryptographic Sequencer), and the Batclaw—and even managed to adapt the previously Origins-exclusive Shock Gloves. It’s tough to imagine how the Remote Claw could’ve been implemented fluidly into predator encounters with players in VR walking its cable tightrope between anchor points or slingshotting two enemies together, but perhaps a sequel could find a way now that the bones of a VR Arkham game rich with mechanics and interactivity are in place.
Batman: Arkham Origins’ Remote Claw Deserves an Encore
Batman: Arkham Origins’ Remote Claw is paramount and eclipses most other strategies in predator encounters once fully upgraded due to its efficiency. Depending on how a predator encounter room is designed, players have countless opportunities to either string an enemy to a gargoyle and fling lethal canisters or nonlethal fire extinguishers at an enemy.
Likewise, Remote Claw tightropes allow for either a zipline or perched takedown. Then, players can dismantle the room’s few remaining enemies easily by sabotaging their firearms with the Disruptor or lobbing a Smoke Pellet into their midst.
The Remote Claw is a gadget that can have a high skill ceiling if players know how to take advantage of any environment, though it’s fairly spectacular even if players merely fire it whenever they see a green line notifying them of a connection between a targeted enemy and something else without a line-of-sight obstruction.
It seems apparent that the Arkhamverse has moved on from the Remote Claw, and yet its return could make for a wonderful touch of nostalgia as well as enhance the overall potential of predator encounter takedowns once again. In the meantime, it’ll be interesting to see what gadgets are brought back and what gadgets are introduced in whatever Batman game happens to release next following Batman: Arkham Shadow.
Batman: Arkham Shadow
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 86 /100 Critics Rec: 100%
- Released
- October 21, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen // Violence, Mild Blood, Language
- Developer(s)
- Camouflaj
- Publisher(s)
- Oculus
- Engine
- Unity
- Franchise
- Batman: Arkham
- PC Release Date
- October 21, 2024
- Platform(s)
- Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3S
- Genre(s)
- Action, Virtual Reality
- Supported VR Headsets
- Meta Quest 3
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
