After a careful clean reinstall finally I am able to immerse into the ↑Batman‘s mythic universe. A bunch of goons inside a slightly decaying 19th century room. By the masks they wear you can tell that they are ↑Two-Face‘s henchmen. He makes them resemble himself. Chattering away they search the room and find a wall-safe hidden behind a painting. That’s the moment when they get disturbed from above. Fear of the Batman immediately fills them.
 

But it’s not the dark knight’s skin I get to slip into first—it’s ↑Catwoman‘s instead. Her appearance soothed me, I have to confess. Despite the hassle with the installation of ‘↑Batman: Arkham City‘ (Rocksteady Studios 2011), I made my peace with the game—until the still existant bug bites and I am going to lose all my savegames, that is.
    As far as I can tell the fighting system is the same as in ‘↑Batman: Arkham Asylum‘ (Rocksteady Studios 2009) and quite gracefully Catwoman knocks the whole bunch unconscious. They are no match to Selina Kyle. Them being quiet now leaves me undisturbed to try out Catwoman’s movement. But there’s not much to discover in the room. When I try to open the door my own voice reminds me from off-camera that can’t leave before I got what I came for. So I open up the safe and discover a tiny flash drive. Once inserted into my smartphone it gives me the floorplan of a house on Park Row. Next thing I know is a heavy .45 calibre automatic against my temple.
    Fade to black.
 

It’s been 18 months ago that I could stop and revert the Joker’s takeover of Arkham Asylum on Arkham Island. Ironically enough the publicity of my success led to Quincy Sharp, back then Arkham’s warden, becoming mayor of Gotham City. Now he was in the position to make his plans a reality. In his secret office at Arkham Asylum I had found Quincy Sharp’s Gotham City proposal:
 

He bought a vast portion of Gotham’s decaying, slumified quarter and sealed it off. The Berlin Wall pales against this fortification. Next he closed both Arkham Asylum and the ↑Blackgate Penitentiary, relocating all inmates to the sealed-off terrain—Arkham City. Under Sharp Gotham develops into a totalitarian police state. Everybody with the slightest criminal record whatsoever is sent to Arkham City. Inside the prisoners can do whatever they fancy, as long as they do not attempt to scale the wall. To ensure that the lot really remains within Arkham City, the whole area is guarded by private military firm, Tyger Security.
    Naturally I, the philanthropist billionaire Bruce Wayne, am strongly opposed to the whole idea of Arkham City …