Check out the companion video where we discuss the game itself in more detail- th-cam.com/video/3jsjDIIsHbY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=499pnjbelupu7gw_ Also, a quick correction: as some people have mentioned, the Scarecrow backstory tape is referring to the doctor's backstory, not Crane's.
@aliquidgaming1068 Yea, tbh I thought it'd be obvious that's his cell, the Arkham guards were taking him that direction, and everything Joker's ever done should definitely be an indicator that's where he'd be
44:20 I think it's important to remember what happens at the very end of the book when Batman gives Harvey his coin back. Harvey flips it to decide whether or not to let Batman leave alive. Ultimately, Batman is let go, but in a later panel, we see that the side the coin landed on was the scarred side, the side which indicated that he was supposed to die. In the end, Harvey didn’t rely on the coin to make that choice, he let Batman leave by his own free will. Turning to the deck of tarot cards, arranged in a house of cards he remarks, “Who cares for you? You’re nothing but a pack of cards,” before knocking it over, showing that he doesn't need these things to make decisions anymore. This is actually a rather hopeful ending, that even despite all of the horrors of Arkham, there is still a chance for rehabilitation. Overall though, great video, great game, and great comic. Cheers!
@@velloceti6898 Yeah. There are a lot of references like that throughout the book. Grant Morrison’s script in the back of the reissues helps a lot with finding them all.
While I LOVED this video and it taught me a lot of things I didnt know about the lore before, there are some portions where I think he left some stuff out to make his points seem easier to believe. I wasnt a huge fan of his tie around into batman is evil, at least not for the reasons he mentioned. again though I loved this video and especially how he contributed it to comic storian :,)
Another point of gross incompetence on the Arkham staff's part is the fact that Batman was able to build an ENTIRE FUCKING BATCAVE under the Asylum, without anyone noticing.
@@FunhausRyanI’m literally exploring an abandoned coal mine deep beneath the power plant I work at. We come down here to smoke. The tunnels go on forever, lots of them are unexplored.
Jokers cell was in maximum security. Which is the section of Arkham we don't bet access to. Joker rides the cell there after we first encounter the titan thug and it has a heart attack. Keep in mind how in the first game we go deeper and deeper into Arkham at the start when escorting joker to show how they want to ensure joker doesn't get out this time. Also in Arkham knight Bruce throws joker into a similar cell in his mind and locks him away in it. Joker was being sent to maximum security and going to be locked away deep and far.
In BTAS, at least, Batman is very intimately aware of the ongoings at the asylum and even advocated for the removal of Lyle Bolton (Lock-Up) from Arkham's payroll after it became apparent that he was abusive towards the inmates. He also is pretty supportive in a number of the "villain tries to reform" episodes and even successfully redeems Ventriloquist. So that's at least one iteration of Batman shown to care. I think generally, the animated Batmen do care. It only gets sketchier when you start getting into the grittier depictions. To go back to the game, I know you're not really supposed to think about the bad guys in Arkham Asylum as much of anything other than bad guys. They're pretty one-dimensionally evil when it comes to their actions, with Harley even trying to trick you and trap you if you wind up feeling pity for her. But, at the same time, seeing the environment they live in, particularly with Quincy Sharp looking for every opportunity to kill his inmates, and hearing the Arkham staff talk about them as if they're not even human always kinda felt uncomfortable to me. Even Aaron Cash, a guy you're supposed to like. For example, it's wild that they just take Killer Croc and throw him in the sewers, just occasionally doing food drops. Sure, a concern they have is that Croc wants to eat them, but doubling down on treating him like an animal isn't going to fix him of that notion, particularly when he's outright stating that he just wants to be a cured man again. It's one of those things that I think makes Asylum feel a bit more like a standalone game rather than a part of its own universe, because Croc seems a lot more normal/curable in Origins and pitiable in Knight where he's shown helping the other inmates of Iron Heights in combat and even shown sympathy by others for the inhumane treatment he goes through on that airship.
Killer crocs section was more confusing than scary to me, it took me 30 minutes to figure out your suppose to throw the Batarang at his collar, and kept trying to use the line launcher to speedrun the section
The problem I have with this whole idea of Batman being just as evil by letting Joker live is that if Batman’s responsible for NOT killing Joker then by that logic every single person in the city is just as culpable for Jokers actions. Jokers and Joker alone is responsible for his own actions. Anyone could kill him. Batman doesn’t kill people. He’s barking up the safest tree trying to tempt Bats into committing murder. What makes Jokers life Batman’s personal responsibility? It’s like asking the parent you know will say yes and wondering why you always get what you want.
Exactly, Batman sees himself as I think 2 things. A protector and a deterent. I believe it was Arkham origins where he says that he needs to be out there because if he can essentially be the the reason someone doesn't commit a crime he needs to be out there. He doesn't want to be judge, jury or executioner. He wants to protect and stop crime.
Ppl and cops have tried several times to kill the joker and failed WHILE he also attacked children and other defenseless ppl just as much as he picks on ppl his own size. Yes he is the only one responsible for his own actions nobody is arguing that. It’s just irresponsible to absolve all guilt from batman when his actions- or in this case failure to - has a direct cause and effect. Some ppl are irredeemable just as they hit upon in this retrospective. Joker is one of them and him being dead by this point in the story would be a giant leap in the right direction BUT the only person who consistently and successfully catches this man refuses to give him any repercussion other than a slap on the wrist essentially. The no kill rule is an over used excuse and you begin to fail as a hero after a certain point. Nevermind the fact that majority of the villains in gotham have done things to warrant harsher punishment like life in actual prison and the death sentence but they keep sending these folks to an insane asylum that they routinely break out of. Knowing that they been gave up on saving them.
@ I don’t buy it. Batman doesn’t have to do anything at all. Why hasn’t the state put Joker to death any number of the times he’s been put away? Batman’s not judge, jury, and executioner, he just stops the crimes that he can see in front of him. That’s sort of the whole point of what he does. When you murder a murderer there’s still the same number of murderers. Unless you murder a lot of murderers I guess.
The anchor for this thought process though is that Batman is the only one that can kill the joker. It’s essentially a spider man moment. With great power comes great responsibility. When you are the only one capable of doing something than it’s your responsibility to do so
@ yeah but like he’s totally not the only one that can kill him. Literally anyone could and for the most part the explanation is just that they’re scared to.
I find it amazing how you and Monty Zander had such a similar outline of video, yet how extremely different each video is. Insane amount of detail and research in this man. Can’t wait to see more
@ddl3718 I'll be honest and say I became aware of the Monty video about halfway through scripting, checked it out out of curiosity and turned it off after about 5 min because I was worried it would effect the direction of mine too much. I'm glad you found there to be enough differences here, since I was a little worried about the overlap
This video deserves more views. The atmosphere of Arkham asylum is truly what makes the game so great. I hope you gain more subscribers bcs you deserve it.
The atmosphere is the only thing that makes it great the story is bland and is blatantly ablest and shows a frankly insulting and stigmatizing view of the mental issues that many face.
Asad, your a spiritual successor to the heydays when Super Bunnyhop produced excellent gaming essays and commentary. Thank you for carrying that baton forward and kudos on the growth of your primary and second channels.
In the game I always saw the Asylum as kind of a ticking time bomb because the place is literally falling apart with not much renovations done to it except for the new automatic doors and TV Screens and Cameras. That made me wonder if Batman knew the asylum would eventually stop being used altogether and the city might resort back to Blackgate Prison as we all know how bad that turned out in Arkham Origins.
Awesome video but just to put this out there, Batman simply doesn’t kill because it stoops to the level of his worst enemies but because he has to put faith in the system, as much as Batman can be blamed for his very callous nature torward the asylum it is also sort of not his job, he probably views himself even as unworthy given he fears he should be in there. I also think that this idea of Batman’s success being superficial comes with that bittersweet victory in city where he is able to save himself and lots of other inmates but not everyone like joker or Talia This video is awesome btw keep up the work
Definitely an important aspect of his whole psychology, although given his influence and direct contributions financially I still think he should be a little more aware of the goings on there, even if he doesn't get too directly involved And I appreciate that, thank you!
I love the progression of Arkham Batman's character from an angry, unfeeling "thing" to what we see in Knight- although still rough, he is a caring father-figure, attempts to rationalize more, and seeks more to understand and talk through the psyche of his baddies.
Fantastic video, I'm glad the algorithm brought me here! I've watched so many Arkham videos but there's always something new to say, truly a masterpiece.
I really like how stylized your editing is and you can feel the tension of the setting through your narration you should do more horror stuff bro definitely subscribing
i was going to listen to this while going to sleep but now i just found out about comicstorian passing away. that's fucking tragic and i'm sure he led many many more like me to falling in love with comics. rip legend
19:30 seems like you messed up here, in that interview it's actually Crane having his own twisted 'therapy session' with one Dr. Combs, who is the one with the dead wife and kids. I was also confused the first time i heard that interview tape, but once you realize the first person speaking IS crane it all makes sense lol
This video is over a month old so I'm unsure what your attitude may be regarding comments... but wow, great video man. To me Arkham Asylum has remained one of my favorite entries in the series and a lot of what you talked about here is the reason why. The psychological horror aspect of Asylum is something I don't see a lot of people talk about, or at the very least to the extent you did here. It's all awesome food for thought, and has stuck with me since the very first time I played the game in 2009.
I randomly came across this video from my recommendations, and after watching this and then your recent spider-man video immediately after I decided I’m definitely subscribing. Your editing and the overall like production level of your videos are something I would expect out of someone who does TH-cam and shit full time and has a big channel or whatever so I was surprised to see you’re only at 20k subs. It’s criminal!
I think the best description of why batman doesnt kill is in the batman under the redhood movie where he says it would be too easy. That he could never return from that darkness. I think he's scared that if he crosses that line that in some way he'll like it and he'll do it more and eventually he’ll do it to someone who doesnt deserve it.
Batman’s main purpose is to rid the streets of Gotham of the evil that took his parents. This leads me to believe that Batman has little care for how the criminals become rehabilitated or reformed. Batman just wants them gone. However, I also believe that Batman views rehabilitation as Bruce Wayne’s job. Not sure if it’s seen in the Arkham games, but I know in the animated series there’s a scene where Bruce visits Harvey in the hospital after Batman defeats him. Batman might want to criminals gone, but I think Bruce Wayne truly does care.
Fair, I like the writings where he is also a tortured soul who struggles with multiple facets of himself, a protector who has to be cold and bitter and a man of means who genuinely tries to use his wealth to do right by his community even for those who would harm others.
Dude, they revisited that part of the animated series in Arkham Shadow too! I won’t say any more, because this is spoilery enough, but yeah, it’s great.
This was a fantastic video! Albeit I would have to disagree with the idea that Batman was wrong in the comic when he disregarded the doctors choice to make two face go from a coin to a deck in order to “cure” him, when it’s shown there that all that has accomplished is that he feels so overwhelmed he can’t even go to the bathroom and soils himself constantly. Another default hat I really like is that even in such a bleak and hopeless comic, it’s Two Face himself the one that sees the hope in Batman and goes against his coin to let him be free at the end.
This is cool. I had no idea about the history of the asylum. As a side note, I think having Amadeus actually “cure” Mad Dog by restoring his sanity (“he longed for freedom….walks in the park”), only to DENY giving him that signature thus torturing him would have been much more an effective narrative.
YOOOOOO when you put the rdr2 music in at the beginning when Amadeus is talking it gave me huge goosebumps and chills. The red dead and Arkham universes are my two all time favorite games so that was so epic
Ayyy glad to hear it! I had to avoid your video like the plague to get it done cause I was worried about it influencing mine too much 😅 excited to finally give it a watch now that I've wrapped up tho
I have to disagree with you on the whole thing about Batman not giving a damnn, for Zsasz, he knows he wont change, he’s too far gone and needs to be contained; for 2 face, his mind was already gone and depended on choices, he knew that giving him too many choices (8-sided dies, tarot cards) would just break his mind since the choice was not coming from him but the amount of options which he couldn’t dictate which was better
Always happy to see another video essay on Arkham Asylum. Somehow, every time I get to hear about something I didn't before. A detail I've seen other point out that you might find interesting for this angle is the presence of the high-tech doors in the asylum, which are sometimes just jammed into old, decaying buildings. Another video I saw read it as Bruce giving the asylum money and tech to improve the facilities, but the asylum couldn't or wouldn't use them properly. I liked how you wove some of the game scenery into your retelling of Amadeus' story. Something that I've thought about A Serious House on Serious Earth, though, is that I feel that it should be pointed out that Bruce/Batman not caring about what happens to people after he captures them is very much a 'depending on the writer' thing. It's something that has always rubbed me the wrong way about it.
I really like that in the modern comics they’ve turned Bruce’s mum Martha into an Arkham and she had a lot of mental illnesses through her life due to this bloodline. It makes you question Bruce’s sanity. Wondering if he would be damaged mentally even if his parents hadn’t died, because of him being half Arkham
I’ve been forcefully committed to a mental hospital before. Although nothing horrific happened to me while I was there, I am still terrified of being hospitalized again. I was stuck there and no matter how desperately I wanted to go home, I was trapped inside. To this day I still refer to the hospital as Arkham.
Fantastic video Asad, But I did want to pint one thing out. My favourite "detail" in the game is the abandoned building in Arkham north on the other side of the seesaw. The decayed and burned look of the structure has this very eerie feel to it and when playing always wonder what happened to lead the building to where it is now and you can just feel that there is a horrifying story there that is never mentioned and I just wanted to talk about it as it wasn't brought up in the video.
Arkham Asylum has a sheer degree of atmosphere that none of the other games in the Arkham series ever truly captured again- a choice perhaps for their betterment, as a tradeoff for the tone those games wanted to strike and as more ideas for the series developed… but Arkham Asylum remains my favorite for its unparalleled ambiance alone. The experience is not so much the actual Joker-Titan surface plot, but its dissection of the Batman mythos and a pretty stunning indictment of the existence of Arkham Asylum in the lore and critique of Batman’s ideals in his methods and modus operandi- never openly criticized by the game, but insinuated and inferred through every crack in the crumbling Asylum, its torturous medieval-looking medical equipment, the callous and unethical treatment of villains under a clinical, insidious veneer of a rehabilitation mission, and all scathingly wrapped up in the fact that for not the Joker’s breakout scheme, this would have been just another night for Batman. To capture and deposit criminals back here, to leave villains to the clutches of the Asylum and walk away with this comic mantle we place upon him as Gotham’s protector and the hero. I am so happy someone is putting to words how special Asylum is from the horror perspective, what I’ve felt but have struggled to articulate for so long.
Arkham Asylum game has a Silent Hill mood to it coupled with adventure and excitement. I didnt know about the confusing "inverted" map which throws your sense of locational awareness into the darkness of Batmans mind. I love how you can explore it after you complete it and find things you never noticed before. New Game + is a stroke of genius. The Riddler Challenges and campaigns outside of the main game were an unexpected gold bar for me. I still play these in Asylum, City and Knight. Ive completed a lot of games over many years but Ive never been so interested in them like Batman games. 😊
In arkham shadows they reveal how the Wayne's paid for the asylum to be built and then Wayne foundation pays for it to be reopen again after orgins. It's kinda funny how crucial batman and his family were for arkham but he doesn't really care that much about their treatment, only seems to care about Dr. Y young with bane but that's about it in asylum.
Shit, I had no idea he died earlier this year., when I get home from my second job at night I always whine down and listen to his channel when I go to sleep. I enjoyed his voice overs- he brought comics books to life. Tragic. I feel a bit of survivor's guilt because this man was literally a several months older than me, I turn 40 later on this month. Sad man. Rip in Benny
Seeing as how the puppet is crudely dressed up like Joker, I think the point of him being there is to show that even Scarface was broken by the Joker and really is just "the puppet" now
20:20 To answer your question as to what the devs might have intended with Scarface, I have my own theory. Scarface is specifically located inside of Quincy Sharp's office, which I think is subtle foreshadowing that Quincy is merely a puppet in Strange and Ra's plan for Arkham and Gotham city as a whole.
I think that, when talking about the inherent "hauntedness" of the land which Arkham is on, it's important to think about the fact that the name Arkham comes from Lovecraft. From my understanding, Arkham is a fictional town in Massachusetts that a lot of Lovecraft's stories take place in. Stories in which the main idea is usually some kind of unearthly thing that drives people insane. I also think that the story of Amadeus Arkham is reminiscent of the story of Lovecraft himself. From my memory, he watched his mother (and father?) go insane, get taken away to an insane asylum, and eventually die from syphilis. Thus, what inspired his writing style revolving around people being driven to insanity. Some interesting parallels there.
@ 34:06 Another possibility is that they could have been feeding him recently deceased inmates or even had corpses imported specifically for him? Like im sure they want to cure his cannibalism but in the mean time he still has to be fed SOMETHING
Forgive me if I’m mismembering, but regarding Scarecrow’s first interview tape, wasn’t he testing his formula on a doctor in the asylum? The first and last tapes were him using the toxin and psychoanalyzing the fear of a doctor in the first, leading to a doctor and security guards in the last tape. From the context of the first tape, he was referring to his “test subject” to have lost a wife and child. Although, it still draws a connection to Amadeus Arkham and his insanity, albeit a literal sense with Scarecrow pumping gas compared to a series of unfortunate events.
You may be right, since the whole wife/daughter thing isn't a typical part of cranes backstory. I guess it still connects just not as directly as I remembered
I have a problem with external noises and i sleep with headphones on. The amount of Arkham Asylum videos I've fell asleep to over the years is definitely in the double digits. Here's one for tonight. Thanks!
I love the portrayal of how horrible asylums actually were back then in this game. Patients being beaten and subdued in horrible ways and being experimented on is quite literally the reality for people just a few decades ago if you were mentally ill or even just disabled you weren’t seen as human anymore. It’s truly grim and I love that vibe being in the game albeit obviously exaggerated
Personally I assumed the reason why we didn't see jokers cell was because he was constantly changing cells because inmates didn't want him next to them or the staff didn't want him to formulate a plan to escape
Excellent analysis! It’s always been one of my favorite things about Asylum (and City as well to a similar extent), how much of the actual “story” of the game is baked into the scenery. You’ve done an amazing job covering it all here!
42:41 - 44:30 You've perfectly explained what I realized about Batman. What makes him pretty incompetent at his own self imposed mission of being a vigilante who "stops evil" isn't that he refuses to kill the bad guys, it's that he is very much okay with EVERYTHING else that can be done to those bad guys as long as they're kept alive, and we all know there are fates worse than death... I'm not sure if this has been explored in any iteration of this comic superhero, but it brings up an important question: Batman disagrees with killing villains, but does that mean he's a-okay with giving them other torturous fates as long as they're alive? If you know anything about "I have no mouth and I must scream", then you start to realize maybe Bruce SHOULD be taken somewhere far away from society like all the other villains.
No Batman is very much against torture and stuff along those lines. He might break some bones but he’s never gonna injure you in such a way that you won’t heal and recover
@@kylerpruitt1620That's good to know. I've seen some interpretations where he's actually very kind to those villains who do get redeemed or are trying to be, but those are mostly from the animated series (particularly with Harley Quinn and Ace). Meanwhile, darker interpretations don't give way to that comforting side of Batman/Bruce, and I think the one in Arkham Asylum (game) would fall into that category, since he sees through environment and audio log how many villains arent given proper treatment for true rehabilitation but he doesn't even react to it. We could make the assumption that he is affected by them and at the end of the game he forces changes to the asylum, but first of all, it's an assumption, and secondly, if he had made changes then I'm pretty sure we wouldn't see the exact same villains in the sequel games being just as bad as they always were (except for Ivy to an extent, she did sacrifice herself in Arkham Knight, but she only did it for the plantlife)
He is extremely against torture and is usually kinder to his enemies, the games just usually don’t elaborate that side of him. the Batman from the animated series is much closer to how he is in the comics than the Arkham games, although they are equally good adaptations of the characters in my opinion.
35:08 I just checked this bug in the game, and yes - it really happens in the game if you go outside with detective mode enabled. However, now another question arises - is this really a glitch in the game, or is there some kind of feature that Rocksteady did intentionally...
I second this. I enjoyed arkham origins tok but I remember being hyped as hell for arkhan city and it kinda let me down cause I missed the claustrophobic stmosphere of asylum. The city was good but arkham asylum felt so eerie and dreadful and Riddler was never better than in asylum.
Check out the companion video where we discuss the game itself in more detail- th-cam.com/video/3jsjDIIsHbY/w-d-xo.htmlsi=499pnjbelupu7gw_
Also, a quick correction: as some people have mentioned, the Scarecrow backstory tape is referring to the doctor's backstory, not Crane's.
Awesome ❤❤❤
Pretty sure Joker's dedicated cell is extreme confinement/solitary, aka the only place we can't go in the Asylum
I commented the same thing. It was the only place on Arkham we couldn't access
It's also the cell in Knight that batman locks joker in for good.
@aliquidgaming1068 Yea, tbh I thought it'd be obvious that's his cell, the Arkham guards were taking him that direction, and everything Joker's ever done should definitely be an indicator that's where he'd be
The same cell the first Titan thug came out of, yep.
Ya also at the end of Arkham knight you see his mental cell which is one of this metal boxes
Which makes it even crazier that he consistently escapes
44:20 I think it's important to remember what happens at the very end of the book when Batman gives Harvey his coin back. Harvey flips it to decide whether or not to let Batman leave alive. Ultimately, Batman is let go, but in a later panel, we see that the side the coin landed on was the scarred side, the side which indicated that he was supposed to die. In the end, Harvey didn’t rely on the coin to make that choice, he let Batman leave by his own free will. Turning to the deck of tarot cards, arranged in a house of cards he remarks, “Who cares for you? You’re nothing but a pack of cards,” before knocking it over, showing that he doesn't need these things to make decisions anymore. This is actually a rather hopeful ending, that even despite all of the horrors of Arkham, there is still a chance for rehabilitation.
Overall though, great video, great game, and great comic. Cheers!
The "who cares, you're nothing but a pack of cards" is also an Alice in Wonderland quote. Such a nice touch.
@@velloceti6898 Yeah. There are a lot of references like that throughout the book. Grant Morrison’s script in the back of the reissues helps a lot with finding them all.
While I LOVED this video and it taught me a lot of things I didnt know about the lore before, there are some portions where I think he left some stuff out to make his points seem easier to believe. I wasnt a huge fan of his tie around into batman is evil, at least not for the reasons he mentioned. again though I loved this video and especially how he contributed it to comic storian :,)
Harvey deserves it.
Or it implies that him leaving is the worse of the two outcomes
Maybe the real horror in Arkham Asylum is how many damn Riddles there are in it.
IT IS I, EDWARD NYGMA!!!!
THE RIDDLER!! AND YOUR INTELLECTUAL SUPERIOR...
@@ChefShrimpy. DON'T CUT YOURSELF ON THIS SHARP PORTRAIT!
@@YuotiKinto "Nigma " - Batman
@geovannyleon2187i swear to god it took me 10 minutes to figure out you had to hold the button in order to finish the clue
Okay okay okay… you convinced me, I’ll replay Arkham Asylum
You aren't the only who'll be booting up soon.
Just did for Halloween. Best time to play it
for the 10th time
I replay all the games every year, so special
@@what-xn3lv same every December. But I'll be playing them sooner now.
Another point of gross incompetence on the Arkham staff's part is the fact that Batman was able to build an ENTIRE FUCKING BATCAVE under the Asylum, without anyone noticing.
Why would Arkham Asylum staff jump off a cliff and explore caves? Lol
I mean one of the guards said they make 15 bucks an hour, and ive worked 15 an hour jobs, i aint gaf about stuff i dont have to gaf
Yes, because competent employees explore caves under their workplace.
@@FunhausRyan does this apply to Lucious Fox in DKR
@@FunhausRyanI’m literally exploring an abandoned coal mine deep beneath the power plant I work at. We come down here to smoke. The tunnels go on forever, lots of them are unexplored.
Jokers cell was in maximum security. Which is the section of Arkham we don't bet access to. Joker rides the cell there after we first encounter the titan thug and it has a heart attack. Keep in mind how in the first game we go deeper and deeper into Arkham at the start when escorting joker to show how they want to ensure joker doesn't get out this time. Also in Arkham knight Bruce throws joker into a similar cell in his mind and locks him away in it.
Joker was being sent to maximum security and going to be locked away deep and far.
In BTAS, at least, Batman is very intimately aware of the ongoings at the asylum and even advocated for the removal of Lyle Bolton (Lock-Up) from Arkham's payroll after it became apparent that he was abusive towards the inmates. He also is pretty supportive in a number of the "villain tries to reform" episodes and even successfully redeems Ventriloquist. So that's at least one iteration of Batman shown to care. I think generally, the animated Batmen do care. It only gets sketchier when you start getting into the grittier depictions.
To go back to the game, I know you're not really supposed to think about the bad guys in Arkham Asylum as much of anything other than bad guys. They're pretty one-dimensionally evil when it comes to their actions, with Harley even trying to trick you and trap you if you wind up feeling pity for her. But, at the same time, seeing the environment they live in, particularly with Quincy Sharp looking for every opportunity to kill his inmates, and hearing the Arkham staff talk about them as if they're not even human always kinda felt uncomfortable to me. Even Aaron Cash, a guy you're supposed to like.
For example, it's wild that they just take Killer Croc and throw him in the sewers, just occasionally doing food drops. Sure, a concern they have is that Croc wants to eat them, but doubling down on treating him like an animal isn't going to fix him of that notion, particularly when he's outright stating that he just wants to be a cured man again. It's one of those things that I think makes Asylum feel a bit more like a standalone game rather than a part of its own universe, because Croc seems a lot more normal/curable in Origins and pitiable in Knight where he's shown helping the other inmates of Iron Heights in combat and even shown sympathy by others for the inhumane treatment he goes through on that airship.
as a kid i had to make my sister play the killer croc part for me because it terrified me too much 😭
the sneaking around was SO SCARY
😂 I can remember I stepped away from the game for like 2 weeks before I could grow the nuts to do killer croc mission🤣
It reminds me of the Verdugo section of RE4
@@pyro5159Even verdugo section is not that scary
Killer crocs section was more confusing than scary to me, it took me 30 minutes to figure out your suppose to throw the Batarang at his collar, and kept trying to use the line launcher to speedrun the section
The problem I have with this whole idea of Batman being just as evil by letting Joker live is that if Batman’s responsible for NOT killing Joker then by that logic every single person in the city is just as culpable for Jokers actions. Jokers and Joker alone is responsible for his own actions. Anyone could kill him. Batman doesn’t kill people. He’s barking up the safest tree trying to tempt Bats into committing murder. What makes Jokers life Batman’s personal responsibility? It’s like asking the parent you know will say yes and wondering why you always get what you want.
Exactly, Batman sees himself as I think 2 things. A protector and a deterent. I believe it was Arkham origins where he says that he needs to be out there because if he can essentially be the the reason someone doesn't commit a crime he needs to be out there. He doesn't want to be judge, jury or executioner. He wants to protect and stop crime.
Ppl and cops have tried several times to kill the joker and failed WHILE he also attacked children and other defenseless ppl just as much as he picks on ppl his own size. Yes he is the only one responsible for his own actions nobody is arguing that. It’s just irresponsible to absolve all guilt from batman when his actions- or in this case failure to - has a direct cause and effect. Some ppl are irredeemable just as they hit upon in this retrospective. Joker is one of them and him being dead by this point in the story would be a giant leap in the right direction BUT the only person who consistently and successfully catches this man refuses to give him any repercussion other than a slap on the wrist essentially. The no kill rule is an over used excuse and you begin to fail as a hero after a certain point. Nevermind the fact that majority of the villains in gotham have done things to warrant harsher punishment like life in actual prison and the death sentence but they keep sending these folks to an insane asylum that they routinely break out of. Knowing that they been gave up on saving them.
@ I don’t buy it. Batman doesn’t have to do anything at all. Why hasn’t the state put Joker to death any number of the times he’s been put away? Batman’s not judge, jury, and executioner, he just stops the crimes that he can see in front of him. That’s sort of the whole point of what he does. When you murder a murderer there’s still the same number of murderers. Unless you murder a lot of murderers I guess.
The anchor for this thought process though is that Batman is the only one that can kill the joker. It’s essentially a spider man moment. With great power comes great responsibility. When you are the only one capable of doing something than it’s your responsibility to do so
@ yeah but like he’s totally not the only one that can kill him. Literally anyone could and for the most part the explanation is just that they’re scared to.
I find it amazing how you and Monty Zander had such a similar outline of video, yet how extremely different each video is. Insane amount of detail and research in this man. Can’t wait to see more
@ddl3718 I'll be honest and say I became aware of the Monty video about halfway through scripting, checked it out out of curiosity and turned it off after about 5 min because I was worried it would effect the direction of mine too much. I'm glad you found there to be enough differences here, since I was a little worried about the overlap
This video deserves more views. The atmosphere of Arkham asylum is truly what makes the game so great. I hope you gain more subscribers bcs you deserve it.
The atmosphere is the only thing that makes it great the story is bland and is blatantly ablest and shows a frankly insulting and stigmatizing view of the mental issues that many face.
Arkham Asylum breakdown? I'm here for it.
Asad, your a spiritual successor to the heydays when Super Bunnyhop produced excellent gaming essays and commentary. Thank you for carrying that baton forward and kudos on the growth of your primary and second channels.
I really appreciate that, thank you!
Wow I miss Super Bunnyhop, love to see this comparison
Agreed they’re amazing ❤❤❤
@@PuffPuff903same. 🐰 bunnyhop was amazing and it’s a great comparison 🎉❤❤ to asad!! 🎉
Was absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the detail and care put into this video, instant sub! Also love the RDR2 music for the Amadeus segments, fit perfectly
In the game I always saw the Asylum as kind of a ticking time bomb because the place is literally falling apart with not much renovations done to it except for the new automatic doors and TV Screens and Cameras. That made me wonder if Batman knew the asylum would eventually stop being used altogether and the city might resort back to Blackgate Prison as we all know how bad that turned out in Arkham Origins.
We can assume Arkhams maintenance funding was funneled to Arkham City by Hugo Strange
Awesome video but just to put this out there, Batman simply doesn’t kill because it stoops to the level of his worst enemies but because he has to put faith in the system, as much as Batman can be blamed for his very callous nature torward the asylum it is also sort of not his job, he probably views himself even as unworthy given he fears he should be in there. I also think that this idea of Batman’s success being superficial comes with that bittersweet victory in city where he is able to save himself and lots of other inmates but not everyone like joker or Talia
This video is awesome btw keep up the work
Definitely an important aspect of his whole psychology, although given his influence and direct contributions financially I still think he should be a little more aware of the goings on there, even if he doesn't get too directly involved
And I appreciate that, thank you!
I love the progression of Arkham Batman's character from an angry, unfeeling "thing" to what we see in Knight- although still rough, he is a caring father-figure, attempts to rationalize more, and seeks more to understand and talk through the psyche of his baddies.
Fantastic video, I'm glad the algorithm brought me here! I've watched so many Arkham videos but there's always something new to say, truly a masterpiece.
I really like how stylized your editing is and you can feel the tension of the setting through your narration you should do more horror stuff bro definitely subscribing
i was going to listen to this while going to sleep but now i just found out about comicstorian passing away. that's fucking tragic and i'm sure he led many many more like me to falling in love with comics. rip legend
Bro imagine the Devs of the Outlast games making a Batman game.
That'd sell like hotcakes
19:30 seems like you messed up here, in that interview it's actually Crane having his own twisted 'therapy session' with one Dr. Combs, who is the one with the dead wife and kids. I was also confused the first time i heard that interview tape, but once you realize the first person speaking IS crane it all makes sense lol
I just came to mention that too haha
This video is over a month old so I'm unsure what your attitude may be regarding comments... but wow, great video man. To me Arkham Asylum has remained one of my favorite entries in the series and a lot of what you talked about here is the reason why. The psychological horror aspect of Asylum is something I don't see a lot of people talk about, or at the very least to the extent you did here. It's all awesome food for thought, and has stuck with me since the very first time I played the game in 2009.
I randomly came across this video from my recommendations, and after watching this and then your recent spider-man video immediately after I decided I’m definitely subscribing. Your editing and the overall like production level of your videos are something I would expect out of someone who does TH-cam and shit full time and has a big channel or whatever so I was surprised to see you’re only at 20k subs. It’s criminal!
I think the best description of why batman doesnt kill is in the batman under the redhood movie where he says it would be too easy. That he could never return from that darkness. I think he's scared that if he crosses that line that in some way he'll like it and he'll do it more and eventually he’ll do it to someone who doesnt deserve it.
That was always my head cannon for awhile now ever since Arkham Origins I always believe that Batman was scared that he will over do it
This is such a visually beautiful well crafted video you did the absolute most and it looks incredible this is so underrated
0:16 a perfect one?
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"what are we? Some kind of Dragon Ball Z?"
Batman’s main purpose is to rid the streets of Gotham of the evil that took his parents. This leads me to believe that Batman has little care for how the criminals become rehabilitated or reformed. Batman just wants them gone. However, I also believe that Batman views rehabilitation as Bruce Wayne’s job. Not sure if it’s seen in the Arkham games, but I know in the animated series there’s a scene where Bruce visits Harvey in the hospital after Batman defeats him. Batman might want to criminals gone, but I think Bruce Wayne truly does care.
Definitely. Bruce's image is that of a philanthropist and rehabilitation, funding public projects and the such in Gotham
Fair, I like the writings where he is also a tortured soul who struggles with multiple facets of himself, a protector who has to be cold and bitter and a man of means who genuinely tries to use his wealth to do right by his community even for those who would harm others.
Dude, they revisited that part of the animated series in Arkham Shadow too! I won’t say any more, because this is spoilery enough, but yeah, it’s great.
This was a fantastic video! Albeit I would have to disagree with the idea that Batman was wrong in the comic when he disregarded the doctors choice to make two face go from a coin to a deck in order to “cure” him, when it’s shown there that all that has accomplished is that he feels so overwhelmed he can’t even go to the bathroom and soils himself constantly.
Another default hat I really like is that even in such a bleak and hopeless comic, it’s Two Face himself the one that sees the hope in Batman and goes against his coin to let him be free at the end.
This is cool. I had no idea about the history of the asylum. As a side note, I think having Amadeus actually “cure” Mad Dog by restoring his sanity (“he longed for freedom….walks in the park”), only to DENY giving him that signature thus torturing him would have been much more an effective narrative.
YOOOOOO when you put the rdr2 music in at the beginning when Amadeus is talking it gave me huge goosebumps and chills. The red dead and Arkham universes are my two all time favorite games so that was so epic
Loved this!
Ayyy glad to hear it! I had to avoid your video like the plague to get it done cause I was worried about it influencing mine too much 😅 excited to finally give it a watch now that I've wrapped up tho
3:28 man that got me in the feels. I grew up watching him every day and was gutted when he passed. Appreciate the dedication to him💯
I have to disagree with you on the whole thing about Batman not giving a damnn, for Zsasz, he knows he wont change, he’s too far gone and needs to be contained; for 2 face, his mind was already gone and depended on choices, he knew that giving him too many choices (8-sided dies, tarot cards) would just break his mind since the choice was not coming from him but the amount of options which he couldn’t dictate which was better
Always happy to see another video essay on Arkham Asylum. Somehow, every time I get to hear about something I didn't before.
A detail I've seen other point out that you might find interesting for this angle is the presence of the high-tech doors in the asylum, which are sometimes just jammed into old, decaying buildings. Another video I saw read it as Bruce giving the asylum money and tech to improve the facilities, but the asylum couldn't or wouldn't use them properly.
I liked how you wove some of the game scenery into your retelling of Amadeus' story.
Something that I've thought about A Serious House on Serious Earth, though, is that I feel that it should be pointed out that Bruce/Batman not caring about what happens to people after he captures them is very much a 'depending on the writer' thing. It's something that has always rubbed me the wrong way about it.
I really like that in the modern comics they’ve turned Bruce’s mum Martha into an Arkham and she had a lot of mental illnesses through her life due to this bloodline. It makes you question Bruce’s sanity. Wondering if he would be damaged mentally even if his parents hadn’t died, because of him being half Arkham
I think this is the best video ever made
Facts ❤❤🎉
Agreed!
I’ve been forcefully committed to a mental hospital before. Although nothing horrific happened to me while I was there, I am still terrified of being hospitalized again. I was stuck there and no matter how desperately I wanted to go home, I was trapped inside. To this day I still refer to the hospital as Arkham.
Why were you put there?
Why you there tho?
When you think about the whole are Arkham thing is kinda out dated and somewhat harmful.
@@r.babylon2885 attempt
@@Manicislandcat attempt
Fantastic video Asad, But I did want to pint one thing out. My favourite "detail" in the game is the abandoned building in Arkham north on the other side of the seesaw. The decayed and burned look of the structure has this very eerie feel to it and when playing always wonder what happened to lead the building to where it is now and you can just feel that there is a horrifying story there that is never mentioned and I just wanted to talk about it as it wasn't brought up in the video.
Arkham Asylum has a sheer degree of atmosphere that none of the other games in the Arkham series ever truly captured again- a choice perhaps for their betterment, as a tradeoff for the tone those games wanted to strike and as more ideas for the series developed… but Arkham Asylum remains my favorite for its unparalleled ambiance alone. The experience is not so much the actual Joker-Titan surface plot, but its dissection of the Batman mythos and a pretty stunning indictment of the existence of Arkham Asylum in the lore and critique of Batman’s ideals in his methods and modus operandi- never openly criticized by the game, but insinuated and inferred through every crack in the crumbling Asylum, its torturous medieval-looking medical equipment, the callous and unethical treatment of villains under a clinical, insidious veneer of a rehabilitation mission, and all scathingly wrapped up in the fact that for not the Joker’s breakout scheme, this would have been just another night for Batman. To capture and deposit criminals back here, to leave villains to the clutches of the Asylum and walk away with this comic mantle we place upon him as Gotham’s protector and the hero. I am so happy someone is putting to words how special Asylum is from the horror perspective, what I’ve felt but have struggled to articulate for so long.
Arkham Asylum game has a Silent Hill mood to it coupled with adventure and excitement.
I didnt know about the confusing "inverted" map which throws your sense of locational awareness into the darkness of Batmans mind.
I love how you can explore it after you complete it and find things you never noticed before.
New Game + is a stroke of genius.
The Riddler Challenges and campaigns outside of the main game were an unexpected gold bar for me.
I still play these in Asylum, City and Knight.
Ive completed a lot of games over many years but Ive never been so interested in them like Batman games. 😊
This may be my favorite TH-cam video I’ve seen in a while. Refreshing content, thank you! ❤
Oh my god im reliving my teenage years by playing these games this week and so exited to stumble across your video! Nice work!
In arkham shadows they reveal how the Wayne's paid for the asylum to be built and then Wayne foundation pays for it to be reopen again after orgins. It's kinda funny how crucial batman and his family were for arkham but he doesn't really care that much about their treatment, only seems to care about Dr. Y young with bane but that's about it in asylum.
not much time for actual treatment when they keep breaking out every single time
Shit, I had no idea he died earlier this year., when I get home from my second job at night I always whine down and listen to his channel when I go to sleep. I enjoyed his voice overs- he brought comics books to life. Tragic. I feel a bit of survivor's guilt because this man was literally a several months older than me, I turn 40 later on this month.
Sad man.
Rip in Benny
Terrific video. Cant believe I didnt find this channel earlier.
Seeing as how the puppet is crudely dressed up like Joker, I think the point of him being there is to show that even Scarface was broken by the Joker and really is just "the puppet" now
17:00 jokers cell is in the the intensive treatment where the first titan fight is, you see his sell in knight its one of the hanging ones
I've played this game at least 20 times in the last 2 years, masterpiece
i’ve watched 15 years worth of videos about this game and this is easily top 3. fantastic analysis my friend!
Just started replaying Asylum again, this video found me at the perfect time
Great game & great comic. Both have got such amazing aesthetics.
The comic has some of my favourite comic art ever hands down
@@AsadAnjum Same! Also forgot to say this but the section on Comicstorian was much appreciated.
Very well crafted video in both pacing and ideal focus. Really gets me in a Batman deep dive kick.
I’ve always wanted a video like this. For this game and the comic thank you.
20:20 To answer your question as to what the devs might have intended with Scarface, I have my own theory. Scarface is specifically located inside of Quincy Sharp's office, which I think is subtle foreshadowing that Quincy is merely a puppet in Strange and Ra's plan for Arkham and Gotham city as a whole.
This is incredibly well made both in pacing and creativity
This is a fantastic video. Next level editing🔥
19:35 pretty sure the loss of wife & daughter were referring to Dr. Murphy, crane previous doctor, not crane himself
this is the best arkham video i’ve ever seen. amazing editing
I think that, when talking about the inherent "hauntedness" of the land which Arkham is on, it's important to think about the fact that the name Arkham comes from Lovecraft.
From my understanding, Arkham is a fictional town in Massachusetts that a lot of Lovecraft's stories take place in. Stories in which the main idea is usually some kind of unearthly thing that drives people insane.
I also think that the story of Amadeus Arkham is reminiscent of the story of Lovecraft himself. From my memory, he watched his mother (and father?) go insane, get taken away to an insane asylum, and eventually die from syphilis. Thus, what inspired his writing style revolving around people being driven to insanity.
Some interesting parallels there.
@ 34:06 Another possibility is that they could have been feeding him recently deceased inmates or even had corpses imported specifically for him? Like im sure they want to cure his cannibalism but in the mean time he still has to be fed SOMETHING
I’m ngl, this editing and the video was incredibly impressive. Subbed once I saw the first few edits and commentary. Keep up the good work mane❤
18:47 Technical we do have it in the comics. In the anniversary version we get storyboard version that show him in the outfit full force.
video was so freaking good Ive seen enough I have to subscribe
Absolutely phenomenal video. Made me love the game even more!
Forgive me if I’m mismembering, but regarding Scarecrow’s first interview tape, wasn’t he testing his formula on a doctor in the asylum? The first and last tapes were him using the toxin and psychoanalyzing the fear of a doctor in the first, leading to a doctor and security guards in the last tape. From the context of the first tape, he was referring to his “test subject” to have lost a wife and child.
Although, it still draws a connection to Amadeus Arkham and his insanity, albeit a literal sense with Scarecrow pumping gas compared to a series of unfortunate events.
You may be right, since the whole wife/daughter thing isn't a typical part of cranes backstory. I guess it still connects just not as directly as I remembered
I have a problem with external noises and i sleep with headphones on. The amount of Arkham Asylum videos I've fell asleep to over the years is definitely in the double digits. Here's one for tonight. Thanks!
I love the portrayal of how horrible asylums actually were back then in this game. Patients being beaten and subdued in horrible ways and being experimented on is quite literally the reality for people just a few decades ago if you were mentally ill or even just disabled you weren’t seen as human anymore. It’s truly grim and I love that vibe being in the game albeit obviously exaggerated
Immediate like for both the Comicstorian and glitch bit, this is about to be a great vid.
31:14 I don't care what anyone has to say about the Arham Asylum staff, but you have to love Aaron Cash
If we weren't Batman this game would be pure horror
If this was the POV of an Arkham guard, the horror parts of this game would be a lot more prevalent
12:32 re7 save room music is so fitting
Personally I assumed the reason why we didn't see jokers cell was because he was constantly changing cells because inmates didn't want him
next to them or the staff didn't want him to formulate a plan to escape
Excellent analysis! It’s always been one of my favorite things about Asylum (and City as well to a similar extent), how much of the actual “story” of the game is baked into the scenery. You’ve done an amazing job covering it all here!
Thoroughly enjoyed this, great work amazing production ! 🙏🏻
COMICSTORIAN DIED NO WAY
Yeah, other people have continued the channel since but Ben Potter (who ran the channel throughout the years) passed away over the summer
@AsadAnjum my day was ruined
Yea, it was really sad to find out but im glad his memory will never be forgotten.
great vid, loved the take mixing the comics with the game
42:41 - 44:30 You've perfectly explained what I realized about Batman. What makes him pretty incompetent at his own self imposed mission of being a vigilante who "stops evil" isn't that he refuses to kill the bad guys, it's that he is very much okay with EVERYTHING else that can be done to those bad guys as long as they're kept alive, and we all know there are fates worse than death...
I'm not sure if this has been explored in any iteration of this comic superhero, but it brings up an important question: Batman disagrees with killing villains, but does that mean he's a-okay with giving them other torturous fates as long as they're alive? If you know anything about "I have no mouth and I must scream", then you start to realize maybe Bruce SHOULD be taken somewhere far away from society like all the other villains.
No Batman is very much against torture and stuff along those lines. He might break some bones but he’s never gonna injure you in such a way that you won’t heal and recover
@@kylerpruitt1620That's good to know. I've seen some interpretations where he's actually very kind to those villains who do get redeemed or are trying to be, but those are mostly from the animated series (particularly with Harley Quinn and Ace). Meanwhile, darker interpretations don't give way to that comforting side of Batman/Bruce, and I think the one in Arkham Asylum (game) would fall into that category, since he sees through environment and audio log how many villains arent given proper treatment for true rehabilitation but he doesn't even react to it. We could make the assumption that he is affected by them and at the end of the game he forces changes to the asylum, but first of all, it's an assumption, and secondly, if he had made changes then I'm pretty sure we wouldn't see the exact same villains in the sequel games being just as bad as they always were (except for Ivy to an extent, she did sacrifice herself in Arkham Knight, but she only did it for the plantlife)
@100lovenana the games sadly don't rlly elaborate on any of this.
He is extremely against torture and is usually kinder to his enemies, the games just usually don’t elaborate that side of him. the Batman from the animated series is much closer to how he is in the comics than the Arkham games, although they are equally good adaptations of the characters in my opinion.
After beating the whole game i can feel a weird feeling in the asylum
Cannot wait for the Arkham City video now!
Really well-produced and thought provoking video. I’d love to see your take on other Arkham games.
i beg of you to make more videos like this on the arkham series. this has easily become one of my favorite youtube videos to date
35:08 I just checked this bug in the game, and yes - it really happens in the game if you go outside with detective mode enabled. However, now another question arises - is this really a glitch in the game, or is there some kind of feature that Rocksteady did intentionally...
When I first played the game, I thought that it was going to be part of a Scarecrow scene.
I wish I could rate this video 5 stars, it is truly perfect and well made!
Best Batman Lore video ever made
Great video! Thanks for really have me craving for playing arkham asylum again. Just need to find my ps3 copy now...
For me, Arkham Asylum is the best of these games. Absolutely loved it 😎
I second this. I enjoyed arkham origins tok but I remember being hyped as hell for arkhan city and it kinda let me down cause I missed the claustrophobic stmosphere of asylum. The city was good but arkham asylum felt so eerie and dreadful and Riddler was never better than in asylum.
@@agipandi4482 do we share the same mind?🤗🤣🤣
Please, make more videos like this. Absolutely great video my man
Excellent work on this. Good job!
amazing video!! loveeee horror breakdowns!
Perfect video to hit my recommended feed after recently 100%-ing Arkham Asylum
Shout out to Ben ... Rest easy
Amazing use of other horror games music, had me genuinely creeped out
wow, im only 5 minutes into this video and im hooked as hell
Weirdly enough, I was in an Arkham Asylum story mood, so this video came out at the perfect time.
Wtf this is soo good. The quality is insane
This video is so underrated i hope it blows up in the algorithm
Was not expecting the red dead 2 music. Very nice touch.
Kinda funny how I decide to play Batman again starting from asylum & it seems like we all kinda have that itch at this moment haha. That’s awesome!