‘Batman: Arkham Asylum’ = Enduring Interactive Fear

Welcome to the madhouse, Batman!

As a kid, very little excited me more than getting to interact with my favorite DC hero, Batman. Whether it was a new animated show or a movie that changed the superhero film landscape, any opportunity to experience more Batman was a welcome one to me. So imagine my excitement when the brand new Batman game, Batman: Arkham Asylum, was announced. Needless to say, 11 year-old me was over the moon, thrilled to get to properly play as Batman for the first time ever. 

One thing I think no one was ready for was just how scary Batman: Arkham Asylum turned out to be. Most outsiders to the Arkham video game series likely hear “Batman” and immediately think it is just another superhero game. It certainly is a superhero game, with you running around as Batman beating up thugs while trying to stop the Joker’s latest scheme. What makes it so much more than that though, is how the game carried with it a fantastic element of horror throughout the entire story. Although future games in the franchise carried over this horror theme, none of them nailed it quite like Arkham Asylum did.

The game starts out as your standard Batman adventure, or technically the end of one: Batman has captured Joker and is taking him to be locked back up in Arkham Asylum, the incredibly outdated psychiatric hospital (= prison) that hosts the majority of Batman’s rogues gallery. Not long after bringing Joker in, the Clown Prince of Crime launches his real scheme – overtaking the asylum staff and taking control of the madhouse. 

From the very beginning, Batman: Arkham Asylum creates an atmosphere of unease. The titular asylum is dingy, grimy, and very reminiscent of an abandoned, haunted mental hospital you would find in an aging horror film. The only difference is that instead of being haunted by incorporeal spirits, Arkham Asylum is haunted by very real, very alive threats who all have one goal in mind: to kill you, as Batman. 

In fact, the asylum even has some monsters of its own: Killer Croc, a mutated crocodile man, tells Batman in the very beginning of the game he intends to eat the Caped Crusader. Cut to later in the game when you are slowly creeping around Croc’s lair, he will spontaneously burst out from the water, chasing you across flimsy platforms. With your only option being to walk slowly or risk Croc taking notice of your location, players have to painstakingly make their way through his lair with the constant fear of a crocodile man jumping out and hunting you down.

As you run around the asylum, Joker will periodically use the PA system to speak with Batman and taunt him. The PA system makes a noise that will haunt me for the rest of the time; a chime that sounds slightly off, almost as if it’s getting further and further under your skin every time it plays. Eventually, Joker also unleashes the absolutely rabid ‘Arkham Lunatics’, locked up in straight jackets and ready to attack anyone on sight. They hide throughout the asylum, forcing on the player the expectation that one of them could jump out from under the floorboards or pounce on you from the ceiling at any moment. Over the moon. 

Scarecrow: The Master of Fear

But of course, nothing embodies fear more in the Arkham series than the master of fear himself, Scarecrow. For the uninitiated, Scarecrow, a.k.a. Dr. Jonathan Crane, is a former doctor of Arkham Asylum who invented the aptly-named “Fear Toxin,” a chemical concoction that shows its user their worst fears come to life as horrific hallucinations. Three times throughout the game, players are forced to contend with Scarecrow while under the effects of his Fear Toxin – running a deadly nightmare gauntlet where they need to fight off skeletons and hide whenever the massive Scarecrow appears and looms over his realm of fear. Being seen by him results in immediate death, driving the stakes and the player’s blood pressure up even more. 

Right before the very last Scarecrow nightmare challenge, the player experiences what can be considered the best scare tactic in the entire franchise. As Batman is walking through the asylum, he is dosed with Fear Toxin. Suddenly, the game seems to crash, with the screen and audio glitching and the player left frustrated and dealing with a very real fear for any gamer: did my game just break and make me lose all my progress? From what I’ve read from others who have played the game, this “glitch” tricked many players into resetting their game console, convinced that their game had actually broken. Oh, heavens.

For those who stuck it out, they learned that the glitch was actually a scripted event. As one fear was conquered a new one emerged, and  the game seemingly starts over from the very beginning with its opening cutscene. This time, Joker is in the driver seat, taking Batman to Arkham Asylum where he is promptly brought in on a stretcher and shot by the Joker, leaving the player unable to do anything but watch helplessly. Of course, Batman is a beacon of willpower, so he overcomes the hallucinations and manages to take down Scarecrow and, inevitably, the Joker – though not before Joker mutates himself into a monstrosity that likely haunted the dreams of many young players.

Batman: Arkham Asylum manages to accomplish polar opposites at once: making players truly feel like Batman on an immersive level, who himself inspires fear in the many thugs he takes down, while also managing to surprise and terrorize the player on a meta level. 

Melting down, yet over the moon

Batman may not have been afraid, but I certainly was, nearly having a heart attack every time a lunatic launched at me from out of a grate I didn’t notice. I did notice my controller flying up in the air as I yelled out. In fear?

Horror games aren’t everybody’s cup of tea, myself typically included. But Batman: Arkham Asylum reaches this crucial sweet spot where it gives players all the power and then knocks them back down, forcing them to overcome the twisted thoughts and schemes of Gotham City’s most wanted. Even now, nearly 20 years later, I still find myself feeling that same unease as I step back into the asylum and contend with the likes of Scarecrow, the Joker, Killer Croc. Especially Killer Croc. 

Yet, traversing all that chaos and destruction to triumphantly take down the Joker at the end makes it all the more satisfying when I surpass the nightmares and finally save the day, standing tall as the Batman.