Arkham Origins is NOT Underrated

All fun and games until the Arkham Origins Blackgate fans come out of the woodwork. Get 20% when buying G Fuel: https://www.gfuel.com/THATBOYAQUA My main channel @ThatBoyAqua If there was one thing that the Arkham community could agree on, it’s that Arkham Origins is the most underrated Arkham game. I believe this stems from the fact that many criticized the lack of innovation upon first launch, and this feeling that we may have treated origins too harshly is exacerbated by each new batman release. You can dislike Origins all you want, but I’d argue everyone would rather have another Arkham Origins than Suicide Squad or Gotham Knights. That, and people often put it near or at the bottom of their lists when ranking the games, which gives off the impression that the game is bad, even when that isn’t the case, all the arkham games are great. However, I have begun to take greater issue with the Arkham Origins discussion as of late because I think we’re starting to bleed into glazing territory, so I want to make the argument that Arkham Origins isn’t and never was underrated. Let’s start by taking a look at Origins strengths. People often talk about the story and the boss fights when it comes to Origins. Roger Craig Smith kills it as Batman, and there's an element of the myth of the batman that is seldom present in the other Arkham games. Sure, fear plays a large role in the predator encounters, but Origins was the only game to really work that into the story, having thugs debating over whether the Batman was actually real or not. Batman himself gets the most depth here up to that point, though, if we’re being honest with ourselves, he was never exactly dissected in any of the other games. I do think that Arkham Knight is a far better examination of the Batman as both a symbol and a logistical nightmare, but I’ll save that for a different video. I think when people bring up the story, the one scene people always bring up and glaze is the Alfred and Batman scene, and you know what, I’ll glaze it too. It’s a great speech about what Batman means to Bruce and it highlights the stress that his actions put on his loved ones, especially Alfred, who is his pseudo father. I think an argument can be made that too much of this scene is telling us what makes Batman important, but I believe the game goes to many lengths in showing us what makes Batman important too, so it’s fine. A lot of this scene however rides on pre-established Batman lore and Roger Craig Smith's performance. It’s not a scene that Origins was building up to nor was it a scene that could only be done here. This speech could be slotted into any Batman media and it would fit, and often, it is. We see similar speeches from different interpretations of Batman all the time, such as the beginning of 2022’s The Batman, the comics, and even his borderline catchphrase of being vengeance and the knight communicates the same thing. I hope this doesn’t come across as downplaying this scene, because I do think it’s not only good, but the best part of the game, however, I think the way people talk about this scene makes it out to be some silver bullet, as though it’s a magnum opus of Batman storytelling and I just don't buy that in the slightest, especially not when we get similar sentiments so often from media that both preceded and proceeded this game. Batman Arkham Origins is a great game, and I don't think anyone would say Arkham Origins is bad, even if worse than the other games. However, we have seen so much discussion around Arkham Origins being underrated, that I'm starting to think Arkham Origins is overrated. I think Arkham Origins is not Underrated, and while this isn't a traditional Arkham Origins review, in this Arkham Origins essay, I will be arguing that it is the worst of the Batman Arkham games, and if any game is deserving of the title of underrated, then it's not Batman Arkham Knight but Batman Arkham Asylum. If you want me to expand on that, then I can make a video about how I feel Batman Arkham Asylum is underrated.