History YMMV / BatmanArkhamCity

** Speaking of that, [[spoiler: during the race to stop Hugo Strange, he says that fatalities caused by Protocol Ten are reaching twenty-two percent. One in five of the inmates Batman took down or saved from other inmates were killed in the destruction.]]
** Also, in the Riddler's lair [[spoiler: where all of the doctors plus Aaron Cash are being forced to walk along tracks, there's a list of names with two names crossed out, and one of the guards from the church is missing. The other one could be on the Riddler hostages, but this guard, the mustachioed guard, is nowhere to be found]].

* DracoInLeatherPants: Hugo Strange gets a lot of this from fans, as can be observed under RootingForTheEmpire and AlternativeCharacterInterpretation. Sure, there are very valid points to be made, but this is still a man throwing in innocent people to be executed and he even encourages some of the gang wars by providing Joker and Penguin guns, along with threatening to dissect Catwoman's brain while alive.

** Speaking of that, [[spoiler: during the race to stop Hugo Strange, he says that fatalities caused by Protocol Ten are reaching twenty-two percent. One in five of the inmates Batman took down were killed in the destruction.]]

** [[spoiler: Hugo Strange and Ra's al Ghul crossed this with Protocol 10 - which is an annihilation of all criminals in Arkham City. While it's true that most of the villains are so vile that they should be killed, there are many innocent people (Political Prisoners), whose only crime is knowing too much. In either case, mass murdering a bunch of unharmed, defenseless people, equipping one group with military weapons to use on each other as an excuse to justify their killings is supremely inhuman, regardless of whether victims are criminals or innocent.]]
** There's Hugo Strange: [[spoiler: the brainwashing of Quincy Sharp, who, while not innocent, is not a villain, into executioner; that of TYGER guards into remorseless killers, who are willing to kill Political Prisoners, kidnapping doctors and giving them to Joker, etc. And don't forget about insane freaks from the first game...]]

* RootingForTheEmpire: After the entire game showed that Arkham is filled to the brim with violent criminals who kill you on sight, whose EnemyChatter is half the time about how much they enjoy murder and torture, and all of who voluntarily work for even worse bosses, the player may be forgiven for wanting to ask Strange to airlift the political prisoners and maybe Mr. Freeze, Ivy and Catwoman out and then just letting him have his fun.

** Mad Hatter, more than anyone. You'd think someone who [[spoiler: Hugo Strange took advantage of to get Arkham City to happen in the first place]] would've had a bigger role than a side-story nuisance.

** Finally, the Joker [[HijackedByGanon barging into the first few missions and completely hijacking the plot about investigating Doctor Strange and the prison]]. At the time, players somewhat forgave the Joker once again taking center stage after already ''having'' a game where he was the BigBad because it was (falsely) marketed as Mark Hamill's swan-song for the character; even setting aside the voice actor drama [[spoiler: the Joker does die during the game and a bit of dramatic focus during a farewell to the character felt appropriate]]. But after every subsequent ''Arkham'' title ''also'' had the Joker show up and hijack the plot to varying degrees (although in ''Suicide Squad'' he "just" shows up as the very first playable character DLC rather than taking over the main story), all excuses had evaporated and fans [[WolverinePublicity just saw it as trying to cram the character into everything for marketing reasons]].

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Despite being seen as the EvenBetterSequel to ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' and the height of the franchise, many trends that would make later installments controversial or outright disliked had their origins here.

* FranchiseOriginalSin: Despite being seen as the EvenBetterSequel to ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' and the height of the franchise, many that would make later installments controversial or outright disliked had their origins here.

** Robin, who pulls a BigDamnHeroes moment at the same time.

* Taking cue from ''ComicBook/BatmanTheLongHalloween'', Calendar Man is a favourite amongst fans, with many claiming that he is one of the scariest characters in the whole ''franchise'' due to a combination of stellar voice acting, writing and a masterful use of OffscreenVillainy.
* ComicBook/{{Nightwing}} is the only member of the Batfamily in ''City'' who doesn't even speak and doesn't even appear on the main story. However, his unique playstyle involving [[ShockAndAwe electricity]] and [[DanceBattler acrobatics]] and his [[MrFanservice good looks]] made him a stand out. That might be why in ''Arkham Knight'' he is [[AscendedExtra given a proper voice actor and presence in the main story.]]

** After decades of being a rather lame, gimmicky villain, Calendar Man received a darker, edgier, and grittier retooling that with it brought him a decent following that's growing since the game's release.

** The Calendar man trophy/achievement is a downplayed example. You need to visit and talk to Calendar man during certain holidays marked on a calendar next to his cell. The problem is that family/friends usually go above video games on priorities, and if you've visited relatives far away, you miss your chance that ''year''. It can also trip up non-American players, as not all countries celebrate Father's Day in June. It's possible to cheat through it by changing the system's time, however, something the developers fully anticipated since they added a fiendishly clever EasterEgg that can only be unlocked by changing the system's time to the specific date of December 13, 2004 [[note]]The other Calendar Man dialogues can be unlocked by changing the Date and Month, but this one only works by changing the year as well, and the year is four years before VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum[[/note]].

** The entirety of the Catowman DLC can be considered this:

*** The fact that players are forced to play as Catwoman a total of three times in the entire campaign: once at the very start, which isn't bad, then once again within the first 25% of the story... then once more during the final 15% at the end. The problem is, the Arkham City goons scale in difficulty throughout the story regardless of who you're playing as, meaning the third time you play as Catwoman, you're facing high-level goons with sniper rifles, thermal goggles, shields and body-armour, with very little experience playing as Catwoman, and potentialyl very few upgrades purchased for her to make it any easier.
*** Even then, her upgrade menu only has ''six'' total upgrades for the entire game: two types of armour upgrade (2) with two levels each (4), and two special combo moves (6), which either stun or injure enemies. She has no gadget upgrades, no multi-takedown upgrade, no stealth-centric upgrades ''at all'', no movement-centric upgrades either... playing as Catwoman is generally a complete chore, but there's not even any ways to make it ''easier!''
*** You freely can't switch player characters at will until you complete the story. This can be an issue during one of the late Catwoman sequences if you feel under-leveled because Catwoman has much fewer ways to gain XP than Batman[[note]]She can't do Batman's sidequests, she can't solve the Riddler's riddles, and her tools are unable to break most of the destructible items. She has her own Riddler's trophies and can pick up Batman's if they're freely accessible, but usually lacks tools to make them accessible[[/note]], requiring to farm XP by attacking thugs, which becomes tedious at high levels due to both the amount of XP needed, and the fact Catwoman is weaker than Batman in combat.

*** The entirety of the Catowman DLC can be considered this:

** Catwoman's climbing is loathed by stealth fans, as it's slow, visible, and annoyingly specific about where it can be activated, resulting in many cheap deaths.

** Catwoman Riddler Trophies can only be collected by Catwoman and will shock Batman if he tries to get them. While some of them require Catwoman's unique abilities to access, others are out in the open and perfectly accessible to Batman, yet require switching to Catwoman for the express purpose of picking them up.
** You can't switch player characters at will until you complete the story. This can be an issue during one of the late Catwoman sequences if you feel under-leveled because Catwoman has much fewer ways to gain XP than Batman[[note]]She can't do Batman's sidequests, she can't solve the Riddler's riddles, and her tools are unable to break most of the destructible items. She has her own Riddler's trophies and can pick up Batman's if they're freely accessible, but usually lacks tools to make them accessible[[/note]], requiring to farm XP by attacking thugs, which becomes tedious at high levels due to both the amount of XP needed, and the fact Catwoman is weaker than Batman in combat.

* SpecialEffectFailure: Even in the post-game, [[spoiler: the textures for Batman's exposed skin around his mouth show his skin being pale and having TaintedVeins. You'd think they would have reused the same textures as the final cutscene after he takes the cure]].

* WTHCastingAgency:
** Creator/DeeBradleyBaker's casting on ComicBook/RasAlGhul has received this from quite a few people, who thought he sounded too young.
** Creator/NolanNorth as ComicBook/ThePenguin. He's mostly known for playing smooth, American-accented leading men like [[VideoGame/{{Uncharted}} Nathan Drake]], so many had doubts about his abilities to play a quirky villainous side character like the Penguin with a Cockney accent, and these concerns weren't alleviated by his performance in the final game. There were others, however, who were pleased with his performance.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Mad Hatter, more than anyone. You'd think someone who [[spoiler: Hugo Strange took advantage of to get Arkham City to happen in the first place]] would've had a bigger role than a side-story nuisance.

** One can't help but feel a little this way with [[spoiler: Professor Strange. The trailers and the early game built him up as the BigBad and he puts on a good show, manipulating Batman, several of his villains, and the entire city, seemingly always several steps ahead of anyone who might threaten him. It looked for a while that this game would pull him from obscurity and make him a top-tier Bat-Villain, but then it turns out Ra's Al Ghul was controlling him and you don't [[TheUnfought even fight Strange directly]]]].

** While Hugo Strange is a PsychoPsychologist, a lot of gamers feel he's not incompetent. His observations and analysis of criminals and supervillains, with the exception of the Joker is fairly spot-on, pegging Penguin's Napoleon DelusionsOfEloquence, Harvey Dent as a public servant who caved in to the pressures of having a good image, Catwoman's stealing being essentially a cry for attention from the man she loves ([[http://sequart.org/images/Batman-and-Catwoman-batman-7454606-600-365.jpeg which she more-or-less admitted to once]]) and Mr. Freeze a self-destructive JadedWashout who is letting his great scientific skills go to waste over his TraumaCongaLine because he himself isn't making an effort to get over it or at least take responsibility for his own actions. There's also his [[BreakThemByTalking Breaking Speech]] to Batman which Batman never gives an adequate answer and response to.
*** You can say that even with Joker he makes some good points. Strange observes that Joker' blame on Batman's causing his StartOfDarkness is simply an excuse to commit more and more horrific crimes (and going by ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'', it seems to be true). And his StartOfDarkness was his fault, not Batman's.

** After he betrays Batman, [[spoiler:Bane]] runs into a small room (elevator?), followed by Bruce throwing a batarang to close it's door. The fact that none of the walls are that thick and the door is made of metal bars makes it doubly so, since he could ''easily'' escape it.

** Second-best probably goes to ComicBook/RasAlGhul. Thanks to getting a taste of the Blood of the Demon, Batman fights Ra's in a giant hallucinatory desert city where Ra's himself summons a giant monster of sand and assaults him with hundreds of ninjas. It has some of the best (and most outlandish) visuals in the game ([[SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome which is saying something]]), a tense atmosphere, and gives Batman the opportunity to counter attacks from over 20 opponents at the same time (He's normally capable of a mere three counters at the same time).

** Fourth goes to Solomon Grundy, who becomes a electrical zombie Hulk inside a dungeon basement of fire and lightning. You eventually finish him ''by ripping his electrified heart out.''

** The story. While the [[spoiler: Clayface]] twist is (almost) universally praised, other parts are more divisive. Did the villains get good roles, or were they underutilized as an attempt to shove as many Batman villains into the story as possible? Do the characters grab the IdiotBall in crucial plot points [[labelnote:Example]]Mr. Freeze demands Batman to find Nora before he gives him the cure, ignoring the fact that if Batman dies, ''he cannot help him find Nora'', and Bruce doesn't even ''try'' to discuss this; as a result, the two fight, and Harley steals the cure[[/labelnote]] just so the plot could happen, or are their actions understandable given the situation?

** Camera issues are rant-inducing when trying for Riddler trophies that involve having to rebound off of walls during flight. Having to orient yourself several times during a trophy challenge to kick off specific targets in a row can be frustrating to say the least. Please resist the urge to throw your controller at the screen.

** The same as been said for Creator/GreyDeLisle as ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} compared to Creator/AdrienneBarbeau.

** Getting to beat the shit out of Penguin following the boss fight with Solomon Grundy is immensely rewarding after constant showcases of how vile and despicable this version of the character is, to say nothing about the hell he put Batman (and the player) and Gordon's undercover cops through before this point.
** [[spoiler:Finally seeing the Joker [[KilledOffForReal die for good]], after being the trope namer for JokerImmunity, is equal parts as satisfying as it is shocking.]]

* CommonKnowledge: Thanks to a case of type 2 of UnspecifiedRoleCredit, for a while it was thought that Creator/DeeBradleyBaker replaced Creator/SteveBlum as Killer Croc, Creator/CrispinFreeman was Robin, Creator/KariWahlgren was Vicki Vale, and Creator/QuintonFlynn as Nightwing--but these have since been debunked: Blum [[https://twitter.com/blumspew/status/252082717276114945 confirmed]] he was still Croc; in addition to voicing Two-Face, Creator/TroyBaker and Creator/GreyDeLisle confirmed they were the respective voices of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfjcFo_R6ms Robin]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4mFjqkH7DQ Vicki Vale]] (the latter of whom also voiced the character in the AnimatedAdaptation of ''Comicbook/BatmanYearOne'', which was released the same day as ''City''); and many noted that Baker's grunts for Tim were reused for Nightwing.

* CreepyAwesome: Calendar Man. He just sits in his cell, recounting his horrific crimes that he did on specific holidays, and yet is more memorable for it.

** Calendar Man's story of what he did on New Year's Day starts out disturbingly stalker-y, but crosses the line a second time when he acknowledges that [[spoiler: stepping into a crowded ballroom with a flamethrower was a bit dramatic]].
** Calendar Man's stories have a habit of doing this. For the 4th of July, he starts off by telling how he rigged the entire asylum with explosives and expressing his disappointment at Batman stopping him but not before [[spoiler:the fire swept through the intensive care ward because 'what's the Fourth of July without a barbecue']].

* DesignatedLoveInterest: Talia. Her and Batman's past is only mentioned, and sounds like a mere one-night stand. Both dislike the way the other deals with criminals, the two barely interact, and yet the writing implies they are in love.
* DisappointingLastLevel: The entire game is spent building up Protocol Ten, and in the endgame Batman finally takes on TYGER and infiltrates Strange's lair, the Wonder Tower. However, the TYGER personnel fight the same as the thugs you fight on the street, just a few of them have stun sticks now and need to be attacked from behind, otherwise you can beat them up just fine with the same tactics you've used all game. As for the Wonder Tower, infiltrating it amounts to two predator sequences and a fight with a group of guards, and the last predator sequence before Strange is just six guards, child's play for a properly upgraded Batman.

** Mad Hatter is this to many players as his only scene in the game is one of the most memorable portions of the game. Like Scarecrow from the previous game, many found his side mission to be NightmareFuel and [[spoiler: he tries to take control of Batman and the mask he puts on him]].

** Entering an air vent will always turn Batman's view to the inside, even if you enter backwards with the intention of seeing if mooks are looking at you. Grappling will always turn the camera up, which seems logical at first but it's completely unnecessary once you initiated grappling. Speaking of which... want to grapple to a certain point on the scenery? Well, make sure you rotate the camera to the ''exact'' position. Just because ''you'' can see the point you want to grapple to, doesn't mean the game does. Good luck trying to do this while moving or falling.

** The secret to breaking combat challenges is Redirect. The AI can't handle it well. Literally just attack once, redirect, repeat. It overrides attacks that could be countered, knife attacks that have to be dodged 3x, titans, everything. Throw in the occasional takedown for armored enemies but as long as you remember to redirect after every attack you will get 60-70ks in no time. Getting larger combos gives better multipliers.
** Critical Strikes. It's one of the first upgrades you can unlock, and it not only allows for extra damage on properly timed combos, but increases the experience multiplier by 2x instead of 1x on a properly timed hit. Master your time of it and you can hit multipliers in the 30s and higher on large groups of enemies, allowing you to effortlessly rake in experience.
** Freeflow Focus, which slows down time when a 12 hit combo is reached. After you obtain it, you barely need to counter anymore, although the slow-mo ends if combo finishers are used. It was nerfed in ''Knight'', and instead adds damage without slow-mo.
* GoddamnedBats: Shielded and Stun Baton mooks. Both of them can't be countered and instantly end your combo if attacked head-on (damaging you too in the case of Stun Batons) The TacticalRockPaperScissors methods to defeat them aren't difficult, but in larger brawls it can be easy to accidentally punch one via DamnYouMuscleMemory, which can easily break your high-score attempts at Riddler's Revenge maps.

** ''Arkham Knight'' confirms Jason Todd exists in this universe and was [[spoiler:seemingly]] killed by the Joker, explaining Bruce's dismissive treatment of Tim - losing Jason still hurts him years later, and he doesn't want to lose Tim too.
** ''Arkham Knight'' also pulls a slight CerebusRetcon on the moment where Mr. Freeze's face suddenly turns into that of the Joker's; [[spoiler:It's a side-effect of Joker's infected blood slowly turning Bruce into a Joker-esque lunatic]].

** In the epilogue, various mooks can't accept that [[spoiler:Joker]]'s dead. Several fans believe the same, coming up with theories where [[spoiler:he]] could still be alive. The ''Arkham City: Endgame'' comic exists to confirm that [[spoiler:Joker]] really is dead, with Gordon in possession of the body for two weeks following the end of the game, and the final panels of the story being [[spoiler:Joker's body being cremated]].

** Coincidentally or not, this game and ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' share several plot elements even if the latter was released a year afterwards. Both feature a [[TheHeavy Heavy]] armed with knowledge of Batman's secret identity who cordons off a large part of Gotham [[spoiler:with the intention of destroying it to fulfill the Knight Templar legacy of villain Ra's Al Ghul]]. Catwoman appears as a {{Heel Face Revolving|Door}} FemmeFatale who is ultimately [[spoiler: faced with a choice between abandoning Gotham and staying behind and aiding Batman]]. Batman himself is shown in both stories being pushed to his physical limits by the machinations of a villain before [[spoiler: being outwitted by a BigBad in the climax]]. Ironically, [[spoiler: Batman realizes the Joker outwitted him after Talia stabs Joker]] in ''Arkham City'', while in ''The Dark Knight Rises'' [[spoiler:he realizes he has been Out Gambitted by Talia AFTER she stabs HIM]].
** The infamous "Press X to Pay Respects" from ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyAdvancedWarfare'' is in fact OlderThanTheyThink since this game has a similar event and prompt involving Batman visiting the spot where his parents were murdered. Curiously, it went mostly uncommented on here, but was widely mocked when ''Advanced Warfare'' did it. [[http://www.thegia.com/2014/11/03/all-due-respect-press-f-for-farce/ This article]] explores why.

** After the main story is over, you can walk through Arkham City and an inmate will ask "[[spoiler:Two Jokers? How do we know there ain't a third?]]". Turns out there are [[spoiler:three Jokers]], as of ''ComicBook/TheButton'' storyline.

* HypeBacklash: While the game ''is'' good and deserves a place on the "Best superhero games" list, the sheer praise and claims how it's the best game ''ever'' made somewhat diminishes its impact. Some parts of the story seem to be there for the sake of showcasing an iconic Batman character, yet the game [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter glosses over them]] and continues on, resulting in Two-Face's very minor role, [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere Solomon Grundy's sudden appearance]], and the Vicki Vale rescue mission. Most bosses follow the same tactic of "Evade and spam gadget X", [[ZeroEffortboss some go down with a single button press]], and even the acclaimed Mr. Freeze fight requires both Batman and Freeze, both very intelligent individuals, to ignore all attempts of negotiation and grab the JerkassBall so their fight and the final half of the game can actually happen. However, credit where credit is due, the [[spoiler:Joker/Clayface twist]] is considered ''excellent'' even by the game's detractors.

** All those times Batman finishes an arena-style fight, only for the 'arena' to blow up or wreckage to fall immediately after it's finished. It's doubtful the unconscious goons were moved to safety beforehand... [[spoiler:Examples include the Joker fight just before Protocol Ten initiates and the Tyger guards in Strange's tower.]]
** Speaking of that, [[spoiler:during the race to stop Hugo Strange, he says that fatalities caused by Protocol Ten are reaching twenty-two percent. One in five of the inmates Batman took down were killed in the destruction.]]
** Also, in the Riddler's lair [[spoiler:where all of the doctors plus Aaron Cash are being forced to walk along tracks, there's a list of names with two names crossed out, and one of the guards from the church is missing. The other one could be on the Riddler hostages, but this guard, the mustachioed guard, is nowhere to be found]].
** [[spoiler:While Batman is ultimately able to find and distribute a cure to people in Gotham hospitals poisoned by Joker's blood (as confirmed in Arkham Knight), it is likely many died before the cure could be distributed. Bruce, a man in impeccable shape, seemingly only survived the night with the help of a small Lazarus Pit dose.]]

** The Mad Hatter, especially in his audio tapes, just sounds so pathetic and ''unwell.'' He needs some ''real'' medical and psychiatric care, not Hugo Strange. [[spoiler:And after you defeat him and return to his hideout, he's openly weeping. When you realize that the little, one-room hovel with a half-dozen formerly mind controlled thugs ''is'' his base of operations, you see that he wasn't trying to take control of Batman out of spite or hatred: he just wanted a prayer at facing the other villains.]]
** Victor Zsasz. With his meek sounding voice, his ferret-like physique and depressing backstory, you can't help but feel at least ''some'' pity for him.
** Harley, at least come the "Harley's Revenge" DLC. [[spoiler:Not only has she [[KilledOffForReal actually lost her Mista J]], but the ''one'' shining hope for her, the idea that she was gonna have his baby. Turned out to be a bum pregnancy test, judging by the "May give false positives" box and the ''dozens'' of negative strips laying around in a few spots of the DLC. She even takes Scarface - the puppet - and puts him in a crib with clown makeup on. Harley was always sympathetic, bordering on IneffectualSympatheticVillain status sometimes, but seeing her go further off the deep end than ever, [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope dive headlong into psychopathic villainy]], and try to [[TakingYouWithMe take Batman and a large portion of Gotham out with her still in it]] so she could [[TogetherInDeath see Joker again, happily]] is just heartwrenching.]]

** A real-world example: before the game was released, several news outlets spoiled the plot point that [[spoiler:Batman finds ComicBook/{{The|Joker}} [[EnsembleDarkhorse Joker]] [[KilledOffForReal lying dead while Harley cries over him]]]], in the first two hours of the game. Most of the outlets expressed shock and near-indignation that something this shocking could have happened that early in the game, and there was an immediate backlash from fans who thought the plot was completely spoiled. [[spoiler:Then it turned out that everyone fell for the "oldest trick in the book" - as soon as Batman finds his "dead" body and turns his back, Clayface posing as a seemingly rejuvenated Joker pops up behind him and shoves a stun gun into his neck while the real Joker continues to play dead until Batman is completely knocked out]].

* MemeticLoser: [[spoiler:Bane]] has this reputation among some fans, because he's dealt with in a cutscene and how he's completely unable to break free of his cell despite his enormous strength.

** There's Hugo Strange: [[spoiler: brainwashing of Quincy Sharp, who, while not innocent, is not a villain, into executioner; that of TYGER guards into remorseless killers, who are willing to kill Political Prisoners, kidnapping doctors and giving them to Joker, etc. And don't forget about insane freaks from the first game...]]

** The Identity Thief [[spoiler:AKA Hush]] crossed this by murdering six innocent people, cutting off their faces while they were still alive, [[spoiler:and making his face a perfect copy of Bruce Wayne's all to ruin his life over a petty grudge.]]

** Batman struggling against the Mad Hatter's mind control looks completely ridiculous, because he's just shaking his head around and yelling while standing still. That mask Mad Hatter gave him makes it all the more silly.

** [[spoiler:Clayface]]'s Game Over screens are truly a sight to behold. Though the quotes alone are snicker-worthy, his accompanying stage movements and [[spoiler: ''JigglePhysics'']] are what really gets the crowd going. While the idea is that [[spoiler:Clayface was formerly a hammy old time actor]], it's overblown either way. Creator/WilliamShatner would be proud.

* NeverLiveItDown: [[spoiler:Bane]] being unable to escape a small room with thin walls and a door made out of metal bars is seen as a very low point for his Arkham Series counterpart.

* OlderThanTheyThink: Judging by the praise the scene gets, you'd think that [[spoiler: Joker had never died in any other Batman media. For example, he died in Creator/FrankMiller's ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns, Burton's ''Film/Batman1989'' and of course, ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyondReturnOfTheJoker'' written by Paul Dini. What makes ''Arkham City'' surprising is that two of the other examples were set in an alternate continuity future story (the kind where [[AnyoneCanDie one expects character death]]), whereas the game was promoted as just-another-Batman-adventure similar to how VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum was; the kind that everyone expected to end with JokerImmunity]].

* {{Padding}}: The "Remote Hideaway" side mission consists entirely of Batman talking to some cops on the Iceberg Lounge. They give him an gadget upgrade that could just as easily have been a regular upgrade bought with XP.

** The Penguin is portrayed as an outright sadistic and dangerous psychopath and an arguably [[BadBoss worse boss]] than Joker. In fact, he arguably angers Batman more than anyone else in the game, even more than Strange, with the way he brutally tortures and murders cops.

** Calendar Man. Whilst his status as a Scrappy is debatable, there was no doubt he was hardly a respectable villain before this game came out. Once it was, there's little doubt Rocksteady really changed people's perspective on the character when he was made into a NightmareFuel story telling EasterEgg that legitimately is terrifying. In fact, the character may now be receiving a fanbase.
** Hugo Strange was always seen as second string even by comics fans with only one or two decent stories. The Arkham!Strange is considered to be the most intimidating and impressive version of the character and the first exposure many non-comics fans had of him. Unlike comics!Strange [[spoiler:who stumbled on Batman's identity by accident or simply unmasking him, Arkham!Strange cottoned on by using his skills to create a psychological profile. Many were disappointed by the weak resolution of Strange's plot, feeling that the good doctor deserved better]].

* RootingForTheEmpire: After the entire game showed that Arkham is filled to the brim with violent criminals that kill you on sight, whose EnemyChatter is half the time about how much they enjoy murder and torture, and all of whom voluntarily work for even worse bosses, the player may be forgiven for wanting to ask Strange to airlift the political prisoners and maybe Mr. Freeze, Ivy and Catwoman out and then just letting him have his fun.

** The "Protective Aura" modifier in challenge maps. Whenever it's active, it makes one enemy immune to everything, and switches its host at random. Doesn't sound too bad? Either by glitch or design, it can be active on more than one enemy at a time, its deactivation takes slightly longer than you are allowed to be inactive in combat without losing your combo (and the final enemy of any given wave ''will'' have it), and can seriously ruin some of the predator medals that require careful planning due to its random nature. [[http:\\static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/batman__return_to_arkham_arkham_city_20170820170528.jpg Here's an example from a combat situation.]] [[UnintentionallyUnwinnable Note that they are the only enemies left.]]
** Catwoman's climbing is loathed by stealth fans, as it's slow, visible, and is annoyingly specific about where it can be activated, resulting in many cheap deaths.

** Catwoman Riddler Trophies can only be collected by Catwoman, and will shock Batman if he tries to get them. While some of them require Catwoman's unique abilities to access, others are out in the open and perfectly accessible to Batman, yet require switching to Catwoman for the express purpose of picking them up.
** You can't switch player character at will until you complete the story. This can be an issue during one of the late Catwoman sequence if you feel underleveled, because Catwoman has much less ways to gain XP than Batman[[note]]She can't do Batman's sidequests, she can't solve the Riddler's riddles, and her tools are unable to break most of the destructible items. She has her own Riddler's trophies and can pick up Batman's if they're freely accessible, but usually lacks tools to make them accessible[[/note]], requiring to farm XP by attacking thugs, which becomes tedious at high levels due to both the amount of XP needed, and the fact Catwoman is weaker than Batman in combat.

** Strange's claim that Batman has only made the criminal problem worse. The helpful bios of the various super villains that you unlock during the game show that several of them indeed [[CreateYourOwnVillain used to be small time crooks until something happened to them when Batman stopped them the first time]], and many others (the Riddler for starters) attack civilians for no other reason than to challenge, trap or piss off Batman.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: The creepy droning sound that plays during the credits is near identical to "[[https://youtu.be/b6ycnnA2R6s The Cellar]]" from ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject.''

** In a NewGamePlus run, not only is Mr. Freeze much more aggressive and faster, but he will jam your Detective Vision if you keep it on for an extended period of time, making it harder to track his movement. While there are twelve different ways to damage him, the player is forced to figure out at least nine of them to win, since each method [[ItOnlyWorksOnce only works once]].

** Some of Riddler's gliding/pad puzzles qualify as this. Not because they're ''hard'' to figure out, but because there's often ''no room for error''. A few of his gadget-based puzzles also qualify, as several of them can't be solved without knowing obscure hidden uses of Batman's gadgets that serve little practical purpose outside of completing Riddler challenges. Did you know that, after spraying 3 clusters of Explosive Gel, you can detonate them individually by using first-person view to zoom in on them? Despite this being in the Gel's menu description, this feature is useful for exactly ''one'' Riddler Trophy in the game.
** Finding Deadshot. The quest itself isn't so difficult, as the game gives you a notification and general location of his victims. The hard part is getting the notification to trigger in the first place.

** The Riddler sidequest. It's not difficult, but it takes ''forever'' to get through. The premise is simple; Interrogate a Riddler thug to add some riddles on the map, after which you go and (usually) solve a small puzzle to collect it. However, you'll need to travel around a lot for any thugs to spawn, and you might want to add all riddles to interior maps before heading in. The problem is that the thugs reveal their locations by random, and there are ''440'' riddles. While the sidemission also appears in the other games, ''City's'' sheer amount of collectibles is maybe a tad too much.
** The Calendar man trophy/achievement is a downplayed example. You need to visit and talk to Calendar man during certain holidays marked on a calendar next to his cell. The problem is that family/friends usually go above video games on priorities, and if you've visiting relatives far away, you miss your chance that ''year''. It can also trip up non-American players, as not all countries celebrate Father's Day in June. It's possible to cheat through it by changing the system's time, however, something the developer's fully anticipated since they added a fiendishly clever EasterEgg that can only be unlocked by changing the system's time to the specific date of December 13, 2004 [[note]]The other Calendar Man dialogues can be unlocked by changing the Date and Month, but this one only works by changing the year as well, and the year is four years before VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum[[/note]].

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Mad Hatter, more than anyone. You'd think someone who [[spoiler: Hugo Strange took advantage of to get Arkham City to happen in the first place]] would've had a bigger role than a side story nuisance.

** ''Arkham City'' has many lines of dialogue of the city having psychos, criminals and cannibals. There is no side plot to fight off against any [[ImAHumanitarian cannibal antagonist]] in the game, with Killer Croc being just a EasterEgg, meaning that the only acts of cannibalism presented in the games are [[InformedAttribute told by the goons]].
** One can't help but feel a little this way with [[spoiler: Professor Strange. The trailers and the early game built him up as the BigBad and he puts on a good show, manipulating Batman, several of his villains and the entire city, seemingly always several steps ahead of anyone who might threaten him. It looked for a while that this game would pull him from obscurity and make him a top-tier Bat-Villain, but then it turns out Ra's Al Ghul was controlling him and you don't [[TheUnfought even fight Strange directly]]]].

** The fact that a challenge map campaign downloaded with Tim Drake/Robin with Black Mask as the villain might imply Robin is on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge for [[StuffedInTheFridge Stephanie Brown's]] death. But, Stephanie wasn't even mentioned ([[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome though that's really per the norm these days]]).

** Early on, Joker sets up a remote controlled sniper rifle to shoot at Catwoman and Batman. One might expect this trick to pop up when you take him on in a boss fight later as a way to give Joker a threat level while he's [[spoiler: dying from the Titan poisoning]] but it turns out [[spoiler: you never really face him at all]].

** A lot of the sidequests can come off as this as many of them simply require exploring the game world and/or picking up collectibles, and with a few exceptions don't really provide anything new. There are no new big combat or predator encounters and most of them have [[AntiClimax little payoff]] -- out of 12 side missions only 3 have a boss fight at the end, and even those bosses go down with single takedown.

** Creator/NolanNorth as ComicBook/ThePenguin. He's mostly known for playing smooth, American-accented leading men like [[VideoGame/{{Uncharted}} Nathan Drake]], so many had doubts about his abilities to play a quirky villainous side character like the Penguin with a Cockney accent, and these concerns weren't alleviated by his performance in the final game. There were others, however, that were pleased with his performance.
* WTHCostumingDepartment: Most of the redesigns for certain characters can be passed off based on the setting of the game. Tim Drake's Robin design however has drawn some criticism. Notably, his costume looks more low-tech than Batman's does, wearing only ordinary pants on his lower body and with less protection up top, making him look a little more like someone trying to emulate Batman rather than his actual protege. However the real clincher is that his gloves have fingerless tips to them... meaning he's going to be leaving fingerprints everywhere he goes, thus bringing danger to the whole "SecretIdentity" thing and seeming like an incredibly sloppy choice for a member of the Bat Family.

** Batman's suit gets damaged and his health declines as the night wears on, yet he is never allowed to take a break. When he reaches [[spoiler:Ra's al Ghul's lair, while suffering from the effects of Titan poisoning, he can't run at all and is constantly coughing blood. By the end of the game, he has lost both Talia to murder and the Joker to Titan poisoning, which takes a terrible, emotional toll on him.]].
** Mr. Freeze. His wife is still frozen, and he's blackmailed by the Joker for the TITAN cure, leading to him getting captured by Strange and thrown to the Penguin, who proceeded to torture him, giving him woobie status until the Batman came around. Eventually he did reunite with her, but only if you're willing to endure that side quest.
** Ratcatcher, based on the info you can get from his riddle and conversations from thugs. When Arkham City was opened, Ratcatcher simply hid and sold small extra things to thugs like buttons, soap and mints, things that his rats scavenged and brought back to him. When the Penguin found out, he had him captured, dragged through the streets screaming and followed by rats and thrown into a pit filled with them. When that failed after several days, Penguin fed him to his pet shark, Tiny. The ''Arkham Knight'' tie-in comic reveals that [[spoiler: this didn't kill him, but left him heavily crippled and he lost his right arm. Then the Arkham Knight burns him to death with a ''taser'']].

** Getting to beat the shit out of Penguin following the boss fight with Solomon Grundy is immensely rewarding after constant showcases of how vile and despicable this version of the character is, and the Hell he put Batman (and the player) through before this point.
** [[spoiler: Finally seeing The Joker [[KilledOffForReal die for good]], after being the trope namer for JokerImmunity, is equal parts as satisfying as it is shocking.]]
** After seeing how cruel and sadistic this version of The Riddler is, smashing his face into his computer and forcing him to partake in one of his own traps (secretly deactivated) is absolutely satisfying.

* CommonKnowledge: Thanks to a case of type 2 of NowWhichOneWasThatVoice, for a while it was thought that Creator/DeeBradleyBaker replaced Creator/SteveBlum as Killer Croc, Creator/CrispinFreeman was Robin, Creator/KariWahlgren was Vicki Vale, and Creator/QuintonFlynn as Nightwing--but these have since been debunked: Blum [[https://twitter.com/blumspew/status/252082717276114945 confirmed]] he was still Croc; in addition to voicing Two-Face, Creator/TroyBaker and Creator/GreyDeLisle confirmed they were the respective voices of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfjcFo_R6ms Robin]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4mFjqkH7DQ Vicki Vale]] (the latter of whom also voiced the character in the AnimatedAdaptation of ''Comicbook/BatmanYearOne'', which was released the same day as ''City''); and many noted that Baker's grunts for Tim were reused for Nightwing.

** As noted on the main page, some of Riddler's challenges look like they came straight out of the ''Film/{{Saw}}'' franchise. Years later, [[VideoGame/BatmanTheTelltaleSeries Telltale's version of the Riddler]] would use these kinds of death traps almost exclusively.

* MemeticMolester: Though Mad Hatter's psychosis is only confirmed in-game as eventually driving him to kill his "Alices", the nature of Tetch's reaction to a picture Strange gives him of the corpse of one of his victims ("No, no, no..."), [[VagueAge the ambiguous way the girl herself is described]], Tetch's habit of drugging the tea he gives to others, and his general unwashed, socially stunted, creepy demeanor has led some to extrapolate he might possibly be a rapist or pedophile, or both.

* CantUnhearIt:
** Creator/StanaKatic's performance as ComicBook/TaliaAlGhul is one of the most popular yet, with many claiming it to be on par with if not better than Creator/HelenSlater's [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries equally well-known voice.]]
** The same as been said for Creator/GreyDeLisle as ComicBook/{{Catwoman}} compared to Creator/AdrienneBarbeau.

** The casting of Creator/TroyBaker as Robin. Even though the Robin in the game is Tim Drake, Baker would voice Nightwing in ''VideoGame/InjusticeGodsAmongUs'', mirroring the path of the original Robin, Dick Grayson, even more so if you consider that he also went on to voice Batman himself beginning with the ''VideoGame/LegoBatman'' series. He also mirrors the [[GrandTheftMe path]] of the Franchise/{{DCAU}} Tim Drake, voicing the younger Joker in ''[[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins Arkham Origins]].''

** It can be pretty distracting once you realize that the damage to the Batsuit at the end of ''Harley Quinn's Revenge'' is identical to the damage that accumulates in the main story. Even more so when you notice that his cape and cowl are unscathed in order to avoid the SpecialEffectFailure listed below.

** A rather roundabout one in conjunction with a debatably intentional CastingGag. The TYGER guards are voiced by Michael Gough who, in addition to [[NamesTheSame sharing a name]] with the actor who played Alfred in the Burton/Schumacher Batman movies, also voiced Deckard Cain in ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'', who some have noticed sounds almost exactly like [[Film/TheDarkKnightRises Bane]].

** If you're speedrunning the game, the credit for "[[NamesTheSame Lead Environment Artist Will Smith]]" appears while Deadshot[[note]] ''who was later played by a much more famous Creator/WillSmith''[[/note]] taunts you.

** A main conflict of the game is Batman slowly dying due to being poisoned by the Jokers blood. 11 years later, Kevin Conroy, Batman's voice actor, would tragically succumb to cancer and die.