The finest video video games are imaginary. Often they exist utterly in our heads, or within the dreamy house between their preliminary announcement and what we end up taking part in. This is the place “Arkham World” exists. Born from a 2011 Video Game Awards gag, the utterly fictitious entry within the massively in style Batman Arkham collection is now all some followers can discuss.
Earlier this month, posts a few supposed Arkham World started taking up the Batman Arkham subreddit. Despite being devoted to an getting old single-player collection, this explicit web watering gap stays surprisingly energetic. It has over 150,000 members, with tons of or extra energetic at any given time. “This subreddit is dedicated to the discussion of all Batman Arkham Lore,” reads the subscription. “Including the Rocksteady Trilogy, Arkham Origins and all tie-in games and comics, including the Newest Edition Arkham World.”
Arkham World isn’t actual, however that didn’t cease the subreddit from celebrating the one-year anniversary of its launch on August 2. “I loved the open world in this game the most because it was a literal world,” Reddit person FrozeninIce248 wrote. “A world full of criminals and insane people and the updated gameplay from Arkham Knight makes this game the best superhero game of all time.”
Dozens of different commenters responded with their very own important takes, sharing their favourite moments and largest surprises. “Dude I am currently high at a Rob zombie concert and I’m 90% sure that this game isn’t real and I’m scared to know if it is,” learn one remark buried deep among the many important reward.
The one-year anniversary was simply the beginning of Arkham World’s weeks-long tribute. The lore round it has since expanded to incorporate a particular mission the place you play as Alfred, a crossover with Spider-Man, and even a Darth Vader boss battle. Players from the Spider-Man group have even joined in, treating the crossover as canon. Reddit is filled with shitposting, nevertheless it’s nonetheless uncommon to see followers rally so aggressively round a bit and preserve it for weeks. So why go to all the difficulty to manifest a recreation that by no means existed?
FrozeninIce248 informed Kotaku in a Reddit chat that they stole the thought from the Titanfall group, the place pretending that Titanfall 3 already exists is an ongoing a part of the subculture. The title Arkham World, in the meantime, was an apparent alternative because it was a codename teased by The Joker in a cutscene created by Rocksteady for him to declare the perfect character award on the 2011 VGAs. The eventual recreation that was launched was Arkham Knight, leaving “Arkham World” free to fill the void in gamers’ creativeness after they had no precise Batman recreation to sit up for within the close to future.
In the forthcoming recreation Gotham Knights, made by Warner Bros. Montreal, the studio behind Arkham Origins, Batman is already useless. It’s additionally not technically a part of the Arkham-verse. Rocksteady’s subsequent undertaking, Suicide Squad, is ready in the identical world because the Arkham video games, however Batman hasn’t been revealed to be a part of it, and it’s a shooter moderately than a stealth brawler.
“Suicide Squad is set in the same universe but is not centered around Batman at all, we don’t even know if he’s going to appear at all,” Reddit person BigSexy17 informed Kotaku. “r/ArkhamGames and Arkham Fans in General gravitated towards the series because of Batman, Batman fans all around the world praise and worship these games as the true Batman Experience.”
Now unleashed, Arkham World has taken on a lifetime of its personal. “You have this entire group of people claiming that we’re all talking about a game that ‘doesn’t exist,’” Unhappyworker77 stated.
Reddit person LukeDBZ2 in contrast it to the fascination with the Morbius meme “it’s Morbin’ time” from earlier this summer time. It was dumb, great, and have become so in style it might or could not have satisfied Sony to set thousands and thousands of {dollars} on fireplace bringing Morbius again to theaters so it may bomb a second time. “Morbius never said ‘it’s Morbin’ time’ and there is not a sequel to Arkham Knight…or is there?” they stated. “One thing is confirmed tho, after years of no new content, the sub has became the Arkham Asylum itself.”
There’s additionally precedent for Arkham World in different fandoms. When Elden Ring went years throughout growth with no new particulars, some followers feared the worst. As with Titanfall, The Elden Ring subreddit at one level began pretending the sport had already been launched, making up well-known boss battles and extra. “It exists because the fans starve [for] content and enjoyed the time when they anticipated the release of the next Arkham title,” TheXpender informed Kotaku.
The shitposting continues to be going, and even resulted in some Reddit customers making an attempt to spin Arkham World off into its personal subreddit. Some followers wish to offload the memes there. “If we are going to flood the sub with more Arkham World and less actual posts about the real games, then it should all be moved to its own sub r/Arkhamworld,” wrote Fanboyxxx. “We do need to take a step back and think about what we are doing, and honestly, if it’s clever and amusing it’s good with me, just leave it on its own sub now.”
But that doesn’t appear possible. Arkham World was birthed on r/BatmanArkham and that’s the place it’s going to possible keep. At least till Gotham Knights, Suicide Squad, or an precise Batman Arkham sequel launches. “Arkham World means the world to me,” Redditor Nadongus informed Kotaku. “Nothing brings a community together quite like a collective fever dream fueled by incoherent shitposts. I’m out here having the time of my life.”
