source: www.qj.net

From the confines of Arkham Asylum, Rocksteady Studios' next Batman game will go out to roam the night in Batman: Arkham City. With a bigger open world to play in, it'd be sad to have just one player patrolling the neighborhood. Rumor has it that that won't be the case.



According to a supposed insider source, the developers are putting great amounts of effort and resources into the development of both the single and multiplayer modes of the game. "I know," the source said. "Many people were petrified when they heard of the multiplayer, imagining some tacked on silly arena fighter, the development of which dwarfed our efforts on single player. They couldn't be more wrong."

Despite following their own concepts for the gameplay, the source pointed out that there was some influence from the free-roaming in Red Dead Redemption. "It is Perfect," the source said. "You go around bust gangs and after you have left, everything resets, its ever going, then you have players who enter in, and they may be enemies, or friends, all the while random events will take place, such as a hanging, or what have you. It feels like a real world."

This real world will have dedicated servers and will allow up to 12 players to play together. Each player must pick different characters as the game will not allow two Batmen and two Jokers to be present in a single game. Who these 12 characters are remains to be seen. You can also host or join private matches with you and your buddies.

Do note that the source indicated that 12 players will be applicable across Free Roam and the Dark Knights multiplayer mode. The gameplay is supposedly so dynamic that it would feel like a 12-player campaign at certain points. The city, on the other hand, is so large and detailed that you could explore the insides of nearly every building in Arkham, rescue or torment civilians on the streets, or cause some ruckus to attract the heroes, then spring a trap to get the best of them.

The source also mentions level up and acquire items for each character. Some are generic and can be used by pretty much everyone, some are specific to certain characters.

I must stress that these are just rumors and that the source is a bit sketchy. Still, one has to marvel at the game should these things be legit.