Batman: Arkham Shadowis an excellent examination of Bruce Wayne’s character regarding how Dr. Leslie Thompkins holds a mirror up to his many masks. Meanwhile,Batman: Arkham Shadowthankfully doesn’t shy away from the Bat-family that Batman has established later on in the timeline as there are few gaps left in the series for its members’ origin stories to be told. As such,Shadowfeatures an inspired and intrepid Barbara Gordon after she was last seen inBatman: Arkham Origins, and it’s in Camouflaj’s Meta Quest 3-exclusiveArkhamentry that Barbara is knighted as Oracle.
The Arkhamverse and its chronological timeline would next see Barbara inBatman: Arkham Knight’s “A Matter of Family” Arkham Episode DLC, which is probably an accurate distillation of what anArkhamBatgirl game might look like. However, Joker shooting and paralyzing her would occur sometime later and confine her to a wheelchair for the entirety of Rocksteady’sBatmantrilogy. So, while a game centered around Barbara may be more inclined to follow her exploits as Batgirl due to the possible limitations that her exploits as Oracle would entail, it would be pertinent to ensure that Barbara has her heroic dichotomy represented fully nonetheless if she was to receive her ownArkhamgame.
A Batgirl Game Would Be a Too-Near Shade of Batman’s Gameplay
LikeBatman: Arkham Knight’s “Matter of Family” DLC and evenGotham Knightsdemonstrate, Batgirl is the most fluid way that players could be onboarded to a Bat-family game sans Batman as she retains theWorld’s Greatest Detective’s cape-gliding traversalas well as a lot of the gadgets he’d equip on his utility belt. Batgirl is arguably more agile, employing more kicks into her moveset as unique animations, and yet she is more or less a reskin of Batman in many ways.
The main distinction thatKnightmakes note of is how she’s more tech-savvy—a remnant trait of her early Oracle days and a means to depict her intelligence.
Disappointingly, that’s only exemplified via her use of the Remote Hacking Device, which requires no effort for the player to use skillfully. That’s why, if Barbara had her ownArkhamgame, it could take placeanywhere within the Arkhamverse timelineand would hopefully incorporate an equal amount of Batgirl and Oracle gameplay as that pairing of skill sets is what makes her special.
A Batgirl Arkham Game Can’t Compromise Oracle’s Genius in Gameplay
‘Oracle’ being such a defining and inseparable gradient of Barbara’s character ensures that her gameplay in a feature-length game could lend a unique perspective to the Bat-family dynamic that’s merely been teased beforehand and shouldn’t be taken for granted. For example, it would be fascinating to playa Batgirl-ledArkhamgamewhere at least half is played with Barbara on active field duty and then the game takes a dramatic and traumatic turn with her spinal cord being severed, allowing the last chunk of the game to be played as Oracle at a Batcomputer.
As Oracle, it would be brilliant to finally be the person monitoring, aiding, and communicating with Batman (or maybe even Robin) with Alfred there in the Batcave to speak to, almost as if her playable sequences are elaborate, fully interactive Detective Mode challenges. Plus, it would be neat if players were the ones to load gadgets or Batsuits into the Batwing and have them deployed at Batman’s location.
Otherwise, if that’d be too jarring of a transition so late in the game, Oracle could be Barbara’s primary role with her adventures as Batgirl being playable in intermittent flashback sequences. Either way,both Batgirl and Oracle are instrumental to who Barbara isand a futureArkhamgame with her as the lead would need to comprehend and respect that balance somehow.
