Batman – Arkham City: Steampunk Batman Stars in Cancelled Gameplay Video
“Gotham By Gaslight” was originally a one shot comic book that depicted the Dark Knight transported back in time to the latter half of the 1800s. The singular drew quite a few fans so a sequel was released. Apparently, the idea of a steam punk 1800s Batman intrigued some people in the game industry so much that by 2009, a video game adaptation of the issue was being shopped around game publishers.
Unfortunately, the project died on the vine and didn’t see the light of day. Thankfully, there is a prototype gameplay video released on the Internet that showed the game’s animation and gameplay. The one-shot comic had a distinct art style. It is obvious from the video that the abortive video game was sticking closely to the source comic issue’s style. Notice the wide shouldered cape reminiscent of 1800s Sherlock Holmes fashion style? The retro/steampunk Batman game would have seen the Dark Knight try to track down Jack the Ripper. Sadly, the game has been abandoned. Why? A Batman game would have gotten quite a bit of attention since Rocksteady’s Arkham Asylum was turning heads in 2009. However, there were doubts about the development studio pitching the steampunk Batman idea since it was the studio most famous for its work on the MechWarrior series.
The game’s aesthetic is somewhat reminiscent of Assassin’s Creed.





