Batman: Arkham Asylum
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Batman: Arkham Asylum drops you on the island right after Batman hauls Joker back to his cell — and then the whole place goes sideways within about ten minutes. Joker's already inside, the doors are open, and you spend the night working your way through Intensive Treatment, the Botanical Gardens, and the sewers while he taunts you over the PA. The combat is the freeflow system everyone copied afterward: chain strikes, counter on the blue spark, cape stun, repeat until a room of thugs is on the floor. Stealth is the better half though — you perch on gargoyles above armed goons, drop one, listen to the rest panic, and pick them off one by one while their heartbeats spike. Detective Mode shows you skeletons through walls and turns fingerprint trails and Riddler trophies into actual puzzle work, and there are 240 of the things scattered around. Scarecrow's fear sequences break the game on purpose — the fake crash, the corrupted screen — and Bane, Croc, and Ivy each get their own boss run. Harley Quinn holds the medical wing. Mark Hamill and Kevin Conroy carry the whole thing.