Things seemed a bit weird when it was revealed Batman: Arkham Knight would be M-rated, considering that Arkham Asylum and Arkham City were both T-rated. The ESRB has released its official ratings entry for the game with some supporting insight into their call.
I must warn you here, if you don’t want to know anything about Arkham Knight then you might want to stop reading right here.
Here’s what Arkham Knight’s ERSB entry looks like:
Content Descriptors: Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
Rating Summary: This is an action-adventure game in which players primarily assume the role of Batman as he battles several villains spreading chaos across Gotham City. Players traverse a variety of locations around Gotham while battling thugs, examining crime scenes, and occasionally rescuing hostages. Players engage in melee-style combat using punches, kicks, and gadgets (e.g., batarangs, explosives). Enemies cry out in pain when struck, and some takedowns are highlighted by brief slow-motion effects and loud impact sounds. Some sequences allow players to use tank-like vehicles with machine gun turrets and rockets to shoot enemies; a vehicle’s wheels are also used to torture an enemy in one sequence. Cutscenes depict characters getting shot (on and off camera) while restrained or unarmed. Large bloodstains/pools of blood appear in crime scenes and in the aftermath of violent acts; one room depicts a person torturing a character on a bloody operating table. During the course of the game, players can shoot unarmed characters and a hostage. Neon signs in a red-light district read “live nude girls” and “XXX.” The words “b*tch,” “gobsh*te,” and “a*s” appear in the dialogue.
It is a mystery as to why the ESRB has viewed Rocksteady’s earlier Batman games differently as the latest one. Maybe ESRB is solely judging Arkham Knight slightly harsher due to the increased visual fidelity, but the line that sorta stuck out from the rest is:
During the course of the game, players can shoot unarmed characters and a hostage.
That doesn’t really sound like Batman, but I guess that is something that we will have to wait and watch.
