Playtime: 9 hours.

I'm not sure if the choices yield different outcomes apart from the fate of the characters. The plot seems pretty straightforward.

Minigames, QTE, especially the flying and scanning sections, that are frequent, were horribly boring. It's clear that the developers don't know how to do any kind of enjoyable gameplay, shooting for example plays worse than early 2000's titles.

However, the writing is decent. The characterization and tense moments made this game, or interactive movie, compelling enough for me to experience, as a non-Trekkie.

Completion: 37 hours.

At first the text walls are too much, reading such lengthy texts on screen isn't fun nor healthy, however.. The writing overall is superb, touching on many important points about life that I myself, and I'm sure many other people here, have lived through that at times I couldn't help but feel strong emotions in front of a screen. I'm talking about that "phone call" for example or the old lady to whom if you wish you can give the "handkerchief" that Kim lent you.

The ability to evoke emotions. A quality found in only a few videogames.

Playtime: 6-7 hours. %100.

A refreshing murder-mystery with a multi-layered story that touches family drama, colonial exoticism, 18th century politics and more. I especailly liked how the characters switch allegiances, evolve, or reappear throughout, kinda like a classical novel. I liked it a lot! Similar to Obra Dinn but I liked this more.

Recommended for adventure fans and anyone who is simply fed up with triple A gaming.

Playtime: 10 hours with some side content. Uninstalled before the last boss. Watched the ending on youtube.

Here's my take on survival horror as a newcomer, this game should be a few hours shorter. I was really engaged for the first few hours (until after the Camera Man fight) for the compelling aspects of the gameplay such as the management of ammo, but then again I saw some videos and people tend to have a lot of ammo (maybe they play on easy) and all upgrades by the end which didn't happen in my case even though I explored many side areas. However, the lack of ammo becomes frustrating near the end. I simply stopped playing at the penultimate boss because developers don't give you any more ammo, come on! Just 30 minutes more and the I would have completed the game. Give me ammo and be done with this nightmare.

The style of the monsters are just ugly and freakish, (generally Japanese monster design) like silent-hill, monsters that has objects instead of heads, eight legged traumatized long haired girls, annoying.

The world-building and the story is superficial compared to Alan Wake. This is another simple "UTOPIA corrupted by an uncalculated INCIDENT" where this TORMENTED FATHER survives through weird-ass dreams over and over, and is teleported almost every minute to another place, its just tedious, reminded me of "Layers of Fear", another game that tried so much style but had little subtance, fortunately this game has actual gameplay.

Maybe I will like Resident Evil more, but for now I'm still not sold on the Survival Horror genre. At least there were little to none jumpscares. Also, the fact that you can't aim well for the big chunk of the game is frustrating, which is absurd given the protagonist is a veteran detective. I would have given this game a 4/5 if it were 5-6 hours.

First run: 2009-2010
Second run: 2023 December
Story+Riddler Trophies: 15-16 hours

So here I am the last day of 2023 and I'm wrapping up the year by finishing a game for the second time that is almost 15 years old, which was also the age I was when I played it for the first time.

I did one thing I wanted to do since I fell in love with the series starting from Arkham Origins: I did %100 Riddler trophies, there are 240 of them, maybe 50 of them are frustrating, but the rest are the easiest in the whole series. All in all, the Story + Riddler run took me around 15-16 hours, which makes this one also the shortest in the series.

What can I say about this game? It's the game that made Batman and Superhero games cool and showed that they can tell a profound story, with compelling characterization and cinematics. Stealth and combat is still fun as of 2024. Although knowing the combat improved tons with the sequels, such as the counters and free flow improvements, more gadgets, more responsiveness, more animations. It also is clear that this game was made as an introduction for Arkham City, as can be seen clearly in the Secret Room of Quincy Sharp, which can be accessed by bombing a wooden wall in his office, check youtube.

It's unbeliable that this game, 15 years old, still holds up against almost every game that has been released this year or the last. I definitely enjoyed playing this game again more than playing Spider Man 2018 for the first time last month (that game has decent story but Ubisoft design).

Graphics are still okay, nothing that will burn your eyes, combat and the general flow of narrative and pacing.

I would still give this game if it was released this year with modern graphics an easy 9/10.
A 8/10 amongst the Arkham games, being my least favorite.
And as a trend-setter, a masterpiece of game design, I would give this a 10/10.