The Batman: Arkham trilogy is a piece of gaming art. It’s one of the best video game trilogies of all time and also raised the bar for video game adaptations. We put it slightly above Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 because it’s a trilogy that has an actual ending.
Unfortunately, the “fake” demise of Bruce Wayne at the end of Batman: Arkham Knight appears to have taken Rocksteady Studios’ interest in making a new Batman game. Now, it’s working on Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League and the only other studio up to making a Batman game just made the wrong one.
The game we’re talking about is Gotham Knights and the studio is Warner Bros. Montreal. The Warner Bros. subsidiary previously made a decent Batman game with Batman: Arkham Origin. Ideally, its next Batman game would build on this.
Unfortunately, Warner Bros. Montreal went the co-op route and gave us Gotham Knights instead of, as per Josh Keaton, a fifth Arkham game featuring Damian Wayne in the lead role.
"Project Sabbath", a canceled Damian Wayne Batman game at WB Games Montreal, apparently has another wave of concept art revealed – this time by concept artist Goran Bukvic. The images match how the game was first described years ago.
Credit to Reddit user thebananapeeler2. pic.twitter.com/TelAZeMVMj
— The Arkham Channel (@ArkhamChannel) November 9, 2021
Damian Wayne has gained prominence in recent years. He has appeared as a lead character in several successful comic books and animated shows. The son of Talia al Ghul and Bruce Wayne, Damian was trained to be a living weapon from infancy. He’s a pretty bad-ass character. In a comic book run set in alternate future, Damian became Batman, defeated the League of Assassins, then quit being Batman, and took over the organization to rebuild it.
It’s safe to say that Damian could’ve been a solid lead for a new single-player Batman game, so, what happened?
According to Keaton, the canceled game, which was later revealed to be “Project Sabbath”, would’ve seen him become the voice of Damian. He adds that it wasn’t meant to be part of the Arkhamverse but the plans could’ve changed since. Finally, he’s claiming that the game was canceled because of the leaks.
However, the internet has been quick to call out Keaton. Although no one is doubting his involvement in the canceled project, it’s being pointed out that Keaton is most likely speculating. Project Sabbath was already canceled before the concept art started leaking online right around in 2017-2018.
Before this, certain details about the game had made their way online, as claimed by other users. Bloomberg reporter, Jason Schreier, then later flat out denied the reason for the cancelation, promising to reveal more about what happened with the project in the future.
The cancelation of Project Sabbath isn’t the first time a major studio has canceled a game only for artwork for it to find its way online, prompting calls for an explanation.
Most recently, high-profile games such as a battle royale spin-off for Halo Infinite and The Last of Us’ multiplayer spin-off were canceled.
It’s unclear if Warner Bros. Montreal or Rocksteady Studios will pick up the pieces of Project Sabbath and make a new game out of it. The former is currently working on a single-player game using Unreal Engine 5. Meanwhile, the latter will support Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League for the foreseeable future. Finally, another Warner Bros. subsidiary, Monolith Productions, is working on a solo Wonder Woman game.
