A Matter of Family sees Batgirl as a playable character for the first time ever in the Arkham series so far. The story is simple. Your father, Commissioner Gordon has been kidnapped and you must rescue him. With help from Robin you must enter an abandoned amusement park and take down Joker and Harley Quinn and save the day without the help of Batman. Is it worth going back to Batman: Arkham Knight for? Let’s dive in.

The setting of the DLC is probably my favorite thing about it. Having to take down enemies and rescue hostages tied to a ferris wheel is really cool and the whole area has a really creepy vibe to it. It plays it very similar to the Ace Chemicals section of the main campaign where you can chose the order in which you want to tackle certain objectives and it’s nice to have that small level of freedom.

This biggest change at least on a visual level is of course playing as Batgirl for the first time. It’s neat to see but it’s really a shame that absolutely nothing has changed from when you play as Batman. The character feels identical and moves the same as Batman and even has the same gadgets; only less of them. With the lack of unlocking new moves and upgrades it feels very weak compared to the main story as adding her own special moves via upgrades would have gone a long way it making this character feel less like a reskinned Batman which is how it ended up feeling.

Dual fighting plays a big part here as almost every encounter can be tackled with Robin at your side and this helps cover up the lack of a distinctive Batgirl feel a lot. It still feels incredible to fight as two characters at the same time and really makes me a better player as I don’t feel so overwhelmed fighting a massive horde of enemies with 2 characters at my disposal. As the combo reaches 50+ and you keep performing those dual takedowns; it’s a joy to play.

Most notably the fight between Batgirl and Robin vs Joker and Harley Quinn is a very memorable one and something that the main game did lack entirely. This return to a boss battle type situation was much needed and a great addition to the Arkham series.

The return of the Joker as a main character is great with this being set before Arkham Asylum and makes the whole thing more enjoyable when he’s on screen. After a brief introduction I was disappointed to see him disappear mostly from the game until it’s finale; even from the usual voiceover stuff. I definitely felt like I wanted more interactions with Joker and Harley Quinn as the moments between Batgirl and Robin felt completely flat for me given the history these two characters have that they could’ve drawn from.

The game ends very anticlimactically and barely takes over an hour to finish. The small amount of collectibles present and some puzzles to explain who is behind the amusement park (which fell terribly flat) aren’t enough to warrant playing for much longer than two hours total. It’s a shame the whole thing wasn’t given more time to be fleshed out as there is a cool concept and fantastic setting but ultimately the whole thing felt rushed and thrown together. Not lovingly crafted like the main story.

In the end; Batgirl’s first adventure is a forgettable one. The combat is still very fun in a unique setting but just felt like a big combat arena while wearing a Batgirl skin and having less gadgets. There’s some great moments and most fans will get a kick out of this; I definitely enjoyed it but was left kinda unfulfilled in the end. With this being the first content for the season pass I expected them to start strongly and knock it out of the park. In reality we got a fun little slice of Arkham gameplay which feels very familiar and pales in comparison to the greatness of the main story.

Great write-up!

I traded in AK right after beating it, since it wasn't very good at all, but I was curious as to how this would turn out, especially since this was developed by WB Montreal. I figured since they made a better game than Rocksteady did (yeah, I said it) that this would end up as a solid piece of DLC, guess not. Perhaps most of the staff is on that rumored Suicide Squad game?

Also, RIP to season pass owners. This was the major piece of content that was advertised with the pass, and for it to run about an hour of playtime would be hilarious if it weren't so depressing.

God this kills me. Barbara Batgirl is my favorite member of the Bat Family, but yet again every piece of Arkham DLC is short, forgettable and over-priced. Dammit to hell, I really wanted this to finally be a good piece of DLC. At least I didn't buy that supremely over-priced season pass.

Unfortunately, 100% expected that this would be unimpressive. The fact that they've failed to make Batgirl feel like a unique character - especially when they've managed to do it with Robin, Catwoman and Nightwing in City - is still super disappointing, though.

Also, man, that Season Pass. WB is on such a roll with this game that people are going to rip them a new anus, and deservedly so, since the publisher is becoming more despicable than Ubisoft, Activision and EA have been lately in their treatment and perception of consumers.

One of the official press releases before this came out mentioned how Barbara would use her hacking tools to get around and how that would differentiate her from playing as Batman, but all I could think was Batman uses a hacking tool to get around all the time. I was tempted to buy the season pass because I'm really enjoying the game but now I'm going to wait. The next DLC was announced yesterday to be a car remodelling (not just a skin which is cool), some character skins and two new race tracks, so about another 15 minutes of game play.

Thanks for the write up. I'm going to just leave it until the season pass gets cheaper or goes on sale.

Seems like all the other DLC. Harley Quinn was terrible to control because they tried to shoehorn Batman combat into a character that shouldn't move like Batman. Anytime you have to control someone else and they strip away half your moves it feels disorienting and limiting. I was hoping that Batgirl would have a better or at least equal moveset since she is part of the "bat family" but it seems like thats not the case.

I'd say I was "bummed", but I've been bummed since they announced this DLC. Specifically, because it's DLC. WB Games puts out four Batman games, with one of them getting stellar 6/10s across the board, and then elects to graciously bestow upon us an hour and a half of Barbara Gordon awesomeness. Great. Honestly, I know there's probably a giant graph poster in the Rocksteady dev office showing how sales of Batman games improve when the protagonist is sporting a Bat-penis, but I'd gladly give up Origins - and Hell, this too - if it meant an entirely Barbara-centered game. With less Robin, thanks. Bah.

@poobumbutt: I'd gladly give up a Barbara-centered game to get DC to fucking acknowledge the one and best Batgirl - Cassandra Cain. But I'm in the camp which believes that Babs always worked better as Oracle, even if I still think the execution of her transformation into her wasn't very good.

That's actually one of the (very few) things that bother me about the Arkhamverse. They've shown to be all about fanservice, even acknowledging that Kate Kane is getting properly married to Maggie Sawyer in this universe, yet it's heavily implied that Cain and Stephanie Brown do not even exist, despite the fact that Bats had time to go through three different Robins. It's hard to think of two characters who strike a bigger chord with fans of the Batfamily, especially given the treatment they've received in the New 52 clusterfuck.

My thoughts exactly. Cass is one of my favorite characters so I'm always bummed that she seems to be so often ignored. I wish that they wouldn't always go with the safe, most well-known choices when it comes to who to represent in video games and other media. If they are presented in a good way, a character that someone was unfamiliar with could be a big draw for somebody to actually check them out in the comics and get invested beyond a casual interest. It's certainly happened that way for me in the past.

Stephanie brown is the best batgirl. Fight me internet !

I'd prefer a batowman game over a batgirl game personally

@bradbrains: Sign me up for Batwoman. New 52 B-woman is the fucking best, even if her arcs got fucked majorly by clueless DC execs.

Also, I like Steph, but I always preferred her as the uncut amateur Spoiler. I dunno, fits her personality better.

gay marrige still illegal in the dcu

her as spoiler was good too. I really enjoyed her batgirl run. it was just...fun

on topic. apprently this DLC is like an hour or so to beat. really disappointed considering how much they are charging.

Sounds like I'll be waiting until the season pass goes on sale. That's a real bummer because I fuckin' LOVE Batman. But also I'll be working on those Riddler challenges for a while.

To me, the worst part about that entire bit is that if that was the case, it would be at least a great call back to Kane's dimissal from the army. But no, the reason is "superheroes can't have normal, happy love lives", which is why we have bullshit arcs like Superman getting his identity outed by Lois Lane and Romita, Jr. saying that he never wants them together.

@ghostiet: Eh, when I say I'd want Barbara, I do so with her being the only Batgirl I know more than a little about. I got no probs with Cass, either. Oooh! You could have No Man's Land prologue content!