Rocksteady Studios is in the home stretch now, with the release of Batman: Arkham City set for October 18. It’s going to be tough for this sequel to top the near-perfect original, though one area that looks to be improving is the game’s replayability. Arkham Asylum didn’t offer much beyond the story and an assortment of combat- and stealth-oriented challenge modes, but City will take things one step further with the addition of a New Game Plus mode.
A newly posted FAQ from the developer reveals that the new difficulty will unlock after players have completed the game on either Normal or Hard. Regardless of which one you finish the game on, New Game Plus offers the same level of challenge.
In this extra mode, bosses and thugs will be tougher, thugs will appear in different configurations (read: more) and no counter icon appears to indicate when you should press the button to reverse an enemy’s attack. Working in the Caped Crusader’s favor is the fact that all unlocked gadgets and upgrades carry over from the initial playthrough, along with all earned experience points. You can still play through the game again on one of the other difficulty settings, but none of that progression will carry over.
