Batman: The Arkham Asylum Files is an escape room game with AR aspects
Joker-in-a-box.
Unravel the Joker and Harley Quinn’s plots in the escape room game Batman: The Arkham Asylum Files.
Inspired by the Batman DC comic book universe, The Arkham Asylum Files is an upcoming board game that sees players attempting to outwit the Joker and other Batman villains across three separate missions. Featuring mysteries devised by The Joker, the tabletop game will have players exploring various Gotham City locations via a collection of physical components and a compatible app that uses augmented reality technology.
AR technology allows players to scan their device over the escape room game’s various components to display imagery on the device’s screen. In The Arkham Asylum Files, players can use their device to view the locations of Gotham City through their screen, unveiling certain clues and providing them with the information they need to solve the mysteries found in the game.
Spread across three separate boxes, The Arkham Asylum Files will have players tackling a trio of stories – Panic in Gotham City, Gotham City Twisted Skies and The Eyes of Gotham City. The first box has players exposing corruption that plagues Gotham City, whilst the second involves the history of Gotham and the third revolves around buried secrets.
Along the way, players will interact with some of Arkham Asylum’s most famous inmates – such as the clown prince of crime himself, the Joker – under the eye of the newly reinstated Dr Harleen Quinzel, formally known as Harley Quinn. The stories of The Arkham Asylum Files will be told through both physical components and various cut-scenes featuring both live action and animation, with an original score. The entire game will take around six hours or more to complete.
Batman: The Arkham Asylum Files was created and is set to be co-published – alongside DC Comics – by Infinite Rabbit Holes, a studio that specialises in augmented reality board games such as Why So Serious? - a tabletop title inspired by The Dark Knight – as well as a Tron Legacy licensed game called Flynn Lives and even a Nine Inch Nails board game, Year Zero.
The Kickstarter campaign for Batman: The Arkham Asylum Files is live until July 1st, with a pledge of $169 (£135) getting backers a copy of the first box – Panic in Gotham City – in December 2022. The second box – Gotham City Twisted Skies – will launch in Summer 2023 and the final box, The Eyes of Gotham City, is set to arrive in Holiday 2023.