13. Batman: Arkham VR (PS4)

A change of pace for the talented Rocksteady team, but a welcomed one. Batman: Arkham VR may have been more of a proof of concept for the fledgling virtual reality medium, but at launch it stood as one of the best examples for Sony’s PSVR technology you could buy. A series of vignettes, testing the Caped Crusader’s detective abilities, this experience used many of the same psychological tricks from the core Arkham titles, which hit even harder in virtual reality.

12. Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate (PS Vita)

While ports were pretty common on PS Vita, some developers saw the device as an opportunity to reimagine some of their biggest brands. Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate was not a low-resolution port of its PS3 peer, then, but an entirely new title set within Rocksteady’s overarching universe. It failed to hit the highs of the mainline games, but this is still an entertaining enough side-scroller inspired by DC’s dark detective.

11. LEGO Batman: The Videogame (PS3)

Launching all the way back in 2008, shortly after LEGO Indiana Jones and LEGO Star Wars, Traveller’s Tales co-operative puzzle platformers still felt fresh back then. With tons of characters to choose from, and the ability to play as both heroes and villains, this was a fresh experience in 2008 – it even included vehicular sections to mix up the experience and keep the gameplay feeling fresh.

10. LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes (PS3)

There’s no stopping Traveller’s Tales once it finds a hit LEGO game, although it took a fair few years for LEGO Batman 2: DC Super Heroes to arrive, following the success of the first LEGO Batman game. Despite the four year gap, this is much the same experience, albeit with more characters than ever before – and even some open world aspects.

9. Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition (PS4)

A souped-up re-release which, bizarrely, Sony bought as a console exclusive to complement the PS4’s launch lineup. Injustice: Gods Among Us Ultimate Edition was, effectively, a port of the PS3's Injustice: Gods Among Us – bundling in all of its add-on packs and extras. With a huge cast, spanning DC Comics icons like Batman and Wonder Woman through to more obscure, lesser-known names, this licensed fighter proved a worthy content-packed alternative to the traditional stalwarts of the genre, like Street Fighter.

8. Batman: The Telltale Series (PS4)

Released during the episodic boom, Batman: The Telltale Series was The Walking Dead developer Telltale Games’ five episode take on the Caped Crusader. Rather than focus solely on the Dark Knight, like so many other Batman games, it peeked behind the cowl and raised important questions about Bruce Wayne’s ethics and morality. While it exhibited many of the same technical shortcomings that plagued its predecessors, this predominantly point-and-click adventure presented a different pace for the eponymous hero.

7. Batman: The Enemy Within (PS4)

A continuation of Batman: The Telltale Series, Batman: The Enemy Within continues the plot of point-and-click developer Telltale Games’ unique superhero universe. With the introduction of John Doe, an Arkham Asylum patient who later becomes the Joker, Bruce Wayne’s fractured psyche is further challenged, leading to moral decisions you must make as both the billionaire businessmen – and, of course, the Caped Crusader himself.

6. Batman: Arkham Origins (PS3)

Fairly or unfairly, Batman: Arkham Origins faced an uphill battle from the outset. Developed by Warner Bros Montreal rather than Rocksteady Studios, this very publicly became the Ugly Duckling of the Arkham series – and is largely ignored by the abovementioned British developer. Set in Gotham City and depicting a younger, less refined Batman, it’s far from terrible, incorporating many of the same gameplay systems celebrated in the mainline games, without necessarily moving the series forward. A lot of the voice cast was changed – Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill are missing as Batman and the Joker respectively – so the whole project had the vibe of filler while the world waited for Batman: Arkham Knight.

5. Injustice 2 (PS4)

A visual tour-de-force, with a stunning cinematic campaign that actually felt worth a damn: Injustice 2 saw NetherRealm Studios on top form. With dynamically changing ladders introducing new challenges every hour and a neat loot system which added real replayability to the game, this fighter will go down in history as one of the biggest, most graphically stunning efforts ever to release on consoles at the time.

4. Batman: Arkham Knight (PS4)

Divisive? Well, it was, wasn’t it? Surprisingly so, in fact, given the sheer overwhelming success of predecessors Batman: Arkham Asylum and Batman: Arkham City. Rocksteady’s long anticipated Batman: Arkham Knight massively increased the scale of its sandbox, and issued you with a tank-like vehicle to help you navigate it. This was cleverly integrated into the series’ tried-and-trusted environmental puzzles, but some argued its car combat encounters were tedious and overused. Regardless of any criticism, when this threequel was on song it still exhibited the very best of the Arkham series, with crunching combat and a drizzly open world to explore.