Steampunk Batman. Gotham by Gaslight could present a Victorian take on the popular superhero's adventures
Gotham by Gaslight is a comic book showing one of the more interesting versions of Batman. Under the wings of THQ, a game based on it was being created, which could stand up to the Batman: Arkham series.
The Rocksteady Studios, with their Batman: Arkham series, not only showed how interactive adventures of the Dark Knight should look like, but also how superhero games in general should be made. However, not everyone knows that Bruce Wayne's nocturnal alter ego could have had yet another adaptation, potentially just as good, and certainly comparable in of atmosphere. We're talking about Gotham by Gaslight, a forgotten project created in 2009-2010, which can still stimulate the imagination.
Victorian Gotham and Batman
The story of the Gotham by Gaslight project should begin with a few words about its prototype. In 1989, a comic by Brian Augustyn was released under the same title, with illustrations by Mike Mignola. It told an alternative version of Bruce Wayne's adventures, set in 19th-century Gotham City, reminiscent of Victorian-era London.
Batman stood up to Jack the Ripper himself, who came to the city guarded by the Dark Knight, hoping to find new victims. The comic that was considered the first DC Elseworlds story provided a fresh take on well-known characters. Besides Batman, it introduced an alternative version of Commissioner Gordon, and some even saw variations of the Joker there.
Among the fans of Gotham by Gaslight were also devs from the American Day 1 Studios, who decided to adapt it into a game. The creators made a prototype and tried to get the go-ahead from the publisher, THQ company (not to be confused with THQ Nordic). Unfortunately, this last end eventually gave the whole project a red card.
How that happened? Officially, we don't know. According to Screen Rant, the reason for this was that THQ couldn't get the rights to the Batman brand from Warner Bros. It's unknown if money was the issue or if the owner didn't see the potential in the virtual Gotham by Gaslight. Warner Bros. could have just thought that the Day 1 Studios developers don't have enough experience to handle a project of this size.
Early gameplay
Before the virtual Gotham by Gaslight died, its creators managed to prepare some materials that give us a rough idea of what this production could have looked like. First of all, after the whole thing, we have a piece of gameplay left from the tech demo, where we can see Batman wandering through the cobblestone streets of "Victorian" Gotham City. What really draws attention is the incredibly realistic physics of the cape, which can easily be compared to the one in the Batman: Arkham series.
We can also see Batman jumping across rooftops and sneaking around, which he would probably use to deal with his enemies. However, we couldn't watch the fights, probably because the appropriate systems have not yet been created. At the end of the video, we can also check out an alternative Batman costume without the cape.
Batman's retrofuturistic gadgets
We've got a sneak peek of what we could expect from the project, thanks to some concept art from Julie Farrell, the artist working on it. As she wrote on her blog (via Twinfinite):
This was a game I was really looking forward to working on. Unfortunately, it was just a pitch. I had a blast creating the menus for this game, as steampunk is really quite unique (...). I created the bat logo from scratch and used a variety of different clockwork pieces and other metal pieces to construct it.
Concept arts tell us more than it might seem at first glance. First of all, it shows that Batman would have various gadgets at his disposal, as indicated by the presence of a weapon switch button. Which ones exactly? We don't know that for sure, but there were supposed to be grenades (we would throw them using the left trigger) and healing items (activated with the D-pad) among them.
Looking at the graphic showing the possible controller layout, we can also notice that Batman could turn on... a flashlight. Even if the city was lit with gas lamps, Bruce Wayne, being a millionaire, would have access to the latest technology. In the 19th century, humanity had already managed to harness electricity and was finding further applications for it. So we can speculate that the flashlight would be one of the futuristic (for its time) gadgets.
Premature end of Victorian Batman
Unfortunately, after doing some initial testing, the Day 1 Studios team had to give up on developing the project and focus on other stuff. Over time, it was taken over by Wargaming and renamed to Wargaming Chicago-Baltimore.
Will we ever see a game adaptation of Gotham by Gaslight? Even though nothing suggests it at the moment, it's still not worth losing hope. Who knows, maybe Warner Bros. will realize that everything has already been said about the modern Batman and will dig into their archives to rediscover this gem.
Especially since the company has already done this for another medium - in 2018, an animated film was created, which is an adaptation of Gotham by Gaslight. Meanwhile, fans of the Dark Knight have no choice but to replay one of the games from the Batman: Arkham series or wait for the announcement of the next game from Rocksteady Studios.
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- THQ
- Batman (character)
- Gotham by Gaslight
- Warner Bros.
- cancelled games
- Necro Gaming