If you're new to the series, play Batman: Arkham Asylum, then Arkham City, then Arkham Knight. That's the order they came out in, and it's the order the main story runs in. The other five games are prequels, VR side trips and one very different sequel, and you can slot them in later or leave them out.
Arkham games in order: release order and story order
Release order:
- Batman: Arkham Asylum (2009)
- Batman: Arkham City (2011)
- Batman: Arkham Origins and Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate (both 2013)
- Batman: Arkham Knight (2015)
- Batman: Arkham VR (2016)
- Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League (2024)
- Batman: Arkham Shadow (2024)
Story order:
- Batman: Arkham Origins
- Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate and Batman: Arkham Shadow (both sit between Origins and Asylum)
- Batman: Arkham Asylum
- Batman: Arkham City
- Batman: Arkham Knight
- Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
Arkham VR isn't in the second list. Rocksteady describes it as a new Batman story set in the Arkham universe, so I'd treat it as a side trip.
For a first run, I'd go with release order and stick to the trilogy. Asylum was built as the introduction to this version of Batman and his villains, and City and Knight each build on the one before. The prequels came later and land better once you know who everyone becomes.
If you've already finished the trilogy, story order is a nice excuse for a replay with Origins at the front.
Sorting out another long series? We've also put the Call of Duty games in order.
All eight Arkham games at a glance
Prices are regular US prices as they stood in early October 2026, not sale prices. The platforms are the ones each game first came out on, and some versions arrived after that first date.
| Game | Original release | Developer | Platforms | Place in the story | Where to buy today |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Batman: Arkham Asylum | August 25, 2009 | Rocksteady Studios | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, PC | Start of the trilogy | Steam (GOTY) $19.99; in Return to Arkham on PlayStation and Xbox, $19.99; Switch $24.99 |
| Batman: Arkham City | October 18, 2011 (PC in November 2011) | Rocksteady Studios | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, then PC | After Asylum | Steam (GOTY) $19.99; in Return to Arkham on PlayStation and Xbox, $19.99; Switch $24.99 |
| Batman: Arkham Origins | October 25, 2013 | WB Games Montréal | PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii U, PC | Prequel, several years before Asylum | Steam $19.99; Xbox 360 disc on Xbox One and Xbox Series X |
| Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate | October 25, 2013 | Armature Studio | PlayStation Vita, Nintendo 3DS | Three months after Origins | Steam (Deluxe Edition) $19.99 |
| Batman: Arkham Knight | June 23, 2015 | Rocksteady Studios | PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC | Trilogy finale, after City | Steam, PlayStation and Xbox $19.99; Switch $24.99; Game Pass |
| Batman: Arkham VR | October 13, 2016 (PS4), April 25, 2017 (PC) | Rocksteady Studios | PlayStation VR on PS4, then HTC Vive and Oculus Rift on PC | A new Batman story set in the Arkham universe | Steam $19.99; PlayStation Store $19.99 |
| Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League | February 2, 2024 | Rocksteady Studios | PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC | Five years after Arkham Knight | Steam, PlayStation and Xbox $69.99 |
| Batman: Arkham Shadow | October 2024 | Camouflaj | Meta Quest 3, Meta Quest 3S | Between Origins and Asylum | Meta Horizon Store $49.99 |
What each game is about, spoiler-free
These run in story order, with Arkham VR at the end. Blackgate and Arkham Shadow both sit between Origins and Asylum, so those two are in release order.
Batman: Arkham Origins
It's Christmas Eve, and a young, rough-around-the-edges Batman is being hunted by eight assassins. This is set several years before Asylum, so it's where he first runs into a lot of the faces you'll see later.
Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate
A 2.5-D side-scroller that picks up three months after Origins, inside Blackgate Prison. It started on handhelds, so think of it as a smaller companion piece.
Batman: Arkham Shadow
A VR game set on the Fourth of July, with the Rat King as the villain. It also sits in the gap between Origins and Asylum, and Roger Craig Smith, the Batman of Origins, is back in the role.
Batman: Arkham Asylum
The Joker and a handful of other villains take over Arkham Asylum, and Batman has to face them inside. Kevin Conroy voices Batman and Mark Hamill voices the Joker, and Arkham City is the follow-up.
Batman: Arkham City
A walled-off chunk of Gotham has been turned into a super-prison, and Batman ends up inside it. It's his first open world in the series, and it leads straight into the finale.
Batman: Arkham Knight
The end of Rocksteady's trilogy. Scarecrow unites Gotham's villains, a new enemy called the Arkham Knight joins him, and you get to drive the Batmobile for the first time.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League
A third-person action shooter set in Metropolis, playable solo or in online co-op for up to four players. The official Suicide Squad FAQ places it five years after Arkham Knight, so play Knight first.
Batman: Arkham VR
A VR-only Batman story set in the Arkham universe, and Rocksteady's only VR game. Slot it in whenever you like.
Which Arkham games are essential and which you can skip
Asylum, City and Knight are the spine. If you only ever play three, play those three.
Origins is the one extra I'd add. It's a full-size Arkham game with the same kind of combat and stealth, and it fills in how this Batman started. Play it after the trilogy, or after City if you want a break before the finale.
Blackgate is optional. It's a side-scroller with a small story that follows on from Origins, so it's for people who finished Origins and wanted more.
The two VR games are optional mostly because of the hardware. If you already own a Quest 3 or 3S, Arkham Shadow is a proper prequel chapter and worth a look. Buying a headset just to keep up with the plot isn't something I'd do, since the trilogy doesn't depend on it.
Suicide Squad shares the continuity but plays like a different series. You control the Squad, you're shooting more than brawling, and it has online co-op for up to four players. Treat it as a spin-off for after Knight rather than as Arkham 4.
What you can play on the machine you own
PC
PC gets you the most. On Steam, Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition, Arkham City - Game of the Year Edition, Arkham Origins, Blackgate - Deluxe Edition, Arkham Knight and Arkham VR are $19.99 each. Arkham Knight Premium Edition, which adds the season pass, is $39.99, and the Arkham Collection is $59.99.
Suicide Squad is $69.99. Arkham VR needs a PC VR headset. The only game you can't get on PC is Arkham Shadow.
PlayStation
Return to Arkham (Asylum and City remastered) is $19.99 and Arkham Knight is $19.99. Both are PS4 versions that play on PS5. The Arkham Collection is $59.99, and Suicide Squad is $69.99 on PS5.
Arkham VR is $19.99, but it needs a PlayStation VR headset and a PlayStation Camera, plus the PS4 camera adapter if you're on PS5.
Origins and Blackgate only came out on PS3-era hardware, so they're not on this shopping list.
Xbox
Return to Arkham is $19.99 and the Arkham Collection is $59.99. Both are Xbox One versions that run on Xbox Series X|S. Arkham Knight is $19.99, and it's an Xbox Play Anywhere title, so one purchase covers Xbox and PC. It's also included with Game Pass Essential, Premium and Ultimate.
Suicide Squad is $69.99 on Xbox Series X|S.
Origins works on Xbox One and Xbox Series X, but only from a physical Xbox 360 disc. That makes it a used-disc hunt.
Nintendo Switch
The Arkham Trilogy is $59.99 on the eShop, or you can buy Asylum, City and Knight separately at $24.99 each. All of them are listed as supported on Nintendo Switch 2.
If you want it physical, the cartridge holds only Arkham Asylum. City and Knight are downloads, so leave storage space for them.
Meta Quest 3 and 3S
Arkham Shadow is $49.99 on the Meta Horizon Store, and it's exclusive to these two headsets. Meta's launch post has the details. It isn't on PlayStation or PC.
Arkham bundles and what they leave out
The names sound alike, and two of them share a name without sharing contents.
- Batman: Return to Arkham (PS4, Xbox One): Asylum and City with remastered visuals and all DLC.
- Batman: Arkham Collection on console (PS4, Xbox One): Return to Arkham plus Arkham Knight, with all post-launch content.
- Batman: Arkham Collection on Steam: Asylum GOTY, City GOTY, Arkham Knight and the Arkham Knight Season Pass. These are the original PC versions, not the remasters.
- Batman: Arkham Trilogy (Switch only): Asylum, City and Knight with all DLC.
Here's how the math works out on each platform.
On Steam, the Collection is the better buy if you want Knight's extra content. The two GOTY editions plus Knight Premium Edition add up to $79.97 bought one at a time, against $59.99 for the bundle. If you don't care about the season pass, the three base games come to $59.97, so the bundle gets you the season pass for two cents more.
On Switch, the trilogy at $59.99 beats three separate purchases at $74.97. Buying singly only makes sense if you want one or two of them.
On PlayStation, it goes the other way. Return to Arkham plus Arkham Knight is $39.98, while the Arkham Collection on the PlayStation Store is $59.99. The extra $20 buys Knight's post-launch content, so skip it if you just want the three main stories.
Xbox has the cheapest route of all if you already pay for Game Pass, because Knight is included and Return to Arkham is $19.99.
None of these bundles include Arkham Origins or Blackgate. People buy a box with "Collection" on it and assume the prequel is in there, and it isn't on any platform.
Things that trip people up
Origins' online is gone, but the game isn't. Its online services were retired on December 4, 2016. The single-player campaign still works offline, and that's the part you want.
The old stores are closed. Purchases on the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS eShops ended on March 27, 2023, and the Xbox 360 Store was retired on July 29, 2024. That takes out the easy digital routes to Origins and Blackgate on older consoles, which is why Steam is the simple place to get both.
Suicide Squad is finished but still playable. Season 4 was its final season, with the last episode out on January 14, 2025. An offline mode arrived with that season, so you can play solo without a connection, but co-op still needs to be online. The game is still on sale.
Gotham Knights isn't part of this. It's from WB Games Montréal, the Origins studio, and it has the Bat-family in Gotham, but it's a separate universe with no link to the Arkham story.
Store dates can mislead you. Steam shows 2010 and 2012 dates on the Asylum and City listings because those are the Game of the Year editions. The games themselves came out in 2009 and 2011.
The mobile games aren't counted here. DC also lists two iOS games under the Arkham name: Batman: Arkham City Lockdown (2011), a series of one-on-one battles, and Batman: Arkham Underworld (2016), where you build a criminal hideout. They sit outside the eight games in this guide.
FAQ
Do I need to play Origins before Asylum?
No. Origins is set earlier, but it was made later and works best as a look back once you know the trilogy. Starting with Asylum loses you nothing.
Is Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League an Arkham game?
It's set in the same continuity, five years after Arkham Knight, and it's made by Rocksteady. It doesn't play like one, though: it's a third-person shooter in Metropolis starring the Squad, not Batman.
Can I play Arkham Shadow without a Quest 3?
Only if you have a Quest 3S. It's exclusive to those two Meta headsets, with no PlayStation VR or PC VR version.
Which collection includes Origins?
None of them. Return to Arkham, both Arkham Collections and the Switch Arkham Trilogy all leave out Origins and Blackgate, so you buy those separately. On Steam they're $19.99 each.
Can I play the whole series on PS5 or Switch?
Not all of it. PS5 covers the trilogy, Suicide Squad and Arkham VR (with the PlayStation VR gear and camera adapter), but not Origins, Blackgate or Arkham Shadow. Switch has the trilogy only. PC comes closest, with everything except Arkham Shadow.
