The Dark Knight Rises Almost Got An Open-World Video Game

If you’re like me, then you believe Christopher Nolan’s trilogy of Batman movies remain the gold standard for what comic book films can achieve. Sure, The Dark Knight Rises may have had its glaring flaws, but it still made for one hell of a flick.

Amazingly, no video game adaptations followed 2005’s Batman Begins, which I actually found to be a pretty enjoyable experience. For those who didn’t have the pleasure of playing it, the game was essentially Splinter Cell for Dummies but it did a fine job of immersing you in that world.

By now, I’m sure you know of how a game based on The Dark Knight fell through, though The Dark Knight Rises had been planned for consoles. According to ComicBook.com, Monolith (F.E.A.R., Condemned) would’ve handled developmental duties. Unfortunately, however, Nolan wouldn’t green light it, so the kibosh was put on the game during the pre-production stage.

Luckily for Monolith, they soon landed on their feet with other WB-based properties, specifically Gotham City Impostors and Guardians of Middle-earth. Still, I would’ve been intrigued to learn how The Dark Knight Rises‘ story would’ve translated to an open-world format, mostly due to how Bruce Wayne was out of costume more often than not in the movie – and trapped in a prison overseas for some time.

If you’re curious about how this bad boy would’ve handled, it’s said three gameplay styles would’ve been incorporated: hand-to-hand combat, stealth and gadgets. The Batmobile was also set to be play a major role, and would’ve allowed you to travel around Gotham City.

Actually, now would be a good time to point out how a game based on The Dark Knight Rises was released several years back, although it was for mobile devices. I never got to play it for myself, but I heard it was surprisingly good.

Nolanverse aside, Batman went on to headline other highly successful video games, regardless. In a way, one could say the Arkham franchise was the interactive equivalent in terms of quality, but I’d be remiss if not mentioning the two games produced by Telltale. Cases could be made for the Injustice series as well, though those were ensemble pieces.