A guide to completing side quests or "catching villains together"
In addition to the main storyline, any self-respecting game will have a ton of side quests that need to be completed. Or you can choose not to complete them, and then you'll deprive yourself of an extra 10 hours of enjoyment. In our Batman, there may even be more side quests than the main plot! And it's precisely these that allow us to face off against another batch of enemies that aren't even mentioned in the main storyline line.
There are only 6 such enemies: Deadshot, Hash, Bane, Zsasz, Mad Hatter, Riddler. + additional side quests without significant enemies: tracking a mysterious stranger, helping Freeze find his wife, completing all AR training sessions. + all the little things that you need to do to complete the game 100%, which I will also mention. Let's go straight down the list:
"Shot in the Dark" (Deadshot)
… or Arkham's best hitman. An excellent sniper armed with a large-caliber sniper rifle and pistols strapped to his wrists. The side quest begins when a SOS signal icon appears on your batcomputer from some rooftop. We fly over there, talk to a frightened prisoner who says, "about the psycho who is chasing him and wants to kill him." In the middle of the conversation, the prisoner gets shot in the forehead, and we must scan the area for clues. The clue will be the bullet, by which Batman will identify the killer – it's Deadshot (you will need to track the bullet's trajectory, as was done with the Joker).
What to do next? Fly to the area marked on the map with the number 2. At a certain moment, you will simply hear the echo of a shot, and Oracle will inform you that in such-and-such area, another victim of the evil sniper has been spotted. The challenge here is just to find that victim, as the area is quite large. I'll simplify this task for you: the victim is on the bridge. Scan the area, track the bullet's trajectory, and you will get another clue – the rifle stand. From it, Bats determines the quality of the metal. The third victim is easier to find – a group of thugs has gathered around her. A trio or quartet of thugs – is that a problem? Scan the area, find out that the bullet ricocheted (following the trajectory will not be particularly difficult), follow the trail and get the last clue – the heat signature. We contact Oracle, receive a series of locations for "possible Deadshot's hideout" (or something like that). The correct choice is the location northeast on the map. There we will find the killer's PDA, hack it, and learn about the next victim we must save within the allotted time. We save her and witness the first and last miss in Deadshot's career. Then the fight with him begins directly.
The fight will be on the roof, in the center of which is Deadshot himself. If he catches sight of us – he will kill us. Here, you need to quietly sneak up on him, hiding behind objects (while he looks for us on the other side of the roof). Sneak up, take him out – quest completed.
"The Thief's Hunt" (Hash)
At the marked locations on the map (one of them), we find a corpse with its face cut off and wrapped in a towel, we scan it. A trail appears that we must follow, leading us to a frightened police officer, who upon seeing Batman, will wet his pants. This is not our "face thief", and after a tedious conversation with him, we are off to search for the next victims. This is very, very difficult, as they are not marked on the map, and searching for them in Arkham is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The second victim is on Park Street, near the AR training session (fly to the left gargoyle and drop down). We scan the area and find fingerprints on a knife. Then it suddenly turns out that these prints belong to Batman himself, and we are forced to search for the third victim. Orientation for the third victim – a gigantic green billboard “ACE Chemicals”. The third corpse is near the building that has this billboard. We scan and again follow the trail, leading us to another thug who convinces us that none other than Bruce Wayne is behind all this. But we know that's not true. A marker appears on the map (next to the courthouse), and that's where we go. There, we fall into a trap and meet Hash, who has changed his appearance using pieces of stolen faces to look like Wayne (rather than being an exact copy). And that's where the quest ends… feel who will be the enemy in the next part of the game?
"Fragile Alliance" (Bane)
One of the easiest side quests. As soon as the emblem "signal fire" appears on your batcomputer on one of the rooftops, we fly there. We enter the room and see Bane, pumped with Titan. From there, we find out that there are 12 containers filled with Titan spread throughout Arkham, which must be destroyed at all costs. Batman takes six, and Bane takes six. It’s worth noting that these containers are also available before the quest starts. They will just appear on the map and the whole problem of the quest will be to “fly, scatter enemies, blow up containers (with explosive gel)”. After all the containers are blown up, we return to Bane, find out that he has no good intentions, and gracefully isolate him in a cell. There will even be no fight – we will just get a cutscene.
"Cold-Blooded Killer" (Zsasz)
Well, the name, seriously! Zsasz also appears in Arkham Asylum, but his role there is minimal, and he goes down with one hit. Here he has a much larger role – he became a real "phone" maniac! In every region of Arkham, there is a phone that can ring if you fly past it. After the quest begins, you will need to complete a series of 5-6 similar tasks: fly from one point to another within a certain time (all of this is, of course, Zsasz's game, which forces us to rush from phone to phone). To trace the call during the conversation, move the cursor so that it doesn’t go outside the designated area. Repeat the procedure 5-6 times – and you will track down the maniac. The neutralization procedure is quite simple – you need to go through a sort of maze (with a constantly changing water level, more details in the video). Don’t forget that you can latch onto ledges and use the grapnel gun (I always forget about it).
"Through the Magnifying Glass" (Mad Hatter)
The quest begins near the theater where the Joker tragically died. On the roof of one of the buildings, you can find the medicine dropped by Alfred (it is marked on the map). After applying it, Batman faints, and then a series of events occur that are very difficult to describe without swearing. The hero begins to struggle with the effects of the drug injected into him by the Hatter. The face… the surroundings… you have to see it! By the way, in this mission, you can achieve the highest combo in the entire game (not counting trials in a separate mode).
Riddler's Riddle (Riddler)
In my opinion, the toughest villain. To defeat him, you need to collect 400 (!) trophies and save five hostages.
1) Park Street
2) Amusement Park
3) Industrial Area
4) Steel Mill
5) Bowery
6) Bowery Receiver
7) Museum
8) Underground
9) Wonder City
First (requires 0 trophies):
Second (requires 80 trophies):
Third (requires 160 trophies):
Fourth (requires 240 trophies):
Fifth (requires 320 trophies):
Meeting with Riddler (requires 400 trophies)
Mysterious Stranger:
This guy is named Azrael, and he can meet you on a specific rooftop. He will leave you a series of 4 signs, scanning which will lead you to his fifth location (you'll need to rustle around the map).
"Ice Heart" (help Freeze find his wife)
Freeze will indicate to us the approximate location of Nora in the storyline line, but finding her will not be easy. You should orient yourself towards the water part of the zone, and specifically the location marked by the icon. The fragile wall is literally on the water, and blowing it up without the right gadgets is impossible. This gadget is an ice grenade, which freezes a section of water, creating a sort of raft. The second difficult moment is how to return to Freeze (the main entrance is blocked)? The answer is through the place we exited last time (that’s where Joker shot down the helicopter). It’s on the opposite side of the building. The reward for completing the quest – Freeze will say "thank you" to us.
Completing all AR trainings:
"Remote Shelter"
We take the quest after interrogating Mayor Sharp. We run to the museum, knock on the doors, and are greeted by undercover cops who give us a very useful upgrade for the detective.
"Hot and Cold"
Get the sectional ice grenades (not the ones that Freeze gives us, but those that are found in the Combo during his second visit).
"Assault on Arkham"
Rescue hostages being threatened by lone thugs with bats and knives. You will hear cries for help if you fly close enough. There are about 30 of them in total.