Coming from a Newsarama interview with Michael McIntyre, gameplay director for Origins and Senior Producer Ben Mattes...

“We want to make sure players earn their blackbelt in being Batman before the end of the game. We want you to get really good at the game by the time you’re at the heart of it.”

- Black Mask puts out a massive bounty on the head Batman
- eight deadly assassins come to Gotham City on one Christmas Eve night
- Batman has to take down the assassins and find and stop Black Mask
- assassins serve as the boss battles

“If you’re fighting just to scrape by, you’re actually going to lose to the assassins. Assassin boss fights are the driving force behind the game. It’s all about building skills – yours and Batman’s – to the point that you can apply them in boss fights with the eight core assassins.” - Mattes

- new grading system based on your efficiency, combos, use of gadgets, and how much of a beating you took

“The narrative mapping of the grading system for fights is Batman recognizing and assessing himself. It’s Batman needing to up his game. This is the night Batman goes from the masked vigilante to the Dark Knight.” - Mattes

- happen upon a high-level mob war brewing between The Penguin and the Falcone family
- bust in on an interrogation between Penguin and the young Alberto Falcone
- the interrogation switches over to Batman taking on Penguin
- then Deathstroke pulls Batman out the window with a grapnel
- this battle takes place about an hour and a half into the game

“Deathstroke is a great character to show how our skills came togethe. He fights a lot like Batman, particularly with the ability of his to counter the player’s attack.” - Mattes

- Deathstroke uses a remote batclaw gadget against Batman
- Batman gets to keep this weapon after the fight
- end of the fight includes Deathstroke being unmasked and taking out his signature sword