Over the past few days, I decided to do something dumb: collect all 243 Riddler trophies in Batman: Arkham Knight. I never bothered tracking them down in the previous Arkham games, but I figured it would be a fun way to extend the life of a game I was enjoying. One wasted holiday weekend later, I’m living proof that dreams can come true. Along the way, I learned a few things that are bound to make life easier for my fellow completionists.
I’m not going to dive into the specific solutions for puzzles in this story. Instead, I’m focusing on broad things that would have saved me time if I’d thought about them when I first started. For blow-by-blow information on every collectible location, there are a host of resources available online, including IGN’s excellent guide.
1. Make the most of those informants
The Riddler’s goons are soft, and Batman should make the most of their disloyalty. Edward Nigma’s subordinates appear green under detective vision, and they sing like sparrows after getting roughed up a bit. Batman’s map gets updated with several new points of interest in the process, too.
That’s enough of my instruction-manual impersonation. Here’s the deal: You’re going to come across a ton of these jerks as you progress through the story – especially if you keep detective vision on whenever you’re in flight, which I recommend. When you see a green guy or a green car, drop what you’re doing and make a beeline toward that person/vehicle. Missions can wait. I spent way too long at the end of my attempt circling Gotham City and hoping to spot another would-be traitor. If I’d been keeping a closer watch on the ground earlier on, it would have saved me a bunch of time overall. Also, there may be one informant slinking around inside the Gotham City Police Department, so keep an eye there too.
2. Know your collectibles
Those question-mark trophies are his calling card, but the Riddler has more stuff hidden throughout Gotham City. Breakable objects come in a variety of forms, including Militia Shields, spider bots, and Jack-in-the-boxes. To destroy them, you need to hit them with your Batmobile’s cannon or a Batarang. Riddles appear as [ ] marks on the map, and you have to use Batman’s scanner to find the solution to a vague clue.
You almost always have what you need to collect these from the get-go. If you see one of these objects in the wild – or get a clue for what looks like an obvious riddle solution – go nuts. These are basically the low-hanging fruit of the game. Some of the riddles do require you to look at objects from a particular angle, and it can be finicky; in those cases, I felt zero shame about consulting a walkthrough video.
3. Save the trophies
The Riddler is a pretty clever guy, and he’s skilled at anticipating what kinds of gadgets Batman will be using. Because of that, you’re going to run into puzzles that are impossible to solve until you have the proper gear. I wasted too much time on those. Unless the trophy was just sitting on a ledge (which does happen), I eventually stopped trying to grab them until well into the campaign.
As you play, you’ll fill up Batman’s gadget wheel. Once I earned (or located) all his gear, I went after the trophies in earnest. That way, I could methodically clear an area without having to worry about getting stuck and having to make a return trip. Those airships were annoying the first time around; I could have saved myself a lot of trouble by waiting and doing one extended trophy run there instead of several smaller (and fruitless) trips.
It’s possible to blow past two of Batman’s gadgets entirely, since you don’t get them through the campaign. I ended up grabbing them when I was about 70-percent finished with the story. Like I said, there are a lot of places to look online if you don’t want to find them yourself. In the case of one gadget in particular, good luck finding it yourself.
4. A few loose ends
These don’t fall neatly into the other categories, but I wish I’d known them sooner. After the first hundred or so trophies, you start to pick up a few things about the Riddler and his habits. Learn from my wasted time.
- In most time-based riddles, you don’t need to use the Batmobile. You’re certainly welcome to drive if you like, but I found it was much faster to eject out of the vehicle ASAP and soar to my destination. Upgrade your traversal skills as soon as you can, too.
- There’s a puzzle that requires the mine-scrambling Disruptor upgrade, so make sure you’ve unlocked that, even if it’s the only time you’ll even think of using that upgrade.
- Riddler’s robots don’t always need to be fought. Often, they need to be controlled.
- Look around.
- When in doubt, hit the neon question mark with a Batarang.
- Savor the extra ending. You earned it.