Batman Arkham Knight has Dual Play because Rocksteady didn't want multiplayer

We've already seen Batman Arkham Knight's Dual Play feature and how it lets you control multiple members of the bat-family in a fight. Now, director Sefton Hill has been explaining a little more about how it all works.

Speaking in the new issue of Official PlayStation Magazine, which is out on Friday the 5th, he explains that Batman Arkham Knight's new character-switching combat was developed after the studio decided it didn't want to take the game online. "We knew we didn't want to go down the route of creating a multiplayer experience", explains Hill, adding, "we thought the player being in control of both characters was really interesting, rather than splitting it up into a co-op experience".

So that's why you have Batman teaming up with either Robin, Nightwing or Catwoman for certain missions. The Dual Play sections then work as separate areas accessed within the main game: "When you get into those areas Nightwing [for example] will join you and you'll be able to switch between both characters whenever you want. You have one button press to switch between [them] and as you fight you can maintain a combo across both characters".

Interestingly, each of the additional bat-friends are after one specific boss. "Each character is linked into one super-villain that you're chasing after," says Hill. "So, taking Nightwing as an example, his story is based around hunting down the Penguin, who's working in Gotham and supplying weapons to all of the super-villains throughout the city".

The latest issue of Official PlayStation Magazine, with Metal Gear Solid 5 on the cover, is out now. You can buy ithereorsubscribeto future issues.