Rocksteady explains the Batmobile's evolution in Arkham Knight

Playing Batman: Arkham Knight? Of course you are. And we'd bet our growing collection of miniature Batmen that you've been tearing it up through Gotham's gothic streets in the latest incarnation of the iconic Batmobile (although we're not sure Bats' supposed non-lethal justice isn't quite so, well... non-lethal). Its controversial design (ie it turns into a flippin' tank!) has divided some fans, but the road to that final design helped shape the game's entire development.

In the latest issue of Edge, game director Sefton Hill explains the genesis of the Batmobile came from one simple notion: make it an extension of the Dark Knight himself. "We definitely came with a lot of ideas, and worked on it with Adam Doherty, who’s the player code director. But fundamentally, we didn’t want [the Batmobile] to feel a separate entity to Batman; we wanted it to feel like the ultimate Batman gadget," explains Hill. "That was really the focus of that we wanted. We never planned for there to be discrete driving levels and then you never get the car again – we were only going to do it if it was something that was totally inherent to the design right from day one."

Despite having a focused desire to make the Batmobile as naturally attuned to Rocksteady's Gotham as the Caped Crusader, Hill admits the iconic vehicle went through many an iteration to get to the beast we see today. "I can’t say we started off with the way Battle Mode works; [it’s] completely different to Pursuit mode," adds Hill. "We knew we wanted those areas in the game, but the way that’s controlled, that’s something we iterated on over time. Saying that, we always have a rule that if it’s not good enough, it doesn’t stay in the game."

Need more Batman: Arkham Knight info? Well, you'll be pleased to hear thefirst big DLC drop, A Matter of Family(featuring Barbara Gordon's pre-Oracle Batgirl), will drop later this month with Warner Bros Montreal on development duties. This has enabled Rocksteady to focus all its attention on getting the currentlybroken PC version of Arkham Knight fixed as a priority.

The latest issue of Edge, with Dark Souls 3 on the cover, is out now. Download it here or subscribe to future issues.