Batman: Arkham Shadow is pulling back a cape-like curtain on some of the antagonists in the Arkhamverse whose backstories may not have been delved into, whether they deserved more screen time or any screen time at all at an earlier point in the continuity. One of the most alluring narrative throughlines in Batman: Arkham Shadow, then, is speculating who may develop into a fully-fledged villain by the end and whose development will be left for character progression later in the Arkhamverse to mold further.
Batman: Arkham Shadow shines a bat signal on doctors Harleen Quinzel and Jonathan Crane, for example, and while players know these characters inevitably become more colorful and villainous it’ll be interesting to see what state both of them are in by the time credits roll. Likewise, the Meta Quest 3-exclusive Arkham installment has revealed another character it features who becomes a recurring antagonist in the Arkhamverse and is poised to play a big role as a side character this time around: Harvey Dent.
Batman: Arkham Shadow Flips a Coin and Lands at Least First and Foremost on Harvey Dent
An informal Q&A followed a hands-on preview demo Game Rant attended, where Camouflaj’s head of studio and game director Ryan Payton, design director Ryan Darcey, and director of production Matt Walker discussed the Batman: Arkham Shadow characters they enjoyed working on most. Payton chose to share a bit of information on District Attorney Harvey Dent’s role in the game, remarking on the fact that players have only ever seen him when he’s already metaphorically and literally split down the center and indulging in coin-flipping dualities.
“In all the Arkham games there’s no screen time with Harvey Dent. He’s Two-Face the whole time, right, and so everybody knows that Harvey Dent—especially in this franchise, and we’re a prequel, everybody knows Harvey Dent is going to become Two-Face at some point—but, while we have Harvey around, can we do a lot of really fun, great things with Harvey?”
Harvey Dent’s Role in Batman: Arkham Shadow is a Testament to Troy Baker’s Performance as Gotham’s District Attorney
Not unlike how Jeph Loeb and Tim Sale’s Long Halloween or Batman: The Animated Series’ two-parter origin story iconically depicts him, Shadow should hopefully now allot a ton of time to portraying Harvey before his dramatic chrysalis. That might not have always been the case, Payton states, if it wasn’t for how inspired Camouflaj was by the actor reprising him.
“Honestly, it’s been part-inspired by the fact we’ve had such an amazing working relationship with Troy Baker, who’s the actor behind Harvey Dent, and it’s made us want to go even deeper with the character and spend more time with the character, and see what more he can provide to the story because he’s just been an incredible partner and supporter of what we’ve been doing and has a terrific rapport with Roger [Craig Smith] on the stage, too, because they worked together on Arkham Origins when Troy was playing as Joker, right, so that was really fun to see them have a kind of different dynamic but revive the partnership after so many years.”
Troy Baker played Two-Face in Arkham City and Arkham Knight but, while the actor is more than experienced with the antagonist’s more guttural and sadistic persona, it is a different beast entirely hearing his ordinary speaking voice in his performance as Harvey.
There isn’t confirmation yet that Harvey does eventually become Two-Face in Arkham Shadow, unsurprisingly, but as Payton remarks it will be great to finally see Harvey before he’s physically scarred, especially if that means his friendship with Bruce Wayne and his partnership with Commissioner Jim Gordon and Batman can be thoroughly fleshed out. Only time will tell if he’s already mentally scarred and possessing his own Big Bad Harv-esque persona, though.
