SPOILERS AHEAD. YOU’VE BEEN WARNED.
With the release of Batman: Arkham Knight comes the return of one of the series most mystical and mysterious characters: Azrael. As fans will be happy to hear, Batman: Arkham Knight allows gamers to play as Azrael during the Heir To The Cowl missions.
If you want to play as Azrael, you’ll need to have some patience. You must first reach Miagani Island in order to begin this optional side-quest line. However once you are there, you’ll just need to keep your eyes open for a rooftop with a flaming bat symbol.
Either that, or you can just go to this location on your map:
One you get there, you’ll be able to initiate a cutscene with Azrael followed by a challenge in which you must defeat a group of enemies as Azrael without getting hit. This one is pretty straightforward. Just counter and dodge as you take out the enemies.
After every Azrael encounter, you will need to find him all over again by looking for another burning bat symbol on a rooftop. Here’s a map to follow instead if you prefer:
The third time you find Azrael, he’ll be waiting for you on Bleake Island:
If you’ve begun to suspect a pattern, then congrats, because every Azrael challenge requires you to defeat a group of enemies without taking damage. What makes this challenge difficult is that in addition to facing several more enemies than in the previous battle, there is also a medic among the enemy ranks.
Naturally, you’ll want to focus on taking out the medic as quickly as you possibly can. Then proceed to counter, dodge, and take out the enemies.
The final time you encounter Azrael on the rooftops, he will be on the small island in the center of your map, that technically displays as Miagani Island:
Once you have completed all of the combat challenges, you will be guided back to the Clock Tower to scan Azrael’s brain and examine visual projections of his memories. Apparently, his memories have been altered by The Order of St. Dumas’ sacred language to unconsciously modify his behavior.
Of course, this requires you to scan the visual projections of his memories for clues. After the first sacred language marker is found by Batman in the cut scene, you must locate four other time stamps that contain the sacred language markers.
The time stamps are: 5:54, 16:42, 28:81, and 41:41. Scanning these locations reveals the hidden programming in Azrael’s memories. The truth is that he was sent by The Order of St. Dumas to gain Batman’s trust, eliminate him, and then take his place because The Order deemed that Batman is preventing the evil of Gotham from facing true divine justice. This is probably about the whole Batman honoring a code of not killing anyone thing.
Upon learning all of this, Batman is confronted by Azrael. Batman reminds Azrael that his name was once Michael Lane, that The Order has been manipulating him, that the two of them should be on the same side, and that it is now Azrael’s choice as to what he believes is the right course of action.
Once again, you get to play as Azrael for a brief moment as you can decide whether to break his sword, rejecting the order’s programming and becoming allies with Batman, or to attempt to kill Batman, which will only result in Azrael being countered, knocked out, and then locked away by the GCPD. The decision is entirely up to the player.
Did you enjoy this side-quest line? What did you ultimately decide to do as Azrael? Let us know in the comments section below.
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