Batman: Gotham by Gaslight… the game

The Elseworlds line of DC Comics was an extension of the Imaginary Stories that often graced the pages of Superman and Batman books throughout the Silver Age of the 1960′s. However, the tone of these alternate versions of the time-honored icons was darker and much grimmer, working in the popularized mood of the medium at the time.

The first and most popular of the DC Elseworlds one-shots was Batman: Gotham by Gaslight by Brian Augustyn, Mike Mignola (before he developed Hellboy), and Peter Craig Russell. Set in the 1800′s, the alternate Batman still prowled the streets and rooftops of Gotham City but in a greatcoat rather than a cape and sporting tech that could be termed as Steampunk. Given the success of the Arkham Asylum and Arkham City games along with the exploration of alternate reality superhero videogames such as Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, it comes as no surprise that someone realized the potential for a game based on this comic. Still highly regarded, Gotham by Gaslight is viewed as one of the best Batman stories.

… but unfortunately, a Gotham by Gaslight video game is not going to make a move to push Arkham Asylum from its place as game of the year any time soon as the breaking story on its development also delivers the sad news that it was canceled.

Via CinemaBlend:

Thanks to Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, fans of the Dark Knight really have no cause for complaint these days. However, newly unearthed concept art reveals that gamers missed out on an intriguing steampunk take on the superhero.

Artist Julie Farrell’s online portfolio (spotted by Superannuation) reveals that she was working on a project called Gotham by Gaslight. It was based on a one-shot comic of the same name, a Batman tale set in the late 19th century. It was part of DC Comic’s Elseworlds imprint, which took established heroes and put them in new settings.

“This was a game I was really looking forward to working on. Unfortunately it was just a pitch. I had a blast creating the menus for this game, as steampunk is really quite unique, interesting and something I love to design,” said Farrell on her website.

She told Joystiq that F.E.A.R. 3 developer Day 1 Studios pitched the game to THQ two years back. She is a UI artist so the shots are unfortunately from menus rather than gameplay. The control scheme images do reveal that the game was planned for the Xbox 360 and would’ve given Batman grenades and a slow-mo ability.

Again, Batman-loving gamers are much luckier than most comic book fans when it comes to video game adaptations so I can’t spend too much time mourning this project. Batman hunting Jack Ripper does sound like a pretty sweet premise for a game, though.

Note, as the artwork was taken down from Julie Farrell’s site, it is reproduced here (Ms. Farrell, please drop me a line if you’d like it removed).

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