Another game at this year’s E3 that had us cautiously optimistic, the theater experience for Arkham Origins made us feel even more optimistic and a bit less cautious.

Handled by WB Montreal this time around and set as a prequel to the other games in the series taking place early in Batman’s career , there were a lot of questions in terms of whether or not this game could deliver the same quality of Rocksteady’s efforts. Judging from what we saw at the show a lot of fears were put to rest assuming everything controls properly.

The premise of this outing finds the Black Mask taking out a hit on Batman over the Christmas holiday which brings a ton of villains out from the woodwork to cash in on the sizable bounty. The reported enemy roster is impressive with the likes of Deadshot, Deathstroke, Penguin, Joker, Bane and Anarky. Of all those names, the one I am most excited about is Anarky as he is a cool character that hasn’t gotten any love from the games yet and it is about time.

Arkham Origins is an open world game and there is a pretty big crime wave going on which means that there aren’t too many pedestrians and passers by. There are a lot of criminals thought and Batman can now patrol the streets in search of crimes in progress which spawn in the open world and present significant challenges. There is also a new set of side quest called Most Wanted that feature big enemies with their own plots. Of course, there is also the main story which has Batman trying to outrun that $50 Million bounty if someone can kill him in that one night.

Combat looked largely the same as the previous games with some new enemy types in the mix that force the player to use different techniques to take them down. Nothing super new here aside from the specific challenges being different. Judging by the live demo we were watching, the combat looks fluid and solid. The driver made some mistakes as well so it is a pretty good bet it was really live and not staged. I am really glad to see that the combat is mostly the same as it is one of my favorite combat systems in modern gaming and it would be a shame to see it get broken here. The new enemy classes should be good for upping the challenge as well.

An improved detective system made an appearance in the demo and it looks like this is the area of the game that has gotten the most tinkering as it looks to be greatly expanded. The new system is called the Case File System and it allows Batman to create a simulation of the crime in which Batman sees more and more pieces of the crime until the whole picture is revealed. The demo showed Batman investigating a helicopter crash that leads him from the rooftops to the streets and back to the rooftops again. The system looks intuitive and fun to interact with and presents a more complete investigative experience than previous efforts without bogging down in boring detail.

Not much was shown of the stealth based Predator mode but what we got to see was pretty awesome. Batman has a new gadget in his arsenal called the Remote Claw. This fires out a double grapple that can do basic things like give you a line to balance on but it will also allow you to shoot two objects and pull them together. This makes it pretty easy to knock two thugs out even if they are across the room from each other or to deliver an exploding barrel into an enemy’s back. The applications here look to be robust and I am excited to get in and try it out.

On an aesthetic level, the game fairs pretty well. It looks great and retains the gritty and creative art style of the series while giving us a younger and leaner looking Batman that reflects the earlier time. Batman’s voice reflects this shift in age as well as Roger Craig Smith (of Ezio and Chris Redfield fame) takes over voicing duties from Kevin Conroy. I found myself really missing Conroy but Smith does a good job making the voice sound younger but similar. Troy Baker steps in for Mark Hamill as the Joker and does a really good job as well. From a presentation perspective, the demo we saw fits right in to the series and doesn’t feel any different from that standpoint.

I am still a little nervous with a new team working on it but the game looks great so far and the team has experience working on the franchise with their Wii U port of Arkham City. My apprehension has shifted over to excitement and while there are still reservations I can’t wait to get my hands on this one.

Batman Arkham Origins releases October 25 for Ps3, Xbox 360, Wii U and PC