When the PS4 and Xbox One were announced I decided that come hell or high water that I would wait to buy one the new consoles until a game I really wanted was released.  Almost a year after their launch there has only been one game that has had the pull to push me into the next generation of consoles and it’s been Arkham Knight.

I’ve played all of the Arkham games since the release of Arkham Asylum back in 2009 and its been one of my favorite games series of all time.  I loved it’s follow up Arkham City and even really enjoyed the non-Rocksteady Studios release Arkham Origins.  I even played the Playstation Vita Version of Arkham Origins, Arkham Origins: Blackgate.  So you can bet your sweet ass that if there is a new Arkham game now or in the future I’m going to be buying it, and whatever console I need to play it.

I love me some Arkham but for the release of Arkham Knight the powers to be are doing something that absolutely drives me insane.  That is retailer exclusive pre-order DLC bonuses.  When I get Arkham Knight I am going to play the absolute shit out of this game.  I will complete all of the bonus missions, I will find all the Riddler trophies, I will buy all of the DLC.  However, because of these retailer exclusive pre-order DLC’s I have a Sophie’s Choice to make wading through this mindfield and figure out which store has the best deal.

The Arkham games have had pre-order DLC bonus’s in the past but they have never been story missions.  Arkham City had some challenge maps and character skins that didn’t really effect game play.  This time around we have actual story missions that will be included which makes picking a store to buy it from much more difficult.  In the past these they have eventually released these pre-order DLC as normal DLC but no mention has been made yet of when this will happen and what the cost will be.  I’d like to think it will be included in the 40 dollar season pass but I won’t hold my breath…

So let’s run down the various stores and pre-order DLC bonuses you can get.

First no matter where you pre-order from you will get the playable Harley Quinn Story Missions.  I’m assuming that this is similar to the playable Catwoman DLC from Arkham City and that it will continue to be included with the game after the pre-order window as long as you are buying the game new (although this is not confirmed so better safe than sorry).

Amazon

Amazon has a few options here. First they have two collector’s editions that were going for 100 dollars (they are no longer available to buy).

The first collector’s edition had a model replica of the Arkham Knight Batmobile.  It also comes with a steel book game case, art book, exclusive 0 issue of the Arkham Knight Comic Book, along with three “New 52” Character skins.

The second collector’s edition also cost 100 dollar and had a statue of Batman (also no longer available).  It also came with the other collector’s edition material such as steel book game case, art book, exclusive 0 issue of the Arkham Knight Comic Book, along with three “New 52” Character skins.

Next they have a Arkham Asylum bundle which for 10 dollars extra (70 dollars total) you get the game and a copy of the 25th anniversary edition of the graphic novel Arkham Asylum by Grant Morrison and Dave McKean.  You also get a bonus first appearance of Batman (Detective Comics 27) character skin.

Lastly they have the normal version of the game which comes with the Batman first appearance character skin.

Best Buy

Best Buy offers the Wayne Tech Booster pack which gives you four in game upgrades to your weapons and Batmobile.  These are Explosive Gel Takedown, Aerial Juggle, Batarang while gliding, and Batmobile weapon upgrade.

This might be the weakest Pre-order DLC bonus pack, I can’t imagine you won’t be able to just get all of these upgrades through normal game play.

Wal-Mart

Walmart offers a Prototype Batmobile skin along with 5 dollars credit to their movie service Vudu.

Gamestop

Gamestop offers a story mission featuring the Red Hood (aka Jason Todd).  This might be the best bonus of the whole group seeing as most of the other bonuses involve skins and not additional gameplay content.

Steam

Steam is offering Batman character skins with a Dark Knight Returns version of Batman along with a Batman Beyond version.  I am for sure getting the game on Playstation 4 so Steam was never really in my cards as an option.

Playstation 4

Regardless where you buy the game from, if you get it on PlayStation 4 you get you get Scarecrow Nightmare missions along with Batman 3000 and Batman ’66 character skins along with a Batman ’66 Batmobile skin. This sucks for Xbox One owners but frankly isn’t that surprising.  Playstation has been getting exclusive DLC going all the way back to the original Arkham Asylum.

So after much thought and deliberation I went with Gamestop to get the Red Hood story mission.  I’d honestly much rather get the Arkham Asylum graphic novel bundle from amazon since 10 dollars is a good price for the book and I don’t own it already. But if it’s between a book and more gameplay I have to choose more gameplay.  The struggle is real, the struggle is real.