Footage of Monolith Productions’ Batman title – codenamed Project Apollo – has surfaced online, showing gameplay of Christian Bale’s take on the hero from Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight trilogy as he patrols an open-world Gotham. Unfortunately, the title was canceled, but Monolith did take elements from it to make the acclaimed Middle Earth: Shadow of Mordor.
While this footage has apparently been online since 2022, it recently began circulating on the GamingLeaksAndRumours subreddit, with Dageekydude sharing a breakdown in a series of posts on X soon after. Much like Rocksteady’s Arkhamverse titles that followed, players would have traversed across the city using a combination of gliding, grappling to vantage points with the grapple gun, or operating the Batmobile (which was only referred to as the Tumber in Nolan’s trilogy), the latter of which was included in more linear levels in Electronic Arts’ 2005 Batman Begins tie in, but only became an open-world feature in Rocksteady’s 2015 title Batman: Arkham Knight.
Apparently, Monolith’s title wouldn’t have followed the story of the Dark Knight movies, unlike Pandemic’s canceled 2008 The Dark Knight tie-in, but would have been set within the same universe, and would have been released in the early 2010s, potentially before the Batman: Arkham series went open-world with 2011’s Batman: Arkham City. Unfortunately, reports surrounding the title suggest that Warner Bros. didn’t want two competing Batman game series, with Batman: Arkham Asylum already proving to be a success, and according to Liam Robertson of DidYouKnowGaming?, Monolith had yet to receive the blessing of Christoper Nolan, which resulted in the title being canceled.
This led to Monolith retooling the title into a Lord of the Rings project, as Warner Bros also held the film and merchandise rights to the popular fantasy series, which led to the creation of 2014’s acclaimed Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. Apparently, Project Apollo featured an early version of the unique Nemesis System that was used as a major selling point for Shadow of Mordor, in which randomized enemies remembered previous encounters with the players, leading to more unique interactions with them later on.
While it’s disappointing that Monolith didn’t get to finish Project Apollo and give players an open-world Batman title based in Nolan’s The Dark Knight continuity, the studio is currently returning to the DC universe with its upcoming Wonder Woman title. While very little is known about its story, it has been confirmed that the gameplay will also include the studio’s Nemesis mechanic.
Source: GamingLeaksAndRumours/Reddit, Dageekydude/X, DidYouKnowGaming?/YouTube