Batman: Arkham Asylum

Rocksteady's 2009 debut is the game that established what a superhero licence could be when handed to a studio that thought about verbs first. The Joker takes over Arkham, Batman is locked in with him, and the island is structured as a Metroidvania where gadgets unlock earlier doors rather than as an open city. Freeflow combat arrived here fully formed: attack, counter, stun, and a rhythm that rewards never repeating yourself, which turned brawling from a button-mash into something closer to a timing puzzle. Predator encounters put you above armed guards with a grapnel and a set of takedowns, and the enemy chatter degrading from bravado to panic as you thin them out is still the best-executed intimidation loop in games. The Scarecrow sequences break the rules of the game to unsettle you, including a fake crash screen that fooled a great many people in 2009. It won awards nobody expected a Batman game to win, and every licensed action game since has been measured against it.