Games you can play this week – horses and heroes

The October release slate is heating up with some big titles arriving this week, including one of the most-anticipated shooters of the year, the return of a Caped Crusader, and a god game for the ages.

Batman: Return to Arkham

18 October 2016 (PS4, Xbox One)

After a delay, the Dark Knight returns this week with Return to Arkham, a remastered compilation of the two award-winning Arkham games from Rocksteady Studios, Batman: Arkham Asylum and Arkham City.

The two games will be upgraded using Unreal Engine 4, giving the game a cosmetic makeover with “improved graphics, as well as upgraded models, environments, lighting, effects and shaders”.

In addition to the visual makeover, Return to Arkham will also feature all the DLC and Game of the Year add-ons for both games. What the collection won’t include, however, is Batman: Arkham Origins, which was made by Warner Brothers’ Montreal studio. If you haven’t got around to playing the superb Arkham Asylum and Arkham City, here is your chance.

Battlefield 1

21 October 2016 (PS4, Xbox One, PC)

Arguably the biggest game of the year, Battlefield 1, unleashes on eager gamers this week, and the latest entry takes the series back to World War 1 – an often overlooked period in blockbuster video games.

You can expect Battlefield’s usual mix of land, sea and air warfare, but WWI brings its own challenges. This is the most technologically divergent war in history, as rumbling war machines and newly invented automatic weapons came up against horse-mounted cavalry and bayonets.

Epic battles, visceral combat, and gorgeous visuals (thanks to the Frostbite 2.0 engine) await – with hefty multiplayer and single-player portions set to soak up our weekends for the foreseeable future.