Who knew that the Batman's refusal to kill would spawn quite so many interesting adversaries? With nowhere to go but back to jail, Bruce's throng of baddies just keeps on expanding. So much so that, Batman: Arkham Knight could conceivably include the biggest rogues gallery yet.

With this third game, Rocksteady Studios will bid its final farewell to the Arkham series. And as a main baddie for this latest game they have selected Scarecrow, who terrorizing the citizens of Gotham while unifying its criminal elite.

These nasty ne're-do-wells will include a number of familiar faces, including Two-Face, The Riddler and The Penguin. Speaking to Game Informer this week, the British studio outlined its vision for all three returning characters, detailing the changes made to each since 2011's Arkham City.

First up is The Penguin, aka Oswald C. Cobblepot, a big-time gangster with a lowlife reputation. Lead character artist Albert Feliu describes the changes made to the mobster in terms of Arkham Knight's new seasonal setting. Where City featured a wintry Gotham, its sequel takes place a little closer to fall, with the character therefore ditching his layers to reveal a dirty, hoodlum look.

"The concept of Penguin was more of a dirty dude. Obviously his shirt is rolled up and sweaty, and he has food stains on it. But still, he’s really powerful. […] We had to be a bit crazy with this character, and working with his design. And we shaved his head. He’s [really] filthy, you know. It makes you want to punch him even more.”

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Next comes Two-Face, formerly known as Harvey Dent, an ally of the Bat turned enemy. With him, Feliu felt that Rocksteady had a strong enough design to begin with, meaning relatively few changes were made to the character for Arkham Knight.

“We didn’t want to change it that much. […] We just rolled up his sleeves and made him look really next-gen. We took some references of really filthy, burnt flesh […] and tried to make him look as badass as we could.”

It's Edward Nigma i.e. The Riddler who appears to have changed most of all — though perhaps not as drastically as these new screens would suggest. Feliu states that due to Nigma's increased participation in Arkham Knight — going from a background player to a more fully-realized character — that the criminal cluemaster will simply become more and more haggard as the adventure wears on. It's a level of deterioration fans have become accustomed to seeing on Batman himself, though Arkham Knight will also expand this detail to cover his gallery of rogues.

With a name like Rocksteady it was always highly unlikely we'd see any major changes to these core characters. Fortunately for fans of the series, most of the designs were already incredibly strong - though we'll have to wait to see what the team does with The Scarecrow to give him that 'leading villain look.'

Which rogues deserve the Gotham spotlight? How will the Joker's absence affect the game? Who's your favourite Batman villain? Let us know in the comments below, and be sure to check in with all of the latest Batman gaming news, right here on Game Rant.

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Batman: Arkham Knight will be released on October 14, 2014 for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One systems.

You can follow Sam on Twitter @GamingGoo.

Source: Game Informer