Gotham City Open-World RPG

Advance Preview: How Can You Be Robin When You’re This Lazy?

Gotham is a 3A open-world RPG.

Players must live in the folksy city of Gotham. Their actions affect their faction alignment and earn them corresponding ability and attribute points.

As a result, the criminals at Arkham Asylum are in for a rough time. Their new orderly seems seriously unhinged.

Every night after lights-out, he starts picking the locks on the wards, working his way from Block A to Block C. Half-asleep criminals hear the noise and nearly end up with nervous breakdowns.

One kingpin of Gotham’s gray underworld gets so startled by the sound of a lock being picked that he faints and is carried into the infirmary.

For a richer gaming experience, Z.Z. buys the DLC Gotham After Dark and takes on a new identity in the gray underworld, codename “Sixth.”

While working a summer job for a gang, he is astonished to find someone across the way spraying him with an AK while sporting the guardian title “Uncle Two.”

Z.Z.: Uncle Two?

Red Hood: ...Sixth?

The two stare at each other in silence.

Red Hood thinks the kid he picked up is a little weird. He insists the little stick in his hand is a magic wand, and when some thugs attack him, he comes sliding over on his knees, stick in hand.

Z.Z.: Uncle Two! I’m here to help! Fireball!

He raises his little stick and scratches his head right in front of the thugs.

Player’s Intelligence is too low to cast spells.

Z.Z.: .

Red Hood: ...It’s pretty obvious your Intelligence is too low.

The little red bird thinks his partner is a little weird, especially since he’s been training hard in disguise and claims he’s going to seduce Bruce.

Z.Z. pats the little red bird on the shoulder. “Hey, bro, I’ve decided to seduce Bruce and steal his credit card to support you. I’ll buy you a place inside the Second Ring.”

Little Red Bird: Th-thanks?

Then he sees his idiot partner, who’s just broken his leg, crawl over to Bruce in the shadows and hand him his phone number.

Batman/Little Red Bird: .

Batman thinks Red Hood’s kid and the little red bird’s partner is a little weird. For one thing, he grabs Batman’s arm and calls him Mom. For another, he always manages to drive the Batmobile away without anyone noticing, forcing Batman to ride a bicycle to fight crime.

Z.Z. has just picked the lock on the Batmobile and is about to make a getaway when he gets a message from the System: the world boss is heading to the scene.

Z.Z.: I’m going to use stealth.

The System looks around at the wide-open surroundings. “...Are you sure?”

Z.Z.: I’m! Using! Stealth!

By the time Batman reaches the Batmobile, suspect Z. has vanished.

Batman: ...? Where is he?

Thanks to a critical success on his stealth check, Z.Z. falls into a sewer and discovers Black Mask’s hideout, making off with his gear while he’s at it.

Ever-present and randomly spawning, Z.Z. makes it impossible for criminals to keep their secrets. Every time they see him, they’re reminded of those nights at Arkham when the sound of locks being picked jolted them awake.

Z.Z. also becomes a psychological terror to Batman. The Bat-family still has no idea how Z.Z. managed to steal the Batmobile all those times.

In the end, Z.Z. earns the ultimate title.

[Gotham City’s Ultimate Torturer]

The game is also renamed for him: Gotham: Born to Be

Reader’s guide:

1. The protagonist is a deranged calamity from another world. He does all sorts of absurd things and harasses everyone indiscriminately.

2. This is a silly story with little logic or overarching plot, born purely from the author’s imagination. Everyone is wildly out of character, all together.

Advance Preview:

From the moment he was born, Elaines knew he wasn’t like ordinary children. Other babies came into the world yelling their heads off.

When he was born, he was thinking about why his older brother was named Dick, while he wasn’t named Nike or Jack, but Elaines instead.

When Elaines was eight, he finally stumbled upon his father and brother’s secret.

Before either of them could explain, he jumped in to cover for them. “...You’re cosplaying Batman and Robin in the middle of the night?”

Bruce still decided to tell Elaines the family secret.

Bruce: I’ve decided to train you to become Robin.

No excitement, no surprise. The only thought running through Elaines’s mind was ten ways to slack off as Robin.

A genius-level brain, a genius-level capacity for laziness, and absolutely no sense of responsibility: that was Elaines Wayne.

During Robin training, Elaines slacked off whenever he could, and even when he couldn’t.

To avoid his duties as Robin, Elaines secretly slipped laxatives into Arkham Asylum’s water supply. The criminals spent seven days and seven nights running to the bathroom.

After a month of battling a mysterious culprit, Batman discovers a packet of laxatives in Elaines’s room while Alfred is cleaning. “...Don’t do that again.”

Elaines has just slipped knockout drops into Blackgate Penitentiary’s water supply. “...Okay.”

Later, Batman takes in another child, intending to make Elaines feel threatened and spur him to train harder.

Just as the world’s greatest detective expected, Elaines is indeed motivated.

He spends every day in the training room in a wheelchair... coaching Jason to become an excellent Robin.

Bruce: .

Jason Todd: ...He’s actually a pretty nice guy.

One day, at a Justice League meeting.

The members watch Batman with grim determination, looking ready to arrest him at any moment.

Batman: What’s going on?

Superman produces a stack of academic papers.

“Frontal Lobotomy: A Psychology-Based Study of the Justification and Feasibility of Eradicating Criminals”

“The Legality and Advocacy of Using Genetic Drugs to Control and Eradicate Criminals at the Personality Level: A Systematic Analysis from the Perspective of State Laws”

“On the Law: An Investigation into Whether Superheroes Should Be Legally Allowed to Kill Criminals”

Every paper is credited to Elaines.

...His son’s threat assessment has reached Doomsday level. The AI recommends sending him to the Phantom Zone.

Superman: B. Has your son become a supervillain?

Batman: ...Impossible.

Two days later, Batman carries the “dangerous individual” Elaines around the Justice League headquarters.

He places a weapon capable of destroying criminals on a cognitive level just one step away from Elaines.

But Elaines is too lazy to take that one step, so he gives up on the weapon of mass destruction.

The superheroes’ hearts finally stop pounding.

...He’s just too lazy to become a supervillain.

Theme: Seize the moment and let your light shine in times of good fortune; stay grounded and cultivate resilience in times of hardship.