When comparing Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM) vs Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Slant community recommends Batman: Arkham Asylum for most people. In the question“What are the best singleplayer games on Steam?” Batman: Arkham Asylum is ranked 75th while Ancient Domains of Mystery (ADOM) is ranked 126th. The most important reason people chose Batman: Arkham Asylum is:
Arkham Asylum is the first game to bring us freeflow brawler melee combat in its full glory. It invented the combat genre where you fight a multitude of enemies who take turns attacking you, while the player has a basic attack, a parry+counter and a combat roll. Getting multiple hits in on enemies builds up a combo streak that makes batman stronger. This streak is reset by getting hit by an enemy. Other games, like Assassin's Creed, had superficially similar combat systems, but not as optimized as this and they did not feature hit/combo streaks. Arkham Asylum's freeflow combat system is very suitable to be played with controllers.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Really, really deep
The game has been around for a dozen years or so, most of that time went into adding and expanding features. There are lots of ways to play the game, and you can dive into it literally for years and still be surprised by unexplored options.
Pro Surprisingly well balanced
Older roguelikes tend to have all of the things including the kitchen sink, and so does this. But the game feels cohesive and whole, and feels vast and expansive for its kitchen sink design rather than cluttered and messy.
Pro A true classic
It's one of the four games that really defined the genre, and it still is relevant today. A great addition to any roguelike fans' library.
Pro Freeflow combat pioneer
Arkham Asylum is the first game to bring us freeflow brawler melee combat in its full glory. It invented the combat genre where you fight a multitude of enemies who take turns attacking you, while the player has a basic attack, a parry+counter and a combat roll. Getting multiple hits in on enemies builds up a combo streak that makes batman stronger. This streak is reset by getting hit by an enemy. Other games, like Assassin's Creed, had superficially similar combat systems, but not as optimized as this and they did not feature hit/combo streaks. Arkham Asylum's freeflow combat system is very suitable to be played with controllers.
Pro Fun stealth & gadgets
Remaining stealthy and getting stealth takedowns is important in Arkham Asylum's gameplay. Arkham Asylum gives the player a relatively large number of different gadgets to use for different combat purposes, such as ranged takedowns, cutting ropes, diverting enemies' attention, blasting through doors, traversing longer distances and hacking.
Cons
Con Complex interface
A common complaint is that there are a lot of commands to learn, although the devs have been working hard to simplify and streamline the interface (both graphical and ASCII)
Con Upgraded version only available via Steam
You can't buy the upgraded version, with all the extra features, from the developer or through DRM-Free sites like GOG, Itch.io, or Humble.
Con Generic and plain setting and story
About as generic fantasy as you can get.
Con Grinding
Con Dark atmosphere
You won't realize how many shades of black exist until you've played an Arkham game. It's always dark outside, so to people who like daylight and colors in their games, this might get a bit dull after a while.