497 Words About: 243 Riddler Challenges

According to STEAM’s achievement list on the page for Batman: Arkham Knight, 8.6% of players have succeeded in the challenge “Riddle Me That.” This badge is awarded to players who have locked Riddler up in GCPD after finding all 243 riddles, trophies, and puzzle-challenges spread across the city of Gotham.

I’ve completed this challenge three times.

In case there was any doubt, I’m a nerd.

Fun fact: the number 243 is a natural number between the integers 242 and 244, it’s also the only three digit number that is a fifth power, it’s a perfect totient number, it’s the sum of five consecutive Prime numbers, it’s an 82-gonal number, and finally it’s expressed in Binary as the sequence 11110011.

I can’t confirm that these facts influenced the number of Riddles in Arkham Knight, but I can’t not confirm it.

Every Batman videogame released by Rocksteady has involved a collectathon side-quest involving the Riddler. I suspect it’s because, until the most recent Batman movie was released, nobody considered The Riddler as anything other than a campy idiot. And to be fair, he is a campy idiot. He’s also a frustratingly annoying narcissist, and listening to his voice gives me hives.

Despite this, I’ve dedicated my time to hunting down all 243 riddles, three times (that’s 729 riddles, in case you were interested). I’m not a completionist when it comes to videogames; I only complete the stories I want to. Looking through the list of badges I realize I’m in a minority of PC players who actually had the conviction to hunt down every riddle. This must either indicate obvious insanity, or else just how damn fun Arkham Knight is as a videogame.

Probably both.

Acquiring every riddle involves driving the Batmobile around every corner of Gotham. It involves racing mini-games. It involves fighting thugs and robots for information or parts. It requires mastering Batman’s hacking tool to open locked doors. It involves Batman running, jumping, and gliding across the rooftops of Gotham City. And all of this means mastering the mechanics of controlling Batman which, this is important, is incredibly fun.

Rocksteady established a model of superhero action videogames, and even though I don’t like the character of Batman, I can’t deny how much I love playing Arkham Knight.

Riddler’s 243 riddles are just part of the mess that is the invasion of Gotham City and there's satisfaction in watching the assault steadily dwindle over time. In between the cutscenes, and dramatic overtones of the main narrative, it’s easy to do a quick puzzle, grab the trophy, listen to the Riddler grumble, hop back into the car, and grab the next one.

Looking at the number 8.6% I recognise that I’m an outlier. Most players, according to the data, want to just play the story or just futz around Gotham being Batman and fighting dudes.

And I get it.

243 Riddles is a slow burn, but…I get to punch the Riddler.

Easy choice for me.

Joshua “Jammer” Smith

4.3.2025

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