Batman: Arkham Knight Premium Edition hides its best rewards in Riddler’s pressure chambers, abandoned buildings, DLC side stories, and easy-to-miss Gotham landmarks. The fastest route to the good stuff is to clear Panessa Studios’ cell-block mystery, hunt Riddler trophies with the right gadgets, finish the Season of Infamy villains, and revisit Wayne Tower and the GCPD after major story missions.
This guide focuses on secrets that give you something tangible: character skins, upgraded challenge content, story scenes, unique gadgets, boss rewards, and satisfying Easter eggs. The Premium Edition includes the base game, the Season of Infamy expansion, the Batgirl campaign A Matter of Family, and the major character and vehicle packs, so there’s considerably more to uncover than the main campaign’s map markers suggest. For a broader look at secret-hunting design, compare it with our Everspace 2 secret locations guide.
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Check OfferStart With Panessa Studios’ Hidden Cell Block
Panessa Studios is the first place Premium Edition owners should thoroughly revisit. During the main story, Batman discovers four containment cells holding infected patients. The obvious reward is story progression, but the room also contains one of the game’s most memorable optional sequences: return after the relevant story events and inspect the cells carefully. The Joker-infected characters react to Batman, and the dialogue changes as the plot advances.
Use Detective Mode to inspect the cell doors, walls, and nearby evidence points. The room is easy to rush through because the objective marker pulls you toward the elevator, but the cell block is effectively a character museum for the game’s central fear-and-identity theme. It also gives you additional conversations with Henry Adams and the infected subjects, making it worth revisiting after each major Panessa Studios mission.
While you’re there, check the studio’s upper walkways and roof access. Panessa contains Riddler trophies that require the Remote Controlled Batarang, Voice Synthesizer, and explosive gel rather than simple traversal. Don’t spend every upgrade point on combat early: Gadgets and Gadgets Tech make these rooms dramatically faster to solve.
| Panessa Secret | What You Need | Reward | Best Time To Search |
|---|---|---|---|
| Infected cell block | Story access and Detective Mode | Optional dialogue and character scenes | After each Panessa story mission |
| Studio puzzle rooms | Explosive Gel, Batarang, Voice Synthesizer | Riddler trophies and upgrade progress | After unlocking all core gadgets |
| Roof and upper walkways | Grapnel Boost and Batclaw | Hidden trophies and breakable objects | After stabilizing the area |
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View on Steammoz Store →Riddler’s Secret Rooms Are More Than Collectibles
The 243 Riddler challenges are the largest hidden-reward hunt in the game, but treating them as a checklist misses the point. Every island has a different puzzle language. Bleake Island leans heavily on power conduits and the Batmobile, Miagani Island uses vertical movement and timed switches, and Founders’ Island combines environmental manipulation with remote gadget work.
For the fastest route, unlock Riddler’s Revenge-related upgrades early, especially Gadget Tech, Freeze Blast, and the Batmobile’s Power Winch improvements. The Freeze Blast is essential for several pressure-plate puzzles, while the Power Winch’s increased range and improved handling reduce the time spent repositioning the vehicle.
Riddler’s green informants are not just disposable street enemies. Interrogate them to reveal nearby trophy locations on the map, then use the compass and Detective Mode to identify whether the target is above, below, or behind a destructible surface. If a trophy seems impossible, leave it. Arkham Knight frequently expects a later gadget, and brute-forcing a room early wastes more time than returning with the correct tool.
Clearing the full Riddler challenge set unlocks the complete confrontation with Edward Nigma and contributes to the conditions for the game’s best ending. That’s the major payoff, but the smaller rewards matter too: each trophy contributes to WayneTech upgrade progression, and the puzzle rooms sharpen traversal skills you’ll use in the AR challenges.
| Area | Common Puzzle Type | Key Tool | Search Tip |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bleake Island | Batmobile pressure plates and electrical grids | Power Winch | Scan rooftops before entering tunnels |
| Miagani Island | Vertical timing rooms and rotating platforms | Grapnel Boost, Line Launcher | Look for alternate ledges above the entrance |
| Founders’ Island | Remote gadget and destructible-wall puzzles | Remote Batarang, Explosive Gel | Use Detective Mode to trace hidden conduits |
| Stagg airships | Gravity, vents, and movable containers | Voice Synthesizer, Batclaw | Rotate the ship before committing to a jump |
Premium Edition DLC Has the Best Optional Rewards
Season of Infamy adds four Most Wanted missions: In From the Cold with Mr Freeze, Wonderland with Mad Hatter, Beneath the Surface with Killer Croc, and Shadow War with Ra’s al Ghul. These aren’t disposable challenge rooms. Each one adds a distinct location, a bespoke boss encounter, and new story material that fills gaps left by the main campaign.
Mr Freeze’s mission is the standout secret-hunting experience. Batman can’t simply repeat the old Arkham City strategy of striking from behind; Freeze scans the environment and adapts to repeated takedowns. Use multiple takedown types, change your attack route, and avoid relying on the same vantage point twice. The reward is a dedicated ending sequence and one of the strongest villain conclusions in the Premium Edition.
Killer Croc’s airship section is more combat-heavy, while Mad Hatter’s mission twists the game’s visual language with hallucination sequences and timed encounters. Ra’s al Ghul’s story is tied to the League of Assassins and offers a meaningful decision near its conclusion. Finish all four missions before judging the ending: Season of Infamy changes the emotional shape of Gotham’s final hours.
The other Premium campaigns are smaller but still worth clearing. A Matter of Family lets you play as Batgirl at Seagate Amusement Park, with hacking tools and a more compact stealth sandbox. GCPD Lockdown stars Nightwing, while Catwoman’s Revenge and A Flip of the Coin continue side-character stories after the main campaign. If you enjoy DLC that rewards exploration rather than raw completion time, our Dungeons 4 DLC secrets guide covers a similar approach.
| DLC Mission | Playable Character | Hidden Value | Combat Warning |
|---|---|---|---|
| In From the Cold | Batman | Mr Freeze story resolution | Vary takedown methods |
| Wonderland | Batman | Mad Hatter hallucination scenes | Watch for visual misdirection |
| Beneath the Surface | Batman | Killer Croc’s airship chapter | Keep moving during brute waves |
| Shadow War | Batman | Ra’s al Ghul’s final decision | Counter assassins before striking |
| A Matter of Family | Batgirl | Amusement park secrets and bonus rooms | Use hacking to isolate groups |
Hidden Gotham Locations You Should Revisit
Several locations change after story events, and the game rarely announces that they’re worth revisiting. Wayne Tower is the most obvious example. After key missions, inspect Bruce’s office and the surrounding interior details for changed dialogue, visual clues, and environmental storytelling. The GCPD also evolves as prisoners, officers, and villains occupy different areas. Check the evidence room, holding cells, and rooftop rather than simply selecting the next mission from the computer.
Look for the Crime Alley memorial on Miagani Island, the Monarch Theatre references, and the hidden Joker imagery scattered around Gotham. These areas don’t always give a conventional loot item, but they reward players who follow Batman’s history through the city. The abandoned buildings around Founders’ Island also contain breakable objects and audio details that become easier to spot once militia checkpoints are cleared.
Don’t ignore the militia watchtowers and checkpoints. Liberating them opens fast-travel routes, reveals nearby collectibles, and makes later secret runs much safer. The Disruptor is especially useful against drone and weapon caches, while the Remote Hacking Device can disable security panels without triggering a full combat encounter.
For movement, prioritize Grapnel Boost Mk II, Fear Multi-Takedown, and Batclaw Super Stun. Fear Multi-Takedown is the biggest stealth time-saver in predator rooms, while Batclaw Super Stun creates a reliable opening against armored enemies. The game’s upgrade curve is generous, but these skills unlock more secret routes than another basic combo extension.
Finish the Hidden-Rewards Sweep Efficiently
Use a three-pass system instead of bouncing randomly between islands. First, clear story-locked areas and rescue missions. Second, sweep each island for Riddler trophies, breakable objects, and militia infrastructure. Third, finish Season of Infamy and the character DLC. This keeps your gadget loadout aligned with the puzzles and prevents repeated trips to the same locked rooms.
Before starting the final sequence, complete the four Season of Infamy missions, visit Panessa Studios again, and make sure your most useful combat and gadget upgrades are purchased. The game’s alternate ending requirements are tied to substantial side content, including Riddler’s challenge chain, so rushing the final mission leaves a lot of the Premium Edition’s payoff on the table.
| Completion Pass | Priority Targets | Recommended Upgrades | Why It Matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pass One | Main story, rescue missions, core gadgets | Grapnel Boost, Disruptor | Unlocks most map routes |
| Pass Two | Riddler trophies, towers, checkpoints | Gadget Tech, Power Winch | Reveals and solves hidden rooms faster |
| Pass Three | Season of Infamy and character DLC | Combat upgrades, Fear Multi-Takedown | Completes the Premium Edition’s story rewards |
On PC, keep an eye on stability before beginning a long collectible sweep. Arkham Knight’s original PC release was notorious for stutter and streaming issues, so cap the frame rate to a level your system holds consistently rather than chasing unstable peaks. Disable NVIDIA HairWorks first if performance dips, then lower shadow quality and volumetric fog. Our PC fixes guide has the same practical, performance-first mindset.
The Premium Edition remains one of the richest open-world superhero packages around because its secrets aren’t all blue icons on a map. Some are rooms that change after a mission, some are villain conclusions locked behind DLC, and others are tiny environmental details that make Gotham feel haunted long after the credits. For release information, check the official Steam listing and Warner Bros. game page. Clear the city patiently, revisit the places the story leaves behind, and the hidden rewards start to feel like Gotham’s final layer of armor.