In the years following on from Batman: Arkham Asylum, various renditions of its famed Detective Mode felt inescapable. Witcher Senses, Instincts, Focus, and so many more. It became the de facto leader in game design, a feature you could all but guarantee would be present. Trends are powerful things.
With how prevalent it became, you'd think that Batman created the concept. Except not only did it not, plenty of games beforehand did it, and in many different ways, both similar and different. Arkham Asylum wasn't even the first AAA game to do it, either. So let's see just who did it first.
Assassin's Creed - 2007
Eagle Vision
Assassin's Creed
- Released
- November 14, 2007
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Ubisoft Montreal
- Publisher(s)
- Ubisoft
- Engine
- anvilnext, havok, scimitar
- Sequel(s)
- Assassin's Creed 2
- Franchise
- Assassin's Creed
- Number of Players
- Single Player
- How Long To Beat
- 14.5 Hours
- How Long To Beat (Completionist Runs)
- 32 Hours
Back in 2007, a retooled idea from a previous Prince of Persia concept was birthed Assassin's Creed. The series hardly needs introduction, being a hilariously massive franchise now that both changed the industry with its choices, and also became the standard for just how copied and standardised mechanics from other games could be.
One of the truly unique mechanics in the original Assassin's Creed was Eagle Vision. In an otherwise third-person game, you were forced to view the world as a void in first-person, with people of interest highlighted in varying cultures to signify their importance. It was a cool visual idea, and one that later got replaced by a literal eagle.
Spider-Man 3 - 2007
Spider Sense
Spider-Man 3
- Released
- May 4, 2007
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T // Alcohol Reference, Animated Blood, Mild Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Vicarious Visions
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Engine
- Vicarious Visions Alchemy
- Franchise
- Spider-Man
- Platform(s)
- PS2, PS3, Xbox 360, PC, PSP, Nintendo Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS
- How Long To Beat
- 8 hours
- Metascore
- 63
Back before the current Spider-man games actually made for console, and before the Amazing Spider-Man titles, we had the Tobey Maguire trilogy of Spider-Man films, and the trilogy of games they came with, too. This was als in the period where ever version of a gaem was different based on the console, so this specifically focuses on the PS3 version.
It's not really what you might call a good game, being very much a video game tie-in that suffered from there being so many different versions of the same thing. But it did add Spider-Sense as a dedicated feature, allowing you to see through walls and highlight enemies in colour in a way quite similar to Assassin's Creed, which would release just a few months later.
Dog's Life - 2003
Smellovision
Dog's Life
- Released
- October 31, 2000
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- t
- Developer(s)
- Frontier Developments
- Publisher(s)
- Frontier Developments
- Engine
- unity
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 2
- How Long To Beat
- 6 hours
eHeading back a few more years to 2003, we have Dog's Life. It is, well, about living the life of a dog. You play as a dog, Jake, as he attempts to save the dog he loves from being turned into cat food. It's a plot, that's for sure. However, you can also frely explore the town around you, finding other dogs and challenging them to various minigames.
And how do you find other dogs in this town? With Smellovision, of course! This allows Jake to tap into his dog senses to pick up scent trails of varying colours, directing you towards other dogs or treasure. Beat these dogs, and you can play as them too, each have a slightly unique sense of smell. That really is how a dog lives their life.
X2: Wolverine's Revenge - 2003
Wolverine's Senses
X2: Wolverine's Revenge
- Released
- April 14, 2003
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- t
- Publisher(s)
- Activision, activision blizzard
- Engine
- Bruce Lee game engine
- Franchise
- X-Men
- Platform(s)
- GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, Nintendo Game Boy, Xbox (Original)
- How Long To Beat
- 10 hours
- Developer
- GenePool Software, LTI Gray Matter, Warthog Games, Blizzard Albany, Aspyr
This game is a real piece of art in terms of how it presents itself. Advertised as a movie tin-in based on Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, even going so far as putting him on the cover, the game instead has you play as a completely unrelated comic version of him instead voiced by Mark Hamill. The cover just does not match.
The game itself is less interesting than the story behind it, though it does still have some interesting traits, such as Wolverine's heightened senses. With them, you can detect enemies through walls and otherwise highlight for more easy searching. This is tied to the game's stealth, too, letting Wolverine start sneaking around like a predator as he hunts down these enemies.
Metroid Prime - 2002
Visors
Metroid Prime
- Released
- November 17, 2002
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Violence
The game often heralded as the true originator of the type of Detective Mode depicted in the Arkham games, Metroid Prime was doing all of this back in 2002, and with a lot more style and less ability to play the whole game with it on. These would persist through every Metroid Prime game, though the original hit the vibes best.
You start the game with Samus' Scan Visor, slightly restricting her vision to allow her to scan her surroundings. Then you unlock the Thermal Visor, highlighting heat signatures. Finally we have the X-ray Visor, showing otherwise invisible enemies and objects that don't appear in normal vision. They all add to the immersion of the world while adding extra gameplay depth.
Deus Ex - 2000
Vision Enhancement
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Ion Storm
- Publisher(s)
- Eidos Interactive
- Engine
- Unreal Engine 1
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer
- Franchise
- Deus Ex
- Number of Players
- 1
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Playable
- PC Release Date
- June 23, 2000
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 2, PC
- How Long To Beat
- 23 Hours
- How Long To Beat (Completionist Runs)
- 39 hours
- PS Plus Availability
- Premium
- Metascore
- 90
While the Adam Jensen-led entries are the more well-known in the modern sense, the original Deus Ex released back in 2000, set further in the future than its later prequels. You play as JC Denton, and wind up getting sucked up in quite a few conspiracies with plenty more than meets the eye.
Speaking of eyes, that is also where much of the Cyberpunk style of the world comes through. You can acquire an upgrade known as Vision Enhancement, which improves your vision as you might expect. Specifically, it gives you permanent night vision, the ability to highlight enemies, and even see through walls.
Perfect Dark - 2000
Scanners
Perfect Dark (2000)
- Released
- May 22, 2000
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ / Animated Violence, Animated Blood
- Developer(s)
- Rare
- Publisher(s)
- Rare
- Engine
- unreal engine 4
- Multiplayer
- Local Multiplayer, Local Co-Op
- Franchise
- Perfect Dark
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo 64
- How Long To Beat
- 8 hours
- X|S Optimized
- No
- File Size Xbox Series
- 784 MB (June 2023)
Released back in 2000 for the N64, Perfect Dark was the follow-up to Rare's first-person experience in GoldenEye 007. In it, you play as Joanna Dark, an agent tasked with stopping an extraterrestrial threat. And she is a very well-trained agent indeed, capable of utilising any number of weapons, but also taking the entire level through more stealthy means.
Of course, no agent is complete without at least a few handy tools, and Joanna has plenty to hand. Like Metroid Prime that would come later, Joanna had access to X-Ray Scanners, as well as Night Vision and an IR Scanner to allow her to see hidden objects and even lightly through walls. Never unprepared.
The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time - 1998
Len Of Truth
- ESRB
- E10+ for Everyone 10+: Animated Blood, Fantasy Violence, Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Engine
- Zelda 64 Engine
- Franchise
- The Legend of Zelda
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo 64, GameCube
Detective Vision, as you've probably picked up by now, is something of an older system in games, appearing in a fashion not too detached from the Arkham rendition years before it. But how about over ten years before Batman? And that's what Ocarina of Time has to offer, albeit in a more limited fashion than many others here.
Originally in Ocarina of Time in a 3D setting, the Lens of Truth cast a large circle around Link when used, displaying any hidden items inside chests or invisible enemies and objects in the environment. While not as integral as later versions of these systems would be, there are clearly the foundations of it seen here.
