Rocksteady Studios’ community manager Sarah Wellock has announced further details of Batman: Arkham City’s ‘New Game Plus’ feature.

‘New Game Plus’ mode unlocks once a player finishes the game, allowing them to play through the story again, but this time with all their gadgets and upgrades unlocked from the first play-through, and all the XP earned along the way.

However, don’t think that the second time around will be a walk in the park. The game will also be much more challenging on the second play-through, with harder enemies in different locations, increased boss difficulty, and the removal of the counter icon above enemies’ heads. ‘New Game Plus’ offers only one difficulty setting, no matter what level you originally completed the game on, so if you’ve played it on easy and want to go in for round two, beware!

This idea will be a welcome change from the games predecessor, Batman: Arkham Asylum. Those who have played it though more than once will know how infuriating it was to play through the opening of the game – walking through Arkham at a snail’s pace for 10 minutes, only to have the game start you from scratch.

Batman: Arkham City is available on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC from 18, October, 2011 in North America, and 21 October in Europe.