How do the Riddler's riddles actually work?

[Malidictus]

I've been beating up the Riddler's thugs for a while now, and they mark "riddles" on my map. I go there, however, and NOTHING shows up. Nothing in Detective mode, nothing to interact with. I get that they're secrets, but shouldn't I at least get a hint? You know, get the actual riddle so I can solve it? At no point does the Riddler call me up to give me those riddles, I'm just supposed to what? Guess?

I've been all over the 'net, and while guides exist that can walk me through them, no guide exists tellim me how to solve them myself. What am I missing?

[RHICTKY]

You have to find the object the riddle is talking about and hold the detective mode button to "scan it".

Take this riddle "If you find the name, does the Cash come hand in hand?" Inside the church find the photo of Cash and his family and hold detective mode to scan the riddle.

[Malidictus]

Right, but how do I know which riddle refers to what location? I have the locations on the map, I can find them physically, but I don't know which riddle I'm solving in those locations.

[Buck]

Are we talking about the "This question can only be answered from an unusual perspective?" riddles?

Scan in Detective mode, look for the Question Mark. You need to find the dot and line them up to solve it. Some of them are very difficult.

[Malidictus]

Just riddles in general. Let's take your example: "If you find the name, does the Cash come hand in hand?" I was never given this clue at all. Not when entering the church, not when roaming around it, never. I knew where the riddle was since it was marked on my map, but I had no idea what the actual riddle itself was. I found out that I had to scan the picture from online walkthroughs, but I had absolutely no way to know what the riddle itself actually was.

In other words, I don't know how to solve a riddle when I can't even tell what the riddle is. Or is that part of the point? Am I supposed to know it's "somewhere in the industrial district" and just guess what it might be referring to? Because otherwise I have a bunch of map markers indicating that that's where a riddle soluiton is, I just don't know the solution to which riddle I'm being led to.

Just a weird, weird system if that's how it was designed...

[Amillennialist]

Yeah that's how the riddles were designed. It's not the best method, but it's what Rocksteady put in.

Treat the riddles like invisible riddler trophies. I actually don't recall checking more than a quarter of the riddles before solving them. When you get to the riddle, try to align yourself over the marker on the map. Usually, you will see an unusual item or environmental object that will indicate the riddle that you are supposed to solve. Repeat this if there are multiple levels of building below the marker.

Riddles are a lot harder to solve based on the text, because unless you're familiar with Batman lore then it is a pain to look for items and/or locations. Well, even if you are familiar with the lore some items are location specific in Arkham City, which doesn't help. In general, I found that the riddle solutions are quite easy if you google the description of the location of the riddle. Better still, google the riddle itself. Good luck with the riddle hunting!

[Buck]

Originally posted by Malidictus:

Just riddles in general. Let's take your example: "If you find the name, does the Cash come hand in hand?" I was never given this clue at all. Not when entering the church, not when roaming around it, never. I knew where the riddle was since it was marked on my map, but I had no idea what the actual riddle itself was. I found out that I had to scan the picture from online walkthroughs, but I had absolutely no way to know what the riddle itself actually was.

In other words, I don't know how to solve a riddle when I can't even tell what the riddle is. Or is that part of the point? Am I supposed to know it's "somewhere in the industrial district" and just guess what it might be referring to? Because otherwise I have a bunch of map markers indicating that that's where a riddle soluiton is, I just don't know the solution to which riddle I'm being led to.

Just a weird, weird system if that's how it was designed...

You solve the riddles by finding and scanning (Press and hold D or whatever key you have set for Detective move) the item that solves the Riddle in.

Some of those are really hard, many require some knowledge of the DC Universe to solve.
For example. "Cash" in this case refers to Aaron Cash, the Arkham Guard who's Hand was eaten by Killer Croc. The solution for that particular Riddle "If you find the name, does the Cash come hand in hand" is the same item that solved a similar Riddle in the first game - namely a picture of Cash with his family. It's in the Church.

If you can't figure them out, there's always the internet.

[GoGoshiK [B.A.T.]]

Yeah, if i remember well...In the church, there's a table with a picture of a security guard and his ID, Scan that. It is very important to ZOOM on it !

[Buck]

Originally posted by GoGoshiK:

Yeah, if i remember well...In the church, there's a table with a picture of a security guard and his ID, Scan that. It is very important to ZOOM on it !

Exactly, the game will often tell you if the subject is "too small" (meaning your too far away from it or need to zoom in), but it's not always obvious what the subject even is :)

[Malidictus]

Yeah, I realised it's easiest to treat these things like "invisible trophies." Go to the waypoint and look for anything that stands out and isn't just a tiled texture. Very, very unintuitive, but at least it works :)

[Matt71]

Malidictus - feel free to add me to your friend list as I am in the same boat. Just played and finished Arkham Asylum and got all riddler items; with this game, the menu system is beyond confusing. Not only can I not tell which riddle is for which section, I am not sure where the division lines are on the map between the different areas. Not sure what they were thinking; makes the riddles way harder than they need to be.


Here is my issue in more detail: take the park row riddle section - lets just focus on the physical riddles, like "You've been warned; people arent; the only unstable part of the city"
Now, that's in row 2 of the riddle section. At first I thought each row meant something, like I had to identify them somehow using the map. Just confusing. For a completist like me, the riddle system is something of a nightmare.

[Malidictus]

I actually found that you can easily ignore the actual riddle text entirely. It won't help you unless you're very fluent in Batman lore and it's worse if - like me - you're not a native English speaker. Don't even think of them as riddles at all. Think of them as Easter Eggs - items that have little to do with Arkham City, but have everything to do with the broader Batman lore.

With the Riddle you mentioned - the one by the ruined bridge: Stand on the waypoint marker and look for anything out of the ordinary, then try to "photograph" that by holding the Detective Mode button. In the case of that particular riddle, it's the warning signs that the bridge is out.

In fact, I found a few riddles completely at random like that. I'm fighting dudes in an alley and notice a sign which says "Crime Alley" next to me. I don't know what this means, but it's clearly significant so I "photograph" it. RIDDLE SOLVED! Turns out that's where Bruce Wayne's parents were killed. I didn't know there was a riddle here, I didn't know there was a riddle about his parents. I just saw a sign and I shot it.

Billboards, posters, shops, photographs, dipliomas hanging on the wall, buildings, payphones - anything that doesn't look like a recycled prop has a high likelihood of being a riddle.

[TheGruntster]

Originally posted by Malidictus:

I've been beating up the Riddler's thugs for a while now, and they mark "riddles" on my map. I go there, however, and NOTHING shows up. Nothing in Detective mode, nothing to interact with. I get that they're secrets, but shouldn't I at least get a hint? You know, get the actual riddle so I can solve it? At no point does the Riddler call me up to give me those riddles, I'm just supposed to what? Guess?

I've been all over the 'net, and while guides exist that can walk me through them, no guide exists tellim me how to solve them myself. What am I missing?

I found that knowlege of the dark knights history definitly helps in figuring out some of them. You can also see which riddles are missing in the tab screen by clicking the ?

You can listen to the riddles. I found that helpful too.

[Matt71]

Thanks, malidictus and all - yeah, approaching them as an Easter egg has helped. What threw me is the Riddler menu, each section is broken down into 5 rows - for some reason I was getting all flustered trying to figure out which row was which....as if each row was represented one section in the area or whatnot

[redhook347]

I made it about 40% of the way through the main story before I realized the riddles are all available for you to read in the tab screen (map, WayneTech, etc.). I think they're just a way for Rocksteady to get the player to notice all the hard work they put into the details.

[anarchy]

I get that its probably hard for someone who doesn't speak English as a first language, but its things like the "If you find the name, does the Cash come hand in hand?" refers to Aaron Cash, the security guard from Asylum that you save in the church in City, and the fact that he's missing a hand, and the photo is of Cash. The "people aren't the only unstable part" is saying the bridge has collapsed, it was unstable, they aren't exactly rocket science.