Definitely intended for the player. Could you imagine any Flood form caring that a Promethean has a glowing skull?

: ... Having not played any of the Arkham games, I have not the foggiest idea
: what you're talking about.

You have missed out on some great games and fun times. If you press Left Trigger and (Y) at the same time then Batman fires a grapple that can reach distant objects and pull them towards him.

So if I was Batman facing a Promethean then I would have his glowy skull in my hand the second that he opened his helmet to shriek at me.

It might be fun to play a Halo 4 / Batman-with-shields mashup. Cape stunning crawlers - LT (X) to deposit a sticky explosive in their midst and then detonate - using movable Forerunner geometry as vantage points for Predator style takedowns. It would have been more fun than fighting with DMRs and Light Rifles.

: I don't think any of the above could salvage the Prometheans, but it would be
: a lot closer than what we got.

I suspect that they are a lost cause.

: Why not? Y'all let them get away with it when it came to Legends.

That's expanding the universe and telling other tales; it's not an attempt to explain character motivation/nature in a game that you are currently playing.

Or do you mean that things in Legends were needed to be explained via social media?