Harley, Deadshot, Captain Boomerang, and King Shark won’t be the only playable villains in Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League. When Season One drops in March, it’ll add the Joker to the game’s roster of baddies. KtJL is a mixed bag, with plenty of lows to accompany its highs, and as much as I want the new season to turn Suicide Squad into my dream game, it won’t. Everything Rocksteady has revealed suggests the Joker’s design, movement ability, and story will meet the same high bar as the rest of the cast. Unfortunately, not even the Clown Prince of Crime can fix Suicide Squad‘s problems.
Season One Brings the Joker to Kill the Justice League
There’s a lot to like about the Joker’s addition to Kill the Justice League, so hoping his chapter will revolutionize the game is natural. Unlike the grizzled clown the Arkham games introduced us to, this Joker hails from Elseworlds. He’s a younger, alternate-universe variant, less sure of himself but no less mad or dangerous than the Joker we’re familiar with. He uses a rocket-powered umbrella to get around, giving him verticality and making mobility a key part of his playstyle. What he’ll bring to the story is even more exciting than what he brings to combat.
The problem is that none of the game’s deepest problems can be fixed by adding a character. Metropolis is a lackluster setting, suffering from bland visual design and a lack of distinct districts and POIs. Once you’ve exhausted the story, the end-game content becomes equally dull, bombarding you with soulless quests to fill the grind. Take down shields, destroy cannons, craft some gear, repeat. As a live-service game, Kill the Justice League will live or die by the quality of its missions, and right now it’s just not there. Adding Joker just means you’ll have new cosmetics and a new power to bring to the tired gameplay.
Harley and Joker’s Story in Suicide Squad
Reuniting Joker with Harley (or at least another dimension’s version of his ex) will surely lead to fireworks, and if there’s any area in which Season One will likely dazzle, it’s the story. Rocksteady nailed squad cutscenes in Season Zero, and if Season One delivers five hours of banter, distrust, and threats of violence between Joker and Harley, that’s five hours the game will be fun. After reaching the end of the plot and putting a bullet through a certain someone’s head (again), we’ll be left with the same grind, however. Shifting the action to Joker’s Gotham won’t diminish the emptiness, even if Rocksteady makes that city more visually interesting than Metropolis.
What Kill the Justice League needs most is something that the Joker and Season One can never deliver: a total overhaul of the game’s bland live-action mission structure. There are plenty of things that Rocksteady can fix as the game’s development continues, but the core gameplay loop isn’t one of them. Incursion Missions, the Raising Hell challenges, and the end-game loot pool of signature gear isn’t enough to keep the game healthy or enjoyable in the long run, because none of it decreases the basic sameyness of it all. Still, I’m glad the Joker is coming to Kill the Justice League. At least one of us will be smiling.
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is available for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
