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Gotham Knights had been highly anticipated by Arkham fans since its initial announcement trailer back in 2021. And after its recent release, the game has unfortunately been a bit of a letdown. Overall, critics and users have called the game mediocre at worst and average at best. Gotham Knights was unable to live up to its pedigree and is a far cry from the games it is succeeding. But why is it that Gotham Knights didn’t do well when all other games in the Arkham universe did great? And could Suicide Squad Kill The Justice League suffer the same fate?
The Caped Crusader’s Knights Out
The Arkham series by RockSteady is widely believed to be the best superhero experience in the entire gaming landscape. Batman: Arkham Asylum kicked the series off with a Metroidvania-like approach to exploration, which led to Arkham City and Arkham Knight expanding the reach of the Dark Knight to a fully explorable city of Gotham.
From the narrative to the characters to the writing and gameplay, the Arkham series remains a masterclass when it comes to bringing comic books to life.
The Potential Of Gotham Knights
Although most gamers would rather play as a superhero rather than just sidekicks, the premise of Gotham Knights had a lot going for it. The death of Batman resulted in Gotham spiraling into chaos, with only a select few would-be heroes left to save it. That, coupled with the ability to play four-player coop using all Knights simultaneously, is a recipe for fun. Also, the game has some of the most mysterious antagonists in the entirety of Batman lore, the enigmatic Court of Owls.
The four Knights have a rich comic book history that WB could pull from, easily creating likable characters that have more depth than your average sidekick.
Why Gotham Knights Is A Disgrace To Flying Rodents Everywhere
While it certainly isn’t all doom and gloom, the vast majority of what Gotham Knights has to offer is either subpar or something we’ve seen before, only with worse execution. It’s safe to say that even Batman’s own utility belt won’t be able to help in this situation.
Narrative And Characters
The aforementioned demise of our favorite edgelord kicks off the events in Gotham Knights. But the story quickly devolves into a predictable and insipid mess that probably won’t be a surprise to anyone once the credits roll.
Fortunately, though, the Bat Family of characters is the only beacon of hope on an otherwise bleak horizon. Batgirl, Robin, Night Wing (the other Robin), and Red Hood (the other other Robin) are well-written and likable for the most part. Even if Red Hood can be surprisingly shallow at times, his painful past is on full display and is as intriguing as ever.
Gameplay And Exploration
The exploration remains solid, just like in previous games. Gotham City is a sight to behold, and exploring it, whether while gliding or on Batcycles, is a delight.
But when it comes to gameplay, WB dropped the ball hard. After the genre-defining fighting system introduced by Arkham Asylum, which was later used in Spider-Man PS4 and even the Middle Earth games, Gotham Knights opts to take away most of what made it great, turning it into a simple button-mashing affair.
The absolutely confounding decision to include RPG elements in a superhero game made the amazing costumes more of a nuisance than anything else. Instead of going the Spider-Man route, costumes need to now be crafted by finding different materials. The arbitrary RPG elements come with a clunky and confusing UI and are mostly just there as padding for the main story.
Lastly, the bugs and the janky framerate are the icings on this disappointing Batcake. Many reviewers reported seeing everything from your run-of-the-mill humorous bugs to game-breaking crashes and frame drops. It turns out that it is a good thing Batman wasn’t around to bear witness to this.
Is WB Just Not Good At Making Games?
Of course, it is far from as simple as that. WB did make Batman: Arkham Origins, which wasn’t unanimously held in as high a regard as RockSteady’s trilogy, but it was a phenomenal game nevertheless and was easily on par with the original trilogy (fight me).
But the main reason why Origins was good, but Gotham Knights isn’t, is because Arkham Origins had an already working formula set out by RockSteady that WB could easily follow. With Gotham Knights, however, the developers had a lot more freedom, and with that came a lot harder creative decisions.
At the end of the day, this was nothing more than the classic mistake of making a game that they think the industry wants instead of making a game that they want to make. If this is all the Knights of Gotham have to offer, it’s best if the denizens of Gotham just called the GCPD instead.
The Future Of WB And Gotham Knights
It is unlikely that Gotham Knights will ever get a sequel, but what is within the realm of possibility is other Batman games in the same vein as the Arkham series. WB staying in its wheelhouse and returning to its roots might be the best idea since you can never have enough Batman games.
Rumblings of canceled Batman games had been going around for a long time. Some sources confirmed a canceled Damian Wayne (Bruce Wayne’s son) Batman game, while others suggested that a John Wayne Elseworld Batman game was being considered.
When it comes to what fans want, people have been asking for a Batman Beyond game ever since Batman: Arkham Asylum came out and showed how great superhero games could really be.
What Is RockSteady Up To?
Ever since Batman: Arkham Knight came out in 2015, RockSteady had gone radio silent until they finally announced that the company was working on a Suicide Squad game. Later confirmed to be called Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League, it will probably be making it to consoles sometime in 2023.
Does WB’s stumble with Gotham Knights mean we should start worrying about RockSteady’s Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League? Probably not. RockSteady has a knack for delivering quality no matter how long it takes. While no development studio is infallible, it is very likely that Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League will live up to the hype.