WB Games Montreal is taking the reins for a brand-new game based on the Batman universe without actually starring the Dark Knight. Even without Batman, the caped crusader colorful backstory in the comics has managed to assemble a proper “Bat Family” that pulls from different parts of Bruce Wayne’s life. Here is where Gotham Knights come in; with Batman dead, it’s now up to Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin, and the Red Hood to ensure Gotham is safe against criminals, and against a new criminal organization sweeping the streets.
The question is: can a Batman game work without Batman? Will this feel like a Batman game but with just a different set of character skins to play as? Read on for our Gotham Knights review to find the answers to that.
Welcome to the Bat Family
Right off the bat (pun intended,) Gotham Knights kicks off its story with a message left from Bruce Wayne to his fellow knights, stating that he is dead. It’s no trick, as the body of Bruce Wayne is retrieved from the wreckage of a now-destroyed Batcave. Batman prepared for a situation like this to happen, reuniting the members of the Bat Family, so that they may be the new protectors of Gotham City.
With crime soaring due to the absence of Batman, the Knights must put their differences aside and unite as one, if they’re going to honor Bruce’s final wishes, and protect Gotham from a new emerging threat, The Court of Owls.
Without spoiling too much, the story of Gotham Knights is certainly an interesting one, if not engaging and fun to play through. There are plenty of twists, and while I was ultimately disappointed by where it ended up going, I did nonetheless really enjoy what it had to offer. The pacing is an issue, since it’s hampered by the open-world (more on that later) but any fan of the Batman IP will be really happy with the direction this game goes for the story, even if it’s a bit predictable.
Moving away from the main plot, there are side cases (missions) that are centered around some of the biggest villains in Batman’s rogues gallery. Mr. Freeze, Clayface, Penguin, and Harley Quinn all have their own stories separate from the main game, and honestly they’re some of the best we’ve seen in a Batman universe set in-game. If you were disappointed with how any of those villains were handled in the Arkham franchise (I personally wish we got more Mr. Freeze), then you’re absolutely going to love how they’re handled in Gotham Knights. Some of the most enjoyable, multi-stage boss fights, and their missions feel so wonderfully thought out. I enjoyed these a lot more than the main plot itself, though they do end up being a bit short, and lacking in quantity.
As for the knights themselves, the game is sort of odd in how they handle them. While the characters are united together, they don’t necessarily share a whole lot of on-screen time with each other outside of their hideout, The Belfry. That’s because the game caters the story to whichever of the four characters you’re playing.
I played as Red Hood for my first playthrough, and found the game’s central plot to really be geared towards him, since the Court of Owl deals in a lot of subjects around resurrecting the dead for their Talon army. Playing through again, though the main plot remained unchanged, Nightwing had different conversations and even flashback memories than that of Red Hood. There’s an added level of character development there, and I thoroughly enjoyed my second playthrough with not only a different play style, but a bit of new story elements as well — something the devs alluded to before release.
Still, I did find it odd that none of the other knights will fight alongside you, yet make comments as if they did. You’ll only see another knight in the same scene if it’s at the Belfry, or during cooperative play. There is such a big emphasis on this family, yet you lone wolf it throughout the entire thing. It’s almost suggestive that they intended the game to be played in co-op, but even then you’re only watching cutscenes from the perspective of whoever is the host. I would have liked to see a lot more dynamic happenings between the knights, but nonetheless I enjoyed the story they had to tell.
Combat, Character Building, and Customization
I was a bit worried going into this that the combat would be a direct rip off the Arkham series, or that all four knights would play identical, but to my surprise, there’s some depth and variety to it.
While I’ll admit that the combo system isn’t at all that special (there’s a lot left to desire there,) playing as any of the knights is pretty fun. As I mentioned before, I played as Red Hood my first playthrough. He’s not as acrobatic as the other knights, but he makes up for that as he doesn’t pull his punches, unleashing his brute strength on foes. He gets to use guns, which have a high rate of firing compared to the other knight’s ranged attacks.
Nightwing on the other hand makes great use of his acrobatic skills, pulling off flips mid-combat and using vantage points to his advantage, as he can chain attacks from one enemy after another.
Robin is geared more as the stealth expert, making stealth play and being sneaky better approaches for him overall, as he has abilities, like decoy to distract enemies.
Finally, Batgirl. She’s the gadget expert, she can summon drones to aid her in combat, as well as having a number of support abilities like second wind, or being able to interrupt certain enemies during what would otherwise be an uninterruptable attack for another knight.
Each of the four Knights also have uniquely designed specials known as momentum abilities. These are devastating attacks, or buffs that are earned by filling a momentum meter, which gains more as you attack and dodge. There are several of these that you can unlock, all automatically equipped to the quick selection, making them super easy to access during combat. You’ll find that you’ll make use of these real quick, as they can really help you out of a pinch.
All the knights have a counter mechanic too, but this is probably the weakest part of the combat itself. Unlike in Arkham series where countering was tied to a single button press, you have to now time your dodges to land a perfect dodge, then follow up an attack to counter. You could press the attack button as an enemy strikes to perform it also, but that window of opportunity is tiny, so you’re just better off dodging anyway.
The lack of a counter button is sort of a bummer honestly, because it was one of the best things about the Arkham games. Even Marvel’s Spider-Man recognized that and implemented an easy counter system. It’s just fun being able to block incoming attacks from any direction, and wail endlessly on one enemy after another in such a fluid motion. I’m not saying it’s impossible to do that, it’s just a lot harder now and a lot less enjoyable.
The stealth isn’t as good as it should be either. It’s actually pretty barebones when compared to the Arkham games with silent takedowns, crouching and grappling to nearby vantage points being the only real mechanics to the stealth. The Arkham games catered their level design to make full use of everything Batman had to his arsenal. So you could plant explosives, break through walls and windows, and other environments, duck into floor grates, and have several points you could grapple to. He has also had smoke bombs freely at his disposable, rather than just when he grapples away.
Gotham Knights tries really hard not to be that. Even in the linear sections, grappling points are extremely limited, to the point that if you’re caught, the enemy will always remain alerted due to how little there is to actually hide around. There are no breakable environments either outside of your standard explosive barrel, or electric terminal. Basically, it feels more catered to the direct approach rather than the quiet one.
Not to say I didn’t have any fun, but the lack of deep stealth play is such a huge missed opportunity for a game centered in the Batman universe.
What I think a lot of players are going to end up loving is how many crazy builds you can make for each character in the game. Yes, you read right, Gotham Knights features customizable character builds with power levels, granted they are just suits, guns, and melee weapons. I really liked this aspect, as it added a layer of progression that made me feel like I was getting better as the story went on. Sure, it does remind me a bit of say Marvel’s Avengers, but I think it works a lot better in Gotham Knights. Each gear also has mod slots that you can add or remove unlocked mods. Those all vary too, some elemental based, others are about damage, and even ones for defense.
In addition to this, you can also customize the suit you’re wearing. Each suit you unlock in the loadout, all fall under what are called “styles,” which are essentially iconic character outfits. In total, there are 15 of them you can unlock by simply crafting gear that have those types of style. You can also transmog your current suit into any of the other styles, so if you aren’t a fan of how one looks you can change it into another without losing all the added perks of the better loadout. Otherwise, any given suit can be customized a bit. Mask, symbol, cowl, and boots all have three different options, and depending on the style they’ll look different. You can modify the color of each suit too, though these are predetermined, meaning you can’t have custom colors, nor customize the individual components of a suit. Hopefully a future update changes that.
Gorgeous, Boring, Tacked On Open-World, and Other Issues
The world of Gotham in Gotham Knights is by far one of the best representations of the fictional city to date. I would wager it’s better than even the Arkham City version of it in some regards. It’s big (three islands big) and there are tons of iconic locations to visit, and it all looks gorgeous. The use of neon lighting, smoke effects, and coloring really makes the city pop in a good way, without sacrificing that grim noir feeling that has been consistent between Batman mediums throughout the decade.
It really looks like Gotham City. Unfortunately that’s all the praise I can give it because quite frankly, it’s pretty boring, as it mainly centers players around perhaps one of the most repetitive gameplay loops I have ever played in a game.
The open-world of Gotham Knights is littered with activities that mostly revolve around stopping crimes. That entails defusing bombs, preventing bank robberies, and saving ordinary citizens. There are also collectibles throughout the world, though none from Riddler this time around.
Reading that, you’re probably saying to yourself, “Wait! This is no different than what’s offered in the Arkham series?” To that, I would typically say you’re right, but let me explain how this works in Gotham Knights.
Rather than take place over the period of one night, Gotham Knights has progression taking place over an unlimited amount of nights. Every time you return to the Belfry the world resets again with fresh criminal activities. It’s actually a nice mechanic, making the war on crime in Gotham City feel endless. However, it’s those very same activities that become repetitive because you can’t progress without doing certain ones. That means that you need to repeat the same thing in the open world over and over in order to continue the story, and even side missions. The loop goes like this. Visit The Belfry to get a mission, go to the open world to interrogate five people, or stop a random specific crime. Return to The Belfry, get another mission, and go back to the open-world to do the same thing.
It’s a poor design that just makes the game feel bloated with a whole lot of nothing. The loop is the same every night, too. Granted there are different types of activities sometime,. it’s just not fun, having to go out just to beat up a grunt to get intel, and then having to go back just for a mission to become available because for some reason, the game can’t just spawn it into the world without having to reload it.
It’s fluff, purposely padding the hours onto the game to make it seem like there’s a lot more than there actually is to do. The game would have been better in fact if it didn’t have an open-world and just stuck to its strength of being linear. I would almost wager that it was almost intended to be linear at one point. Outside of the Court of Owls, there are other villain plots that are optional. They follow the same loop, yet in the very end, you don’t get to go on their missions via the open-world, but through a mission selected from The Belfry itself. What’s the point of the open-world if you’re just going to have us select and load things from a mission screen? How does a game that offers an open-world tries everything to not want to be an open-world? It’s strange, and I couldn’t help but feel detached from the world the studio tried to craft here, because in the end, I couldn’t attach any of the side villains to it.
Elsewhere, the general movement around the world isn’t very good at all either. You can summon your Batcycle, which is fun the first couple of minutes until you realize how everything wants to wrestle against you, getting caught on the smallest of things. This is especially more emphasized with the character themselves. You could walk along a path and suddenly a tiny piece of something gets you stuck in place, forcing you to swirl around in circles. That happens a lot, be it in the open-world or in the linear portions. There’s no jump button either. I know the Arkham series didn’t have one, but this game is also trying not to be that. But not having a dedicated jump button really limits movement, as you have to search for paths to take rather than jumping up onto a ledge right above you. There’s vaulting, and ledge climbing, but it’s not for everything.
Gotham also suffers from some rather dated mechanics. Every action you do, you have to press and hold the action button in order to interact. See that piece of paper? Hold X for five seconds to pick it up. That door? Hold X to open it. Talk to an NPCs? Well, you get it. That’s a nitpick for sure, but it’s the precision needed to even do it too. If you move a little, or rotate the camera a bit, the prompt disappears. It needs you to be precise on it, which gets annoying when you end up getting stuck on something close to said object. I also despise how unnecessary some of the steps are to interact with certain things.
Take this example: early on you need to retrieve a set of files. You can highlight where they are with your detective vision, but in order to interact with them you need to scan them first. After you scan them, then the prompt to pick them up pops up. There are a lot of objects like this, where you need to scan them first in order for you to be able to interact with them, but there is absolutely no reason why you would need to scan them in the first place. Why would you need to scan a document if you could just pick it up in the first place? It’s not like there are other items around and you have to find the correct one. It’s literally the only thing you can interact with. It’s annoying, and you’ll find this to be a constant thing throughout the entire game.
A minor nitpick is also with opening doors. For whatever reason, every time you open a door the camera zooms in on the character as if there’s going to be a cutscene playing. There are other instances where the character takes their time doing some simple tasks, which I can only assume is a way for the game to load some assets for the next area. Who knows, it’s a nitpick for sure, but you can’t help but notice it.
Now don’t get those complaints confused with Gotham Knights being a buggy game, because it’s not. In my full 12-hour campaign, I hadn’t experienced any game-breaking bugs, glitches, or system crashes. There are just some things mechanically that don’t work well, or are more of a nuance, and a few things in the world that could have used some more polishing.
Speaking of polishing, let’s talk about the performance of Gotham Knights on the PS5.
A bit of backstory before this review was published, the developers cleared the air, and confirmed that Gotham Knights ran at 30fps (frames-per-second) on both the PS5 and Xbox Series. I suspected as much when I started playing, because there were no graphical options available. I know we’re playing on the latest and greatest hardware for consoles, and while I can dismiss a game running at 30fps, what I can’t do is dismiss a 30fps game that struggles to maintain that framerate. Gotham Knights on the PS5 has frame-rate issues (!). It’s either really bad pacing that gives the appearance that it’s dropping, or it’s just plain dropping. Whatever it is, it isn’t smooth, and to me that’s an issue. If you built a game to push visual fidelity, with all your fancy lighting system and ray tracing, but in the end don’t have it running smoothly, in my honest opinion, it probably isn’t worth the cost of the user experience. 30fps and it’s not even close to being locked to it, that should have been a good indicator that it’s time to cut back on something.
Heck, that cutback may have just been the reason why they abandoned last-gen, yet it still doesn’t manage to hit a consistent frame-rate. Whether you’re roaming the open-world, inside a linear building, or even watching a cutscene. There is jitter, and lots of it. I’m hoping we get some sort of update after launch that removes the ray-tracing, so it could at least allocate some of those resources to better performance. It’s worse in co-op too, so beware.
A Court’s Verdict
While I can strongly recommend Gotham Knights to any Batman fan out there, I will say that you should temper expectations a bit, especially if you’re going into this thinking it’ll be anything like the Arkham series. There’s a lot to enjoy about it, such as the combat, and the story that helps keeps you going, but outside of that, there is just too much left to be desired. The open-world isn’t particularly special in anyway, mostly serving as a way to pad hours with boring side activities that are forced to progress. Not the most interesting of gameplay loops that gets tiring well before the midpoint. Then there’s the stealth that just doesn’t build upon the working formula of the Arkham franchise, if not regresses it.
It’s worth a play for sure, but nothing I would say that anyone needs to rush out and experience.
Score: 6.5/10
Pros:
- Each Knight has their own unique playstyle that all feel different, but fun to play.
- The story, though predictable, is still fun and entertaining.
- Side missions involving any of the rogue gallery bosses are incredible.
- Enjoyable subplots for each Knight, and their interactions between each other are great, though come in light doses.
- Co-op is fun when it runs smooth enough.
Cons:
- Frame rate dips, and potentially frame pacing issue can be jarring at times. Worse during cooperative play. No performance mode on consoles to help with that.
- Characters seems to get stuck on a lot of things in the environment. Gets really annoying.
- Forced, boring side activities in order to progress the main story and other side missions. Repetitive to say the least.
- Stealth is unsatisfying and lacking.
- Combat’s combo system is also lacking, though momentum abilities does help keep it varied.
- Counter system isn’t all that great either.
- The story is very one Knight geared, rather than focusing on all of them at once. Sort of defeats the purpose of the whole “family” theme it’s pushing.
Gotham Knights review code provided by the publisher. Played on PS5. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.