When Gotham Knights enters the video game space in 2021, it will shake up Batman video games to an impressive degree. Not only will the game not feature Batman as the lead, but it will take Batman-inspired games into the RPG space like never before.
Gotham Knights is an open-world action RPG from WB Games Montreal. Players will have the option to control Nightwing, Batgirl, Robin or Red Hood, swapping between any of these characters as they desire. The game can be completed either in solo mode or with two-player co-op, without locking the game into one mode or the other.
Creative Director Patrick Redding recently sat down with the will have a unique ability tree and fighting style, and players can also improve their characters by crafting gear. Weapons will also have damage types indicated by their color.
How Gotham Knights Lets Players Customize Their Heroes
It's hard not to compare Gotham Knights to the prominent Arkham series, even though Gotham Knights is being made by a completely different developer. The Arkham series evolved into an open-world RPG of sorts, but there were limits. Batman could choose missions, level-up, and unlock abilities from a skill tree, but that was the large extent of the RPG elements. Their wasn't much variety to how Batman was "built." Gotham Knights is leaning heavily into the RPG aspect of the game, essentially creating four classes with the four heroes players can pick. Crafting is new, and the available options for gear will allow a player to build out a hero in many different directions.
Lastly, the addition of damage types indicates that players might need to swap out their weapons, or even their hero, to have the right tool for the job, as certain kinds of damage will inevitably be better or worse at tackling certain kinds of enemies. Watching the gameplay footage from the DC Fandome reveals common RPG elements like enemy health bars, damage numbers that flash across the screen, and an icon that likely indicates a weakness or a resistance to a damage type. These kinds of combat mechanics were largely missing from the Arkham games, which relied on combo-based fighting and more situational fights.
While Gotham Knights is starting all players off with the four same heroes, WB Games Montreal is leaving plenty of room for players to tailor their crime-fighting experience. From choosing which suit to wear to the damage on their weapons, the developers want the players to feel like they're controlling the journey. They aren't along with Batman for one crazy night, they're here to grow and evolve heroes in the direction of their choosing. Combined with the open-world nature of the gameplay, Gotham Knights is shaping up to be a game where players can tell their story of how they became the next great hero of Gotham.
Source: PlayStation Blog, DC
Gotham Knights will be available in 2021 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One and PC
