WB Games Montreal's Gotham Knights isn't about rushing to save the day over the course of one fateful night. Instead, the developers want players to feel like they are patrolling the streets of Gotham, keeping the city safe from criminals small and large, while also piecing together the mystery about a growing threat to the city.
Gotham Knights is an Batman game that won't actually star Batman. Instead, the game is set in the days after the hero's death, as four of his allies band together to fight new threats to Gotham. Players will have the option to switch between Batgirl, Nightwing, Robin or Red Hood, and can play the entire game as one hero, or choose to switch at any time. Gotham Knights is more of an RPG than other Batman games of the past, with crafting, gear, and weapons with distinct damage types.
In a new Batman lair in the Belfry, where they'll spend "daytime" analyzing clues and progressing certain story beats, before heading into the night once more.
Gotham Knights Will Be an Open World Experience
All of these elements will hopefully come together to let players feel invested in the city of Gotham. Gotham Knights is an open-world experience, meaning players can explore the city in any order they choose and stumble into on-going events. Developers want the city to feel like a "living, breathing ecosystem" that's dynamic to interact with. It will be interesting to see how the clue hunt of Gotham Knights comes together, if there will be bright waypoints on a map, or if players will stumble across bits of information as they traverse the city. And with two-player co-op available in Gotham Knights at any time, players can patrol the city together or separately.
Gotham Knights is breaking the Batman-game mold in a number of ways, from co-op play to the lack of Batman as a playable character. Allowing the story line to grow over time, instead of cramming events into a single night, feels like a more natural story, especially with the Court of Owls as a main villain. The Court of Owls have been manipulating Gotham from the shadows for decades. It makes sense that it would take time for the Bat Family to untangle the conspiracy so many years in the making, alongside managing the schemes of other villains. Players will become intimately familiar with the streets of Gotham when they begin patrolling in Gotham Knights in 2021.
Source: PlayStation Blog
Gotham Knights will be available in 2021 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One and PC.
