Growing up in the 90s, Batman was a big theme throughout my childhood and early teen years. Beyond the movies, games such as Batman Returns on the SEGA Genesis, which I remember playing relentlessly. As I type this, I’m picturing the boss battles with The Penguin and Catwoman and some of the game’s levels. Various Batman stories have been told since then, from darker movies to beloved games such as Batman: Arkham Asylum, Batman: Arkham City, and more.
Over the years with the movies, comics, and stories, so much has been explored to broaden the Batman franchise with new stories, villains, and characters. In spite of the fact that you will see familiar characters in Gotham Knights, it is a separate story from the Arkham series.
Story
While it is known this game will focus on some villains in the Batman universe, as well as a bit of story behind Court of Owls. After the death of Batman, which starts the game, the focus is on the Batfamily–Batgirl, Nightwing, Robin, and Red Hood. What was Batman looking into, why was he killed, and what could be so bad that all of his work went downhill? As you play Gotham Knights, the story will dive deeper into Batman’s history through logs. The game provides a good insight into what the Court of Owls is, how they came to be, who may or may not be a member, and the influence they have over the city of Gotham.
From my time playing, I discovered that the Gotham City Police Department has been corrupted, and you have to be careful who on the force you trust. In addition to battling known villains, corrupt law enforcement, and the mysterious Court of Owls, you are expected to aid with everyday crimes such as robberies, hostage situations, bombs, and other threats to the city.
Gameplay
As for the gameplay of Gotham Knights, it’s taking an interesting approach compared to all the Batman games before it and gives it a newer twist. When I first went into the game, I was thinking it would be similar to previous games, where I was more focused on sneaking around and solving puzzles. With Gotham Knights being open world and opening up to 2-player co-op, it tossed the play style I had in my mind from the previous titles out the window.
This game gives you five boroughs of Gotham City to explore and a number of options for traveling. Among the travel options are parkour, the Batcycle, or Heroic Travel methods that vary depending on the character you’re playing as (unlocked after progressing to a certain point in the game). Gotham Knights utilizes a “jump-in, jump-out” mechanic for co-op play, allowing you to make use of small amounts of time to join others in the game. One downside to this mechanic is that if you join a player who is at a lower level, you may cause more damage than they do.
Given that the game has a direct style of RPG elements, such as gathering resources to help create new equipment such as suits and weapons; Gotham Knights has a different style of gameplay compared to the previous iterations. Be sure you don’t get defeated while you’re out gathering resources because a defeat will result in losing a portion of what you worked hard to collect.
As you dive deeper into the game, complete missions, and finish side quests, you’ll collect chips that allow you to upgrade your melee, ranged abilities, and suits with additional perks. Progressing through gameplay increases the difficulty of missions, so you’ll need to be sure to upgrade the character you deem your main character unless you go through each night as a different character (which I’ve been doing). Switching between the characters won’t start you back at 0 every night, as your XP is shared between the characters.
My experience with co-op often left me feeling overpowered when playing with others of lower levels. I felt like I was doing the work more than the host. In spite of that, I enjoyed my time exploring Gotham and having fun as we fought crime
There are four different characters that players can choose from in Gotham Knights, each of who offers a different set of benefits to the player. While each of these fighters has a distinct fighting style, it is nice to have different ways of playing the game depending on who you switch to in the game.
Controls
In Gotham Knights, if you are inexperienced in playing Batman games, you will be able to learn the basics as well as learn more advanced commands in the training area. Your main location, which you’ll often return to every night, has a training dummy with all of this information. Those who’ve played previous Batman games will find some controls haven’t changed when it comes to what may be a strong or weak attack. Once again, Gotham Knights gives the user the opportunity to learn what’s needed and the rest will fall into play as you progress.
Audio
A game such as Gotham Knights doesn’t rely heavily on well-known music to add to the world and gameplay. The audio experience of the game comes directly from the score and ambient sounds of the city. While exploring the city, it’s common to hear anything from police sirens responding to a call to NPCs having conversations about everything from their thoughts on vigilantes to stories about drinking.
I find it adds to the experience of the game to have NPCs having unique interactions throughout Gotham City rather than having everything covered up by music or even sounds of violence.
Replay Value
I really enjoyed exploring the open world of Gotham Knights, learning about the Court of Owls, and jumping in and out of co-op with other media members during my time playing the game. Its RPG elements and the different ways you and your co-op partners can play will make Gotham Knights something special.
As you defeat the factions, explore Gotham each night with various tasks, and complete side quests, Gotham Knights is not one of those games where you’ll sit for a few hours and get bored. While Gotham Knights leaves the door open for more content to be added if they so choose, I’m most looking forward to the launch of Heroic Assault in November, which will allow for 4-players. In the meantime, I’ll continue to jump into cooperative games with friends and explore Gotham’s underbelly.
Final Thoughts
Considering the amount of time and effort that was put into making Gotham Knights, the team did a decent job telling the story behind Bruce Wayne, the Court of Owls, and the past of Gotham. Taking many features from past Batman games, Gotham Knights offers players a unique perspective on what Batman would be like if played as a role-playing game, but still as an action-adventure. With Gotham Knights, you can fight villains or continue the legacy with your friends for hours on end.
Despite Batman’s absence, the story provides a glimpse into how Gotham might rise or fall without him, and the storytellers did a fantastic job bringing it to life. Whether you are playing Gotham Knights alone or with friends, you’ll have a lot of fun seeing the streets of Gotham as the co-op provides a much-needed bonus to having fun. Gotham Knights provides just thr right amount to keep you wanting more. Considering the price, I feel Gotham Knights offers just the right touch to please Batman fans and newcomers alike.
