After years (and years) of teasing, we finally got the unveiling of WB Games Montreal’s Batman game. While the fact that the game was not Arkham branded had leaked quite some time ago, it was still a little surprising. Ultimately, it seems as if the Arkham brand is going to be taking a bit of a nap for awhile (even though Rocksteady’s Suicide Squad game is set in the same universe, technically) in favor of Gotham Knights. The game will see you take the role of 1 of 4 Batman allies as they must tackle a new and dangerous Gotham without Batman. But will it feel familiar to the beloved Arkham games? Well, it seems like that’s a maybe, but they have gone in a slightly different direction.
In an interview with IGN, Creative Director Patrick Redding was asked if the game played like the Arkham titles. He didn’t quite give a definite yes or no, but said those familiar with the beat’em style would find it familiar, but it would also be comfortable for those more familiar with the third person action games of today, with lots of combo options for both melee and ranged attacks.
“We have gone through and iterated on control schemes quite a bit over the course of the whole project, but it’ll be comfortable to people who are familiar with third-person brawler type experiences.
“The way you’re accessing some of your special moves and things like that can vary I’m sure, but in terms of having both attack and defensive choices, having a range of combo choices, having variations in strike types and attack types, being able to combo in your ranged attacks as well as your melee attacks – all of that is there, and I think will be comfortable for people who have played modern, contemporary third-person action-adventure style brawlers.”
It’s hard to parse there, but we already know that Gotham Knights will differ from the Arkham titles due to the level systems, and it sounds like this will be a little different than the free flowing combat Arkham was known for. We did get a look at the gameplay, and it does seem more of its own thing. A new day for some new knights.
Gotham Knights is set to launch in 2021 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox One and PC. The game is also said not to be designed as a live service game, which you can read more about through here.